Sanity vs Umbraco
Sanity is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 17.
- Sanity Headless · Closed source · 15 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Sanity on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Headless CMS with an open-source React editor, Sanity Studio, configured in code. Sanity stores content in its hosted Content Lake. | Open-source .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Sanity hosted Content Lake with Sanity Studio 6 Version 6.16.0, released 22 Sept 2026 | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Sanity sanity.io | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Closed source MIT for Sanity Studio. The Content Lake backend is proprietary. | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | No self-hosting Vendor cloud You can host the Studio anywhere, but content always lives in Sanity's cloud. | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | TypeScript, React for Studio. Hosted Content Lake with GROQ and GraphQL APIs | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | Hosted Sanity Content Lake | SQL Server, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free plan. Growth $15 per seat per month. Enterprise on request. | Free to start Free to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Built in 3 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Not available You define schemas only in Studio code. 3 | Built in Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Array fields of typed objects act as a page builder. 3 | Built in Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Plugin or add-on Official document-level and field-level internationalization plugins. 4 | Built in Culture variants per property. |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Image pipeline resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 5 | Built in ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in HTTP API queried with GROQ. 1 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Built in The Sanity CLI deploys it from the schema. 1 | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in GROQ-powered webhooks: 2 on Free, 4 on Growth. 16 | Built in 8 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Not available | Built in Razor templates. |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 1 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Paid tier Scheduled drafts on Growth and Enterprise. 1 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Limited Draft history kept 3 days on Free, 90 on Growth, 365 on Enterprise. 1 | Built in Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in 17 | Built in |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Built in Presentation tool with click-to-edit overlays on every plan. 17 | Not available |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Not available Build with document actions or a community plugin such as Workflow Manager. 914 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Paid tier Content Releases add-on on Enterprise. 1 | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Built in 1 | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Paid tier Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Growth 5. 18 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Limited API access rules are per document. Studio can hide or lock fields per role. 8 | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier SAML SSO on Enterprise. 1 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Paid tier Full audit trail and History API on Enterprise. 1 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Built in Several projects per organization and Studio workspaces. 11 | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Custom inputs, tools and document actions in the React Studio. 39 | Built in Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Sanity Exchange. 10 | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Built in Content Agent on every plan. In-Studio AI Assist on Growth and Enterprise. 113 | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Hosted at mcp.sanity.io with OAuth. 12 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
Sanity sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Sanity hosted Content Lake with Sanity Studio 6.
- Sanity pricing
- sanity on npm
- Sanity docs: Schema types
- Sanity docs: Localization
- Sanity docs: Image transformations
- Sanity docs: GROQ-powered webhooks
- Sanity docs: Visual Editing
- Sanity docs: Roles and permissions
- Sanity blog: Document actions, workflows your way
- Sanity Exchange
- Sanity docs: Workspaces
- Sanity docs: MCP server
- Sanity docs: Install and configure AI Assist
- Sanity Exchange: Workflow Manager plugin
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Sanity and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Sanity and Umbraco get a different status on 17 of the 28 features and the same status on 11. Sanity has 15 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- Sanity is closed source (MIT for Sanity Studio. The Content Lake backend is proprietary.). Umbraco is open source (MIT).
- Self-hosting
- Sanity cannot be self-hosted. Umbraco can be self-hosted.
Built in on Sanity, a different answer on Umbraco 5
- Content model in code Sanity: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- GraphQL API Sanity: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Visual editing Sanity: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Real-time co-editing Sanity: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- AI writing assistant Sanity: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Sanity 8
- Content model in the UI Sanity: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Localization Sanity: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Renders the website Sanity: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Scheduled publishing Sanity: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Version history Sanity: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Sanity: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Sanity: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Sanity: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 4
- Approval workflows Sanity: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Sanity: Paid tier. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Audit log Sanity: Paid tier. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Sanity: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
More comparisons
Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Sanity vs Payload.
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Umbraco against other platforms
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- Hygraph vs Umbraco
- Instatic vs Umbraco
- Joomla vs Umbraco
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- Squarespace vs Umbraco
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- Storyblok vs Umbraco
- Strapi vs Umbraco
- TYPO3 vs Umbraco
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- Umbraco vs WordPress
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