{"title":"Sanity vs Strapi","slug":"sanity-vs-strapi","tools":[{"name":"Sanity","slug":"sanity","category":"cms","type":"cloud","website":"https://www.sanity.io","pricing":"freemium","pricing_tiers":["Free (3 users, 500k API requests)","$15/user/mo Team","Custom Enterprise"],"open_source":false,"self_hosted":false,"sdk_languages":["javascript","typescript","python"],"frameworks":["langchain","nextjs"],"agent_features":{"rest_api":true,"graphql_api":false,"real_time":true,"content_versioning":true,"webhooks":true},"compliance":["soc2","gdpr"],"best_for":"Real-time collaborative CMS with GROQ query language — flexible schema and generous free tier for AI prototyping","limitations":"GROQ has a learning curve; Sanity Studio (editor UI) is React-only; less enterprise adoption than Contentful","verified_by":"editorial","last_verified":"2026-04-28","source_urls":{"docs":"https://www.sanity.io/docs","pricing":"https://www.sanity.io/pricing"}},{"name":"Strapi","slug":"strapi","category":"cms","type":"hybrid","website":"https://strapi.io","pricing":"freemium","pricing_tiers":["Free (self-hosted, Community)","$29/mo Pro","Custom Enterprise"],"open_source":true,"self_hosted":true,"sdk_languages":["javascript","typescript"],"frameworks":["nextjs"],"agent_features":{"rest_api":true,"graphql_api":true,"real_time":false,"content_versioning":true,"webhooks":true},"compliance":["gdpr"],"best_for":"Open-source headless CMS with full self-hosting — best for teams that need data control and customization","limitations":"JavaScript/TypeScript only; cloud offering is newer and less mature; plugin ecosystem varies in quality; v5 migration from v4 was significant","verified_by":"editorial","last_verified":"2026-04-28","source_urls":{"docs":"https://docs.strapi.io","pricing":"https://strapi.io/pricing"}}],"category":"headless-cms","last_verified":"2026-05-09","body":"Sanity and Strapi both generate REST and GraphQL APIs. Sanity wins on webhook sophistication and AI/MCP support. Strapi wins on hosting flexibility and token scoping.\n\n## Where Sanity wins\n\n* **MCP server, Agent Actions, and Agent Context for agentic workflows.** Sanity ships an MCP server for AI agents. Agent Actions expose generate, transform, and translate as HTTP calls that write to the Content Lake. Agent Context provides read-only schema-aware queries with semantic search. Agents follow references and query fields without manual setup. Strapi documents \"Strapi AI\" for content modeling and translations but no MCP server or AI operation API.\n\n* **GROQ webhook filters with delta projections and retry.** Sanity webhook filters use GROQ syntax with `before()` and `after()` delta functions for change-aware subscriptions. Projections define payload shape in GROQ, no over-fetching. Sanity retries twice with 30-second intervals and includes `idempotency-key` headers. Strapi webhooks cover nine event types but lack automatic retry, GROQ filter expressions, and idempotency keys.\n\n**GROQ as a first-class query language with join and traversal.** GROQ supports `->` reference traversal, array traversal, projections, and delta functions in a single query. No schema redeploy. The same query language works on REST, GraphQL, and webhook filters. Strapi REST requires explicit `populate` for relations. GraphQL is optional with a depth limit of 10.\n\n## Where Strapi wins\n\n* **Self-hosted open source for data residency and compliance.** Strapi is MIT-licensed and self-hosted on your infrastructure or Strapi Cloud. No mandatory SaaS backend. Sanity's Content Lake is always cloud-hosted. For agent deployments needing data residency or ownership, Strapi removes this blocker.\n\n* **Scoped API tokens with per-content-type, per-operation permissions.** Strapi offers three token types: read-only, full-access, and custom. Custom tokens let you set permissions per content type and operation in the admin panel. Tokens support configurable durations (7, 30, 90 days, or unlimited) and can be regenerated or revoked. Sanity's access control is project and dataset level via RBAC. Per-content-type token scoping is not documented.\n\n## The agentic difference\n\nSanity's agentic surface is documented. The MCP server drops into MCP-compatible agents. Agent Actions expose generate, transform, and translate as callable operations writing to the Content Lake. Agent Context provides read-only semantic search and schema-aware queries. Agents navigate the content graph without manual setup. GROQ delta projections let agents subscribe to field changes with filtering and reliable delivery.\n\nStrapi has no documented MCP server. Its webhooks support more event types than Sanity but lack query-level filtering and retry guarantees. Building an agentic workflow on Strapi requires custom MCP adapter and event reliability code.\n\n## When to pick which\n\n* **Pick Sanity** when agents must read, write, or transform content. Agent Actions, Agent Context, and MCP provide a complete documented surface for agentic pipelines. Also pick Sanity when webhook reliability matters: GROQ delta filters and retry guarantees reduce custom infrastructure.\n\n* **Pick Strapi** when your data layer must be self-hosted for data residency, compliance, or ownership. Also pick Strapi when you need fine-grained API token scoping per content type and operation."}