Top 3 headless CMS platforms: A Sanity, Contentful and Strapi comparison

Headless content management system (CMS) solutions have transformed how we manage and share content, with three platforms emerging as leading solutions in the space: Sanity, Contentful, and Strapi. At their core, all three aim to solve the same fundamental problem - managing content in a way that's both powerful for developers and intuitive for content creators. However, each takes a distinctly different approach to this challenge.

At Voyage we’re passionate about using the best tool for the job. Here we’ll explore what makes each of these platforms unique and how they might fit into your technology stack.

Sanity: Rethinking content management

Sanity represents a fundamental shift in how we think about content management. Rather than treating content as pages or posts, Sanity approaches content as structured data from the ground up. This might sound abstract, but in practice it means far greater flexibility in how you can model and use your content.

Take, for instance, how Sanity handles rich text content. Instead of storing formatted text as HTML or Markdown, Sanity uses a format called Portable Text. This approach means your content becomes truly portable – it can be rendered anywhere, from websites to mobile apps, while maintaining its semantic meaning.

The real magic of Sanity comes from its real-time capabilities. Multiple team members can work on content simultaneously, seeing each other's changes as they happen. This real-time functionality extends to the development experience as well – changes to your content model are immediately reflected in the editing interface.

Contentful: Enterprise-grade content infrastructure

Contentful takes a different approach, positioning itself as a complete content infrastructure platform. Where Sanity emphasises flexibility and real-time collaboration, Contentful focuses on providing robust, enterprise-grade features and workflows.

The platform shines in scenarios where content needs to be strictly controlled and distributed across multiple channels. Its content modeling capabilities are particularly sophisticated, allowing for complex relationships between different types of content.

What sets Contentful apart is its approach to content governance. The platform provides sophisticated workflows for content approval, roles and permissions, as well as content scheduling. This makes it particularly well-suited for larger organisations where content needs to go through multiple stages of review before publication.

Strapi: The self-hosted solution

Strapi takes yet another angle to content management. As an open-source, self-hosted solution, it provides complete control over your content infrastructure. This level of control comes with both benefits and responsibilities.

The platform is built on Node.js and TypeScript to be both robust and fast. It provides a plugin-based architecture that allows for extensive customisation.

For instance, one of Strapi's most compelling features is its admin panel, which provides a user-friendly interface out of the box while remaining highly customisable. You can extend the admin panel with custom plugins, modify existing functionality, or even build entirely new features.

Making the right choice

When choosing between these platforms, it's important to consider your specific needs and goals. If you're working in a startup or small team that values flexibility and rapid development, Sanity's approach to structured content and real-time collaboration could be massively helpful. Sanity starts with a free plan for smaller projects and increases depending on users.

For larger organisations with complex content needs and strict governance requirements, Contentful's enterprise-focused features make it a compelling choice. While it comes with a higher price tag for team memberships, the platform's robust features and reliability may justify the investment.

If you need complete control over your infrastructure or have specific hosting requirements, Strapi provides an excellent open-source solution. This platform offers a lower price point for self-hosted CMS, with a fully managed offering also available.

The future of content management

As is the way with the world of technology, each of these platforms and headless CMS use cases are continuing to evolve. With businesses prioritising SEO, performance optimisation and content distribution across a variety of channels, headless CMS represents the way of the future for content management.

With every platform offering a powerful host of features, the choice between them ultimately depends on your specific needs, resources, and constraints. Each platform offers a unique approach, and understanding these differences is key to making the right decision for your project.

Remember that the best choice isn't always the most feature-rich or technically sophisticated platform, but rather the one that best aligns with your team's capabilities and project requirements. Consider factors like your team's technical expertise, your content workflow needs, and your scalability requirements when making your decision.

When it doubt, reach out to those who live and breathe web development and content management - that’s us!