1v1 Pricing Showdown
Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) vs Sanity.io
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for Headless CMS decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) and Sanity.io for your headless cms stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) starts at $199/mo; Sanity.io starts at custom pricing. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| graphql native api | All plans — GraphQL as primary API | — |
| content federation | Growth+ — remote source connections | — |
| multi source unified graphql | Hygraph's distinctive capability | — |
| unlimited asset storage | All plans | — |
| content stages | All plans — DRAFT, PUBLISHED, custom | — |
| preview api | All plans | — |
| webhooks | All plans | All plans |
| scheduled publishing | Growth+ | — |
| version retention | 14 days Growth / 365 days Enterprise | — |
| content localization | 2 Hobby / 3 Growth / Up to 80 Enterprise | — |
| custom roles | Growth+ | — |
| sso | Enterprise | — |
| multitenancy | Enterprise | — |
| content validations | All plans | — |
| rebranded 2022 | From GraphCMS to Hygraph | — |
| structured content modeling | — | All plans — GROQ query language |
| unlimited content types | — | All plans — no charge |
| unlimited locales | — | All plans — no charge (category-unique) |
| sanity studio | — | Category-leading visual editing UI |
| groq query language | — | All plans — Sanity's powerful query language |
| api cdn | — | 1M requests/month Free/Growth, custom Enterprise |
| api requests | — | 250K/month Free/Growth, custom Enterprise |
| assets storage | — | 100 GB Free/Growth, custom Enterprise |
| private datasets | — | Growth+ only |
| comments tasks | — | Growth+ only |
| real time collaboration | — | All plans |
| version history | — | All plans |
| ai assist | — | AI content generation with credit quotas |
| sso saml | — | Enterprise included / $1,399/month Growth add-on |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS)
About the headless cms category
Headless CMS in 2026 split into four archetypes. 'Enterprise content platform' (Contentful Lite $300/month to Premium custom): dominates enterprise content operations with localization, workflows, governance — premium pricing targets Fortune 1000. 'Developer-first JSON CMS' (Sanity $15/seat/month, Hygraph $199/month): structured content modeling with powerful APIs, developer-friendly pricing. 'Self-hostable open source' (Strapi OSS free, Directus OSS free under $5M revenue): open-source foundation with commercial cloud upgrade path — escape hatch means no vendor lock-in. 'GraphQL-native federation' (Hygraph): unique in category for multi-source content federation. Contentful is the category incumbent (founded 2013) but loses SMB customers to cheaper alternatives. Sanity's per-seat pricing is the clearest in category. Strapi's open-source foundation + Node.js runtime appeals to JavaScript teams wanting full control. Directus targets data-heavy applications with relational model. Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) rebranded 2022 to emphasize GraphQL federation. 2024-2026 trend: AI content generation integrations (Contentful AI Actions, Sanity AI Assist, Strapi AI) became standard. Multi-market localization pricing is the #1 cost variance — plans include 2-3 locales as baseline, 80+ locales requires enterprise. Content federation (pull from multiple sources into unified GraphQL) became competitive differentiator. Visual content editing tools (Contentful Studio, Sanity Studio, Hygraph UI) continue improving — Sanity Studio is category-leading.
How to choose between headless cms options
First: SMB or enterprise? SMB with 1-5 content editors: Sanity Free (up to 20 seats, 2 public datasets, 10k documents) or Strapi OSS self-hosted free. SMB with 5-20 content editors: Sanity Growth at $15/seat/month annual ($180/seat/year). Mid-market (20-100 editors, multi-locale): Hygraph Growth at $199/month or Contentful Lite at $300/month. Enterprise (100+ editors, 10+ locales, governance): Contentful Premium or Sanity Enterprise (custom pricing). Second: development approach? React/Next.js/Vue frontend with GraphQL preference: Hygraph or Sanity (GROQ queries). Node.js backend wanting full customization: Strapi (Node.js runtime with plugins). Relational/database-style content modeling: Directus (built on SQL databases). Multi-brand content operations: Contentful. Third: open-source optionality matters? Strapi OSS (Apache 2.0) and Directus OSS (Business Source License under $5M revenue) provide self-hosting escape hatches. Contentful/Sanity/Hygraph are managed-only. Fourth: multi-locale requirements? Contentful's Premium supports unlimited locales; Hygraph Enterprise supports up to 80 locales. Sanity's 'unlimited locales on all plans' is category-leading. Fifth: API usage model? GraphQL primary: Hygraph, Sanity, Contentful (REST + GraphQL). Strapi (REST + GraphQL). Directus (REST + GraphQL + WebSocket). Sixth: content editors vs API users? Directus's 'Studio Users' metric charges for Data Studio access users, not API-only users — favorable for apps with many API-only developers. Seventh: compliance/regulatory? Contentful Premium + Sanity Enterprise + Hygraph Enterprise support SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR. Strapi OSS self-hosted means you control compliance stack. Eighth: visual editing critical? Sanity Studio is category-leading for structured editing; Contentful Studio is most polished for marketing teams; Strapi's admin UI is functional but less polished.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
WordPress.com)Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) or Sanity.io offer a free plan?
- Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) and Sanity.io both offer a free plan.
- Which is better, Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) or Sanity.io?
- Sanity.io scores 9.3/10 compared to Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS)'s 8.9/10 in our analysis. Sanity.io ranks higher on features and value, but Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Are there other headless cms alternatives besides Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) and Sanity.io?
- Yes. Our [Headless CMS pricing comparison](/pricing/headless-cms/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest headless cms](/pricing/headless-cms/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.