Choose Storyblok if
Marketers first
Content teams assemble pages visually, you want results without much custom work, and Canadian data hosting matters.
Storyblok vs Sanity:Visual editing or a studio you build
Both are modern headless CMSs, and both now offer visual editing and AI agents. They start from opposite ends. Storyblok is built around a visual editor for marketers. Sanity is built around a content platform that developers shape in code.
Written by an official Storyblok implementation partner. We hold no Sanity partnership, so we say plainly where Sanity is the better fit.
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TL;DR
The honest short answer
Storyblok is the right choice when marketers build most of the pages and need to see them as they edit. Components, a visual editor on every plan, built-in localization and hosting regions that include Canada make it fast to roll out to content teams. The trade-off is less freedom to reshape the editing tool itself.
Sanity is the right choice when your developers want to model content in code and tailor the editing studio to how your team works. You get real-time collaboration, the GROQ query language and unlimited locales on every plan. The trade-off is that the editor experience is only as good as the studio your team builds and maintains.
Choose Sanity if
Developers first
Your developers want content models in code, a custom editing studio, and flexible queries across complex content.
12-dimension matrix
| Dimension | Storyblok | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| Editing model | WinnerVisual editor with live page preview, on every plan | Customizable Studio, with visual editing through the Presentation tool |
| Marketer autonomy | WinnerMarketers assemble pages from reusable components without developers | Depends on how developers configure the Studio and preview |
| Developer flexibility | Component schemas defined in the app or by API, plus extensions | WinnerSchemas written in TypeScript. The open-source Studio is customizable in React |
| Querying content | REST and GraphQL delivery APIs | WinnerGROQ and GraphQL over a real-time hosted content store |
| Collaboration | Comments, approval workflows and scheduled releases | WinnerReal-time co-editing in the Studio, plus comments and tasks on Growth |
| Entry pricing | Free Starter (1 seat). Growth at US$99 per month for 5 seats. Growth Plus at US$349 per month | WinnerFree plan with 20 seats. Growth at US$15 per seat per month |
| Enterprise pricing | Premium and Elite are quote-based | Enterprise is quote-based |
| Localization | WinnerBuilt into the editor, with field-level translation workflows on Premium and Elite | Unlimited locales on every plan, set up as document-level or field-level patterns |
| AI features | Monthly AI credits on every plan for generation and translation. FlowMotion automation as an enterprise add-on | Content Agent and Agent Actions on every plan. AI Assist on Growth |
| Data residency and compliance | WinnerISO 27001 and TISAX. AWS regions in the EU, US, Canada and Australia | SOC 2, GDPR and CCPA compliance on every plan |
| Hosting control | Fully managed SaaS | WinnerThe Studio can be self-hosted. Content is stored in Sanity's hosted Content Lake |
| Time to a first live page | WinnerShort: the visual editor and components work out of the box | Longer: the Studio and preview need developer setup first |
When to choose each
Choose Storyblok
If marketer speed and visual editing come first
- Marketers create most landing pages and campaigns
- Editors need to see the page while they edit it
- You want a component library that content teams reuse safely
- Data must stay in Canada, the EU, the US or Australia
- You prefer a managed product over a custom editing tool
- Your development team is small or shared with other projects
- You plan to automate publishing workflows at enterprise scale
Choose Sanity
If developer control and content flexibility come first
- Developers want content models versioned alongside the code
- The editing tool needs custom inputs, views or workflows
- Content is complex and heavily cross-referenced
- Several editors work on the same documents at the same time
- You want flexible queries with GROQ
- Per-seat pricing suits a small team better than plan tiers
- You have developers to own the Studio over time
If you need to switch
From Storyblok to Sanity
Moving to a developer-built studio
- Export stories and assets through the Storyblok Management API
- Translate component schemas into Sanity schema code
- Convert Storyblok rich text into Portable Text, Sanity's rich text format
- Rebuild preview with Sanity's Presentation tool so editors keep seeing pages
- Recreate localization with your chosen document-level or field-level pattern
- Redirect changed URLs and retrain editors on the new studio
Main effort driver: the Studio build and the rich text conversion
From Sanity to Storyblok
Moving to a visual editor
- Export documents with GROQ or a dataset export
- Map document types to Storyblok content types and nestable components
- Convert Portable Text into Storyblok rich text
- Rebuild custom Studio inputs as Storyblok extensions, or drop them
- Connect front-end components to the visual editor
- Pick your data region and set up localization before importing
Main effort driver: reshaping content into page components
Common questions
Which one is easier for marketers?
Storyblok, out of the box. Its visual editor is the default way of working on every plan. Sanity can offer visual editing through its Presentation tool, but the result depends on how your developers configure the Studio.
Is Sanity cheaper than Storyblok?
For small teams, often. Sanity's Growth plan is US$15 per seat per month, and its Free plan includes 20 seats. Storyblok's Growth plan is US$99 per month for 5 seats, and Growth Plus is US$349 per month. Both have usage limits, and both quote enterprise plans, so compare against your real seat count and traffic.
Can we keep our content in Canada?
With Storyblok, yes: it offers AWS hosting regions in the EU, the US, Canada and Australia. We could not confirm a Canadian region for Sanity from its public documentation, so ask Sanity directly if this is a requirement.
Do both support EN and FR content?
Yes. Storyblok builds localization into the editor, with field-level translation workflows on its Premium and Elite plans. Sanity includes unlimited locales on every plan, and your developers choose document-level or field-level translation.
How hard is it to move between them?
Both expose full APIs, so the data comes out cleanly. The work is in the model: Storyblok thinks in page components, Sanity in documents, and their rich text formats differ. Plan time for the content model, not only the transfer.
How do we decide?
Ask who will build most pages, who will maintain the editing tool, and where your data must live. Our Storyblok readiness assessment or our headless audit will answer those questions with you. See also our Storyblok services.
Storyblok or Sanity: which one fits your team?
This comparison is general. Your answer depends on who builds pages, who maintains the platform and where your data must live. Let's map it out together.
