If you've been in the web development game for more than a few years, you definitely remember the "good old days." You'd spin up a WordPress site, tweak a few PHP files in the theme, and pretty much call it a day. But as our applications grew more complex, that monolithic approach started to feel a bit like trying to fit into your old high school jeans—restrictive, uncomfortable, and honestly, a little embarrassing.
Enter the Headless CMS.
Choosing the best headless CMS in 2025 isn't just about picking a bucket to store your text in; it’s really about defining your entire data architecture. It’s a decision that ripples down to how your developers write code, how your marketing team publishes campaigns, and ultimately, how fast your site loads for the user.
Today, we’re looking at the big three: Strapi vs Contentful vs Sanity.io. I’ve deployed production apps with all of them, and I’ve certainly got the battle scars to prove it. Whether you are a CTO, a tech lead, or just a developer trying to convince your boss to finally ditch the monolith, this guide is for you.
Quick Comparison: The Executive Summary
If you're in a rush, here is the high-level breakdown. This table highlights the architectural differences that I've found are essential for decision-making.
| Feature | Strapi | Contentful | Sanity.io |
|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Open Source / Self-Hosted (Node.js) | SaaS (Proprietary) | SaaS (Hosted Content Lake) |
| Data Querying | REST & GraphQL | REST & GraphQL | GROQ & GraphQL |
| Customization | Full backend customization | UI Extensions (App Framework) | Deeply customizable Studio (React) |
| Best For | Developers who want full control & own data | Enterprise teams needing stability & governance | Teams needing real-time collaboration & structured content |
| Pricing Model | Free (Self-hosted) / Paid Cloud | Tiered (High entry for Enterprise) | Generous Free Tier / Pay-as-you-go |
| Database | SQL (Postgres, MySQL, SQLite) | Proprietary (AWS backend) | Proprietary (Content Lake) |
The Rise of Composable Architecture
Before we dive into the specific tools, we have to talk about the shift in mindset. We aren't just building websites anymore; we are building digital experiences that consume data from everywhere. This is the heart of Composable Architecture.
In a traditional setup, your CMS is the frontend and the backend wrapped into one. In a composable world, your CMS is just an API. It sits alongside your commerce engine, your search service (like Algolia), and your frontend framework.
This decoupling is powerful, but it introduces complexity. You are now responsible for the "glue" code. This is why selecting a CMS with a stellar Developer Experience (DX) is critical. If integrating the API feels like pulling teeth, your team velocity is going to tank. This architectural shift often goes hand-in-hand with Micro-Frontends, allowing different teams to own different parts of the content delivery.
Strapi: The Self-Hosted Open Source Contender
Strapi is usually the first stop for developers who love the idea of headless but hate the idea of vendor lock-in. It is the leading open-source headless CMS, and honestly, for good reason.
The Architecture: You Own Everything
Strapi is essentially a Node.js application that sits on top of a database. When you install Strapi, you aren't just creating an account; you are scaffolding a project. You can run it locally, poke around the code, and modify the API controllers.
This is a massive advantage if you have specific security requirements or need to keep data on-premise. You own the database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.).
Customization Capabilities
Because it’s just a Node app, you can extend it endlessly. Need a custom endpoint that aggregates data from three different content types and sends an email via SendGrid? You can write that logic directly in the Strapi backend controllers.
However, "With great power comes great responsibility." You are responsible for hosting, scaling, and updating it. If your server goes down at 3 AM, that’s on you (unless you opt for Strapi Cloud, their newer managed service).
The Verdict on Strapi
It feels like a framework for building APIs as much as it is a CMS. It’s perfect if you are comfortable with DevOps and want zero monthly license fees for the software itself.
Contentful: The Enterprise Standard
If Strapi is the customizable hot rod in your garage, Contentful is the luxury sedan leased by the corporation. It is arguably the most mature player in the space and defined the "Content Infrastructure" category.
The Architecture: Stability First
Contentful is purely SaaS. You don't host anything. You define your "Content Model" (the shape of your data) via their web UI or CLI tool.
Their architecture is rigid in a way that enterprises love. They have a concept of Spaces and Environments. You can have a master environment for production and branch off a development environment to test changes to your content model without breaking the live site. This mirrors the Git workflow developers are used to.
The "Wall"
The biggest friction point with Contentful is often the pricing and the "governance" limits. You have strict limits on the number of content types and records. This forces you to model your data very carefully.
But, the API response times are incredibly fast (leveraging heavy CDNs), and their image transformation API is top-tier.
The Verdict on Contentful
It’s the safe bet. If you have a large team of non-technical editors and a legal department that demands SLAs (Service Level Agreements), Contentful is the winner. Just be prepared for the bill.
Sanity.io: Content as Data and Real-Time Editing
Now we get to Sanity. This is where things get interesting. Sanity feels less like a traditional CMS and more like a real-time database for content. It is a Sanity io review favorite among modern frontend developers.
The Content Lake
Sanity stores your content in what they call the "Content Lake." It’s a schemaless store, but you enforce structure using schemas defined in code (JavaScript/TypeScript).
Because the schema is defined in code, you can version control your content model alongside your frontend code. This is a huge win for developer workflow.
The Studio
The Sanity Studio is an open-source React application. You can download it, run it locally, and deploy it anywhere. Because it's just React, you can customize the editor experience deeply.
I've built custom input components for clients where they could visualize complex data structures right inside the CMS. If you are familiar with React Hooks, building custom input components for Sanity will feel like second nature.
GROQ vs. GraphQL
Sanity offers GraphQL, but their native query language is GROQ (Graph-Relational Object Queries).
I know, I know—learning another query language sounds annoying. But GROQ is incredibly powerful. It allows you to filter, project, and reshape your data on the server side before it even hits your frontend.
The Verdict on Sanity
It offers the best balance of Developer Experience and Editor Experience. The real-time collaboration (think Google Docs for your CMS) is a feature that, once you have, you can't live without.
Developer Experience Comparison
As a technical lead, you aren't just buying a tool; you're buying into an ecosystem. Let's look at the DX.
SDKs and APIs
- Strapi: Auto-generates REST and GraphQL endpoints. The documentation is decent, but because it's so flexible, you sometimes hit edge cases that require digging through community forums.
- Contentful: Their JavaScript SDK is rock solid. They also have a powerful migration CLI that lets you script changes to your content model—essential for CI/CD pipelines.
- Sanity: The
next-sanityand@sanity/clientlibraries are lightweight and modern. The documentation is some of the best in the industry.
Content Modeling
- Strapi: You use a "Content Type Builder" in the UI. It's visual and easy, but syncing these changes across environments (dev -> staging -> prod) can sometimes be tricky without the paid plans.
- Contentful: Very strict modeling. Great for data integrity, slightly annoying for rapid prototyping.
- Sanity: Code-based schemas. You define a
post.jsfile and commit it to Git. This is the gold standard for developers.
Pricing Models Analysis
This is often where the decision is made.
-
Strapi:
- Self-Hosted: Free (Open Source). You pay for your AWS/DigitalOcean/Vercel bill.
- Cloud: Starts around $29/month per project.
-
Contentful:
- Free: Good for solo devs or tiny projects.
- Basic: Starts at $300/month.
- Premium: Custom pricing (often thousands per month). The jump from Free to Basic is a massive cliff.
-
Sanity:
- Free: Extremely generous. Includes 3 users and a lot of bandwidth.
- Growth: Pay-as-you-go. You pay for overages on bandwidth or extra users. It scales much more linearly than Contentful.
Integration Examples with Next.js
Let’s look at how we actually fetch data in a Next.js application. We will assume we are fetching a list of blog posts.
1. Strapi (REST API)
Strapi exposes standard REST endpoints. You just need to handle the authentication token.
// lib/strapi.js
export async function getStrapiPosts() {
const res = await fetch(`${process.env.STRAPI_URL}/api/posts?populate=*`, {
headers: {
Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.STRAPI_API_TOKEN}`,
},
// ISR: Revalidate every 60 seconds
next: { revalidate: 60 },
});
if (!res.ok) {
throw new Error('Failed to fetch data from Strapi');
}
const data = await res.json();
return data.data; // Strapi wraps responses in a 'data' object
}
2. Contentful (Using SDK)
Contentful’s SDK abstracts the fetch calls.
// lib/contentful.js
import { createClient } from 'contentful';
const client = createClient({
space: process.env.CONTENTFUL_SPACE_ID,
accessToken: process.env.CONTENTFUL_ACCESS_TOKEN,
});
export async function getContentfulPosts() {
const res = await client.getEntries({
content_type: 'blogPost',
});
// Contentful returns a complex object; usually you map it
return res.items.map((item) => ({
id: item.sys.id,
title: item.fields.title,
slug: item.fields.slug,
// ... other fields
}));
}
3. Sanity (Using GROQ)
Here is where you see the power of GROQ. We can reshape the data right in the query.
// lib/sanity.js
import { createClient, groq } from 'next-sanity';
const client = createClient({
projectId: process.env.SANITY_PROJECT_ID,
dataset: 'production',
apiVersion: '2023-05-03',
useCdn: false, // set to `true` for production
});
export async function getSanityPosts() {
// We select only the fields we need
return client.fetch(
groq`*[_type == "post"]{
_id,
title,
"slug": slug.current,
"authorName": author->name,
publishedAt
}`
);
}
Notice how in the Sanity example, I can dereference the author (author->name) in a single query? That prevents over-fetching and keeps your frontend fast. Fast data fetching is a key component when you are looking at optimizing React performance, as large payloads can hurt your Core Web Vitals. You can also pair this with Next.js Server Actions for efficient mutations.
Final Verdict: Which One Should You Choose?
So, Strapi vs Contentful? Or is Sanity the one? Here is my honest recommendation based on different scenarios.
Choose Strapi if:
- You are a startup bootstrapping and want to keep costs low.
- You have strict data residency requirements (e.g., GDPR, healthcare) and need to host it yourself.
- You are building a custom backend and want the CMS to be part of that Node.js ecosystem.
Choose Contentful if:
- You are working in a large Enterprise environment.
- Budget is less of a concern than stability and SLAs.
- You have a distinct separation between developers and content editors, and you need rigid governance over content models.
Choose Sanity if:
- You want the best Developer Experience.
- You need real-time collaboration for your editors.
- Your content structure is complex, and you want the flexibility of "Content as Data."
- You appreciate a pay-as-you-go model that won't bankrupt you as you scale.
Personally? For 80% of the projects I start in 2025, I reach for Sanity. The ability to define schemas in code and the flexibility of GROQ just makes development so much faster. But if a client insists on owning the infrastructure, Strapi is an excellent fallback.
Whatever you choose, remember that the goal is to decouple your content from your code. Once you do that, you're ready for whatever the web throws at you next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Strapi better than WordPress?
It really depends on your goal. If you want a traditional website builder with themes and plugins for non-developers, WordPress is easier. If you want to build a modern application (mobile app, React site) and need a pure API for your content, Strapi is far superior architecturally.
Why is Contentful so expensive?
Contentful targets the enterprise market. You are paying for their massive infrastructure, 99.99% uptime SLAs, and a proprietary platform that handles scaling for you. They charge based on the value they provide to large organizations, not just the raw server costs.
Can I use Sanity for an e-commerce site?
Absolutely. Sanity is actually fantastic for e-commerce (often paired with Shopify or a custom backend) because it allows you to enrich product data with rich storytelling content that standard e-commerce platforms struggle with.
Is Headless CMS harder for non-technical editors?
It can be initially. Since there is no "Preview" button that works exactly like WordPress out of the box (unless you build it), editors might feel disconnected. However, tools like Sanity and Strapi now offer "Live Previews" that, when configured correctly by developers, offer an editing experience that is actually superior to traditional CMSs.