Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Drupal VS Sanity.io

Compare Drupal VS Sanity.io and see what are their differences

Drupal logo Drupal

Drupal - the leading open-source CMS for ambitious digital experiences that reach your audience across multiple channels. Because we all have different needs, Drupal allows you to create a unique space in a world of cookie-cutter solutions.

Sanity.io logo Sanity.io

Sanity.io a platform for structured content that comes with an open-source editor that you can customize with React.js.
  • Drupal Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-18
  • Sanity.io Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-23

Sanity treats your content as structured data and makes it available through a simple and powerful API. Content can be created and edited in our collaborative editor, called the Sanity Studio, which is a fully customizable, client-side web application. You can run the studio on your laptop, host it with us on Sanity.io, or deploy it on your own web server.

Drupal

Website
drupal.org
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
free
Platforms
-
Release Date
-

Sanity.io

Website
sanity.io
$ Details
freemium
Platforms
JavaScript Cross Platform PHP REST API GraphQL API GROQ Generic HTTP API Go
Release Date
2017 November
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
Even Westvang
Employees
10 - 19

Drupal features and specs

  • Flexibility
    Drupal is highly customizable and can be tailored to meet the unique needs of almost any web project. Its modular architecture allows developers to add functionalities and change behaviors without modifying the core system.
  • Scalability
    Drupal can handle large volumes of content and high traffic levels, making it suitable for both small websites and large, complex applications.
  • Security
    Drupal is known for its strong security features and has a dedicated security team that continuously works on identifying and fixing vulnerabilities.
  • Community Support
    Drupal has a large, active community of developers, designers, and users who contribute modules, themes, and support, facilitating problem-solving and innovation.
  • Multilingual Capabilities
    Drupal offers excellent support for multilingual websites, providing built-in translation modules and interfaces for managing content in multiple languages.

Possible disadvantages of Drupal

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Drupal's flexibility and power come at the cost of complexity, which can be daunting for new users and developers.
  • Performance Optimization
    While Drupal can handle high traffic, it requires careful performance tuning and caching strategies to perform optimally, which can add to development and maintenance overhead.
  • Development Time
    Building a site with Drupal can take more time compared to other content management systems due to its complexity, especially if custom features are required.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running a fully-featured Drupal site can be resource-intensive, often requiring more server resources compared to simpler CMS solutions.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies and updates for the numerous modules that make up a Drupal site can be complex and requires careful attention to compatibility and security.

Sanity.io features and specs

  • Real-time Collaboration
    Sanity.io supports real-time collaboration, allowing multiple users to work on the same content simultaneously without conflict, which is ideal for teams.
  • Customizable Content Models
    It offers high flexibility with its schema definitions, enabling users to create complex content structures tailored to specific needs.
  • Headless CMS
    As a headless CMS, Sanity.io decouples the backend from the frontend, allowing developers to use any framework or technology stack to present content.
  • Live Preview
    Sanity.io provides a live preview feature, enabling content editors to see changes in real-time before publishing them.
  • Scalable Infrastructure
    Powered by a scalable and performant backend, it can handle high traffic and large amounts of content, suitable for enterprises.
  • Extensible with Plugins
    The platform supports plugins, which means you can extend its capabilities with community or custom-built plugins.

Possible disadvantages of Sanity.io

  • Learning Curve
    Due to its flexible and powerful schema configuration, new users may find it challenging to get started without proper documentation or guidance.
  • Cost
    While it offers a free tier, the costs can escalate for larger projects or enterprises requiring more sophisticated features and higher limits.
  • Complex Setup
    The initial setup can be complex, especially for non-technical users, as it involves configuring schemas, setting up the development environment, and understanding APIs.
  • Limited Out-of-the-box Features
    Compared to some traditional CMS platforms, Sanity.io offers fewer out-of-the-box features which may require additional customization or development effort.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    Being an entirely cloud-based solution, it requires a stable internet connection for content management, which could be a limitation in areas with poor connectivity.

Drupal videos

Drupal Vs WordPress - Which Is The Best CMS?

More videos:

  • Review - Drupal 8: Comments, Reviews and Content Moderation Workflows
  • Review - Drupal Product Management Review: Out-of-the-Box

Sanity.io videos

Build a Portfolio Site with Sanity.io and Gatsby — Learn With Jason

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to deploy a transcription microservice for Sanity.io on Zeit’s now

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Drupal and Sanity.io)
CMS
77 77%
23% 23
Blogging Platform
87 87%
13% 13
Blogging
80 80%
20% 20
Website Builder
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Drupal and Sanity.io. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Drupal and Sanity.io

Drupal Reviews

Comparing 9 WordPress alternatives & competitors in 2024
Drupal isn’t for beginners, as it lacks in-product tutorials, and you will need to find a separate hosting service to publish sites online. But if you’re an experienced developer looking for a tool that gives you complete design control, Drupal might be the right choice.
Source: webflow.com
19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025
Drupal is a content management system known for its flexibility, scalability, and security. It's popular for complex websites, including news outlets, e-commerce platforms, and government portals. While Drupal is free and open-source, customization and development require technical expertise.
Source: www.pixpa.com
Top 10 Web Content Management Systems
Keeping up with the trend of introducing great open-source CMS systems, Drupal is our next entry on the list. Drupal is one of the oldest and most reputable customizable CMS options out there, with its original release dating back to 2001, making it older than WordPress. As a web CMS, Drupal’s principal focus is on security. It is known to have one of the best security...
Source: cloudzy.com
8 Great Drupal Alternatives to Try for your Website (Nov 2021)
Whether you're creating a new website from scratch or looking for a way to upgrade your existing one, you'll need the right content management system. A content management system (CMS), is a tool that helps you to modify and optimize your website however, you choose, without the need for any complex API or PHP work. While some CMS solutions allow you to have some control...
WordPress alternatives: Which CMS platform is the best?
With Drupal, the startup costs are higher than WordPress, since developing with Drupal requires more technical expertise. It’s more complex than WordPress, and you will likely need to pay for a developer. Besides that, you’ll have to invest in the basics like – domain registration, hosting, added security, and so on.
Source: factory.dev

Sanity.io Reviews

21 Headless CMS Platforms That You Should Check Out
We have listed 21 headless CMS platforms with their pros and cons. However, it can be said that Strapi, Ghost, Sanity, Graph CMS are among the best headless CMS platforms that you can consider using. These platforms have higher G2 ratings and are easy to use.
Source: popupsmart.com
Best Headless CMS in 2022
Sanity is one of the best headless CMS on the market, which proves by using it such companies as Nike, Figma, National Geographic, and others. Sanity is very flexible in terms of development.
Source: flatlogic.com
Best Node.js CMS platforms for 2022
Sanity can be used for much more than conventional web experiences. Sanity finds its applications in everything from portfolio and company websites to ecommerce applications.
34 Headless CMS That Should Be On Your Radar
Launched in 2015, Sanity is an open source headless CMS that was developed in Oslo, Norway. Built on JavaScript and React.js, Sanity features a WYSIWYG rich text editor which allows you to embed editable data in running text and defer markup to render time. It also comes with a Sweet Query API that enables you to cache multiple queries on a single request.
Source: www.cmswire.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Sanity.io should be more popular than Drupal. It has been mentiond 56 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Drupal mentions (28)

  • Is there and easy way of porting a site from d7 to d9?
    I would be interested in some good migration tools, paid ones are also ok. I found a post about this on drupal.org, but it didn't seem like an easy process. It is a multilanguage site with many content types, and a totally custom theme. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Is there any nice group, where I can ask questions, when I get stuck and recieve some guidance instead of crytics?
    You got already good advice, but wanted to point the guide of drupal.org where you can see some tools listed with instructions and channels https://www.drupal.org/community/contributor-guide/reference-information/talk/tools. Source: over 2 years ago
  • MAMP issue after Pro trial ended
    There is a service call GitPod that provides a temporary container Drupal environment. If you are familiar with what is going on around the future of how Drupal modules will eventually be offered up, you will likely have seen the "Project Browser" module as a contrib demo of the approach. It is used for people to give feedback to the developers. So they set up the typical 'SimplyTestMe' but also a GitPod... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Best Modules for Product and Recipe?
    For reviews, it depends entirely on what you mean by "review". I believe core has a simple comment module, although it may have been deprecated for D9? There are likely many review-style modules on drupal.org that might work, or if you just want to link out to third-party reviews then it could just be a repeating-value link field on the Product content type. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Leadership?
    They should also use standards tools like Github. The drupal.org platform was certainly impressive 10 years ago, today it's a pain to use it. They ducktape it with gitlab, but really it sucks to have to read documentation to simply do a pull request. Source: over 2 years ago
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Sanity.io mentions (56)

  • Build a Modern Blog with Next.js 14 & Sanity: A Step-by-Step Guide
    A blog without a CMS can lead to endless frustration and wasted time. Sanity.io simplifies the entire process, allowing you to focus on your content. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • A Deep Dive into Sanity's Visual Editing and Presentation Tool: The developer view
    Hey there! Our colleagues over at Sanity.io, who are always at the forefront of structured content, have just rolled out two super cool features: Visual Editing and the Presentation tool. They unveiled these at their online shindig on November 17th, 2023, and let me tell you, it's got developers all over the world talking! - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Odd server-client side issue (fetch and data transfer to client)
    I am fetching data from sanity.io (an array), the load function in my +page.ts file looks like this:. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Lets code together - Looking for coding buddies
    Tools Im comfortable with: next, tailwinds, zustand/zod/redux, shadcn, sanity.io, framer motion, typescript & more. Source: over 1 year ago
  • How to add user auth with Clerk to Nextjs (App Directory) and store it in Embedded Sanity CMS
    Go to sanity.io sign up for an account. Sanity gives instructions on how to create the studio however since we are embedding the studio on a Nextjs project we can just ignore them and navigate to https://www.[sanity.io/manage](http://sanity.io/manage). If Sanity created a project for you click on it and copy the project ID, if they didn’t you can click on Create a new project on the top and then copy the project... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Drupal and Sanity.io, you can also consider the following products

WordPress - WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Contentful - You don't need another CMS. You need a better way to manage content — unified, structured, and ready to deploy to any digital channel.

Joomla - Joomla! is the mobile-ready and user-friendly way to build your website. Choose from thousands of features and designs. Joomla! is free and open source.

Strapi - Manage any content. Anywhere. The leading open-source headless CMS. 100% JavaScript / TypeScript and fully customizable.

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

SquareSpace - Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.