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Payload CMS vs Sanity
Trust Score comparison · March 2026
Signal Comparison
65k/wkWeekly npm downloads1.1M/wk
520GitHub commits (90d)280
32kGitHub stars5.4k
1.5kStack Overflow questions6k
Very ActiveCommunity healthVery Active
Payload CMSSanity
Key Differences
| Factor | Payload CMS | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| License | MIT | MIT (studio) / Proprietary (hosted) |
| Language | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Hosted | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Free tier | — | ✓ Yes |
| Open Source | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| TypeScript | ✓ | ✓ |
Pick Payload CMS if…
- TypeScript project needing a code-first, self-hosted CMS
- Running the CMS inside your Next.js app (Payload v3 is a Next.js plugin)
- Avoiding vendor lock-in and monthly CMS fees
Pick Sanity if…
- Teams that need real-time collaborative content editing
- Complex content models with custom input components
- Next.js projects with live preview and draft mode
Side-by-side Quick Start
Payload CMS
// payload.config.ts
import { buildConfig } from 'payload';
import { mongooseAdapter } from '@payloadcms/db-mongodb';
import { lexicalEditor } from '@payloadcms/richtext-lexical';
export default buildConfig({
secret: process.env.PAYLOAD_SECRET!,
db: mongooseAdapter({ url: process.env.MONGODB_URI! }),
editor: lexicalEditor({}),
collections: [
{
slug: 'posts',
admin: { useAsTitle: 'title' },
fields: [
{ name: 'title', type: 'text', required: true },
{ name: 'content', type: 'richText' },
{ name: 'publishedAt', type: 'date' },
{ name: 'author', type: 'relationship', relationTo: 'users' },
],
},
],
});Sanity
import { createClient } from '@sanity/client';
const client = createClient({
projectId: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SANITY_PROJECT_ID!,
dataset: 'production',
useCdn: true,
apiVersion: '2024-01-01',
});
// Fetch posts with GROQ
const posts = await client.fetch(
`*[_type == "post"] | order(publishedAt desc)[0...10] {
_id,
title,
"slug": slug.current,
publishedAt,
"authorName": author->name
}`
);
console.log(posts);Community Verdict
Based on upvoted notes🏆
Sanity wins this comparison
Trust Score 86 vs 52 · 34-point difference
Sanity leads on Trust Score with stronger signal data across downloads and community health. That said, the other tool is worth considering if your use case matches its specific strengths above.