Tools & Resources
PayloadCMS vs Sanity: Choosing a Headless CMS in 2025
Both are excellent modern CMS options but they serve different use cases. We break down the real differences after building with both.
We've built production projects with both PayloadCMS and Sanity. They're both strong choices, but they have genuinely different strengths. This is not a sponsored comparison.
PayloadCMS: The Developer-First Option
PayloadCMS is a TypeScript-first, code-based CMS that you self-host. Your schema is defined in code, your admin UI is generated from that code, and the whole thing runs inside your Next.js app.
- Self-hosted: your data, your infrastructure, no monthly SaaS fees
- Schema-as-code means version-controlled content models
- Local API lets you query content without HTTP requests in Server Components
- Deep Next.js integration with built-in auth, media handling, and admin UI
Sanity: The Content Platform
Sanity is a hosted CMS with a cloud data store, a React-based editor called Studio, and an API layer called GROQ for querying content. Where Sanity shines is its editing experience. Real-time collaboration and custom Portable Text blocks make it genuinely pleasant for non-technical editors.
Which to Choose
Choose PayloadCMS if: you're a developer-run project, you want your CMS inside your codebase, or you need complex access control and want to avoid ongoing SaaS costs.
Choose Sanity if: you have non-technical editors who need a great editing UX, you want a fully managed service, or you need real-time collaborative editing.
At Tynlex, we default to Payload for applications we own and operate. For client handoffs where the client's team manages content without developer support, we lean toward Sanity for the editing experience.