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It's a split decision.
Choose Kirby for a customizable website CMS with file-based content and a one-time license: Basic is $115 per site for organizations under €1 million in revenue or funding. Choose Sanity for structured content, editorial workflows, APIs, and applications; its Free plan is $0, while Growth is $15 per seat monthly. These are different pricing models, so compare site count, seat count, and workflow needs before switching. Sanity is the broader content platform; Kirby is focused on website CMS needs.
01Side by side
| Kirby | Sanity | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $115 one-time per site for Basic | $0 Free plan; Growth is $15 per seat monthly |
| Free plan | No free plan; local development has no time limit | Free plan includes 20 seats and 2 public datasets |
| Best for | Customizable website CMS projects | Structured content and editorial workflows |
| Core strength | File-based content and a simple Panel | Structured content, configurable Studio, and automation |
| Learning curve | Customers praise the Panel's simplicity | Studio is configurable; learning curve not published |
| Integrations/data | Content organized in folders and text files | Structured content APIs for web and mobile applications |
| Team/seat costs | $115 one-time per site; no seat price listed | $15 per seat monthly on Growth |
| Support | Support terms not published | Enterprise includes dedicated support and uptime SLA |
Kirby Choose Kirby if
- Choose Kirby if you want a website CMS with file-based content.
- Choose Kirby if a one-time per-site license fits your budget.
- Choose Kirby if clients value a simple Panel.
Sanity Choose Sanity if
- Choose Sanity if you need structured content across applications.
- Choose Sanity if editorial workflows and automation matter.
- Choose Sanity if a free plan or per-seat pricing suits your team.
02Pricing compared
Kirby charges per site, while Sanity’s Growth plan charges per seat each month. Kirby Basic is a $115 one-time payment for one installation on one domain, for organizations under €1 million in annual revenue or funding. Enterprise is $399 one time per site, with no revenue limit. Both plans include all features. Kirby’s optional three-year update extension costs $65 for Basic or $285 for Enterprise, excluding VAT; a 5% volume discount applies to five or more licenses.
Sanity has a $0 Free plan with 20 user seats, 2 public datasets, and 10,000 documents. Growth is $15 per seat per month and includes 50 user seats, 2 datasets, 25,000 documents, and 1 million API CDN requests per month. Enterprise pricing is not published. Compare site count against seat count, plus Sanity’s quotas and add-on costs, before switching.
03Features and depth
Kirby is a customizable website CMS built around content in files and folders. Its homepage example shows project titles and URLs, plus team members and client organizations. The Panel is the main editing interface, and customers describe it as simple to use and adaptable to client needs. The published feature details focus on managing website content; they don’t describe broader editorial automation or application tools.
Sanity is designed for structured content and content operations. Its Studio uses configurable schemas for JSON documents, and teams can customize workflows or build content applications with the App SDK. Editorial tools include in-context previews, releases, and team editing. Sanity also lists Content Agent tools for transforming, auditing, and editing content, plus programmable functions triggered by dataset changes. Its APIs can serve web and mobile applications, content applications, and agents. That wider scope can suit teams managing content across products, but brings more concepts and quotas to assess. Kirby is the narrower fit when the job is a customizable website CMS.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Kirby may be the more direct choice if you want a website CMS with a Panel: customers praise the Panel’s simplicity, and Kirby’s content is organized in files and folders. Its customization is aimed at adapting the CMS to client needs. The published information does not establish how much technical work a particular Kirby site requires.
Sanity’s Studio is configurable, and schemas are managed in its configuration. That gives teams control over editorial workflows, but it also means setup needs depend on what they build. The product details do not publish a learning curve or setup time. Before switching, map your content model, editors, and required workflows; don’t assume either product will fit without configuration.
Questions people ask
Which is cheaper, Kirby or Sanity?
It depends on how you count. Kirby Basic costs $115 once per site for qualifying organizations. Sanity has a $0 Free plan, while Growth costs $15 per seat per month. Compare your number of sites and users, then check whether Sanity’s plan limits fit.
Does Sanity have a free plan?
Yes. Sanity’s Free plan costs $0 per month and includes 20 user seats, 2 roles, 2 public datasets, 10,000 documents, and 100GB of assets. The plan limits matter: teams that outgrow them may need Growth or paid quota add-ons.
Is Kirby a CMS or a content platform?
Kirby is described here as a customizable CMS for websites, with a Panel and file-based content. Sanity is positioned as a content operations platform for structured content, editorial workflows, applications, and AI workflows. The distinction is mainly the scope of the work each is built to support.
Can Sanity replace Kirby?
It can be a candidate if your needs include structured content, configurable editorial workflows, or APIs for web and mobile applications. But the published details don’t establish a direct migration path or feature-for-feature match. Compare your content model and workflows before moving; setup and seat costs may change the fit.