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Headless CMS comparison: Sanity, Storyblok or WordPress?
Which CMS fits your website?
Sanity, Storyblok or WordPress: the right choice depends less on the system than on your team, your content and your operations. In this headless CMS comparison we describe where each of the three systems is strong, where its limits lie and who it suits. We are a Sanity partner, work with Storyblok and used to build many projects on WordPress. That is why we disclose our view and back figures with sources. Status of the information: October 2026.
Decision guide in 30 seconds
When does which system fit? The short version, details follow below.
Do you need a headless CMS at all?
A headless CMS separates content management from presentation. Content lives in a backend and reaches website, shop or app via API. It pays off when the same content appears in several places, when you run several languages or markets, or when performance and maintenance matter to you.
For a small site with few pages and a team that knows WordPress, a classic system is often the more honest answer. Headless is also not an SEO advantage by itself: what counts is the implementation with server-rendered pages, clean structure and well-thought-out redirects.
Headless CMS comparison by criteria
The criteria come from the decisions we actually make with clients.
Editing and consistency
Sanity: The Studio is open source and fully customizable. Visual editing and live preview are included in all plans.
Storyblok: The visual editor with live preview is very approachable for beginners. Blocks can be copied and global modules used with overrides. With a deep information architecture, the page builder can lead to inconsistent structures.
WordPress: The editor is widespread and familiar. Over the years, content and layout get mixed on many sites, depending on the plugin stack.
Data model and flexibility
Sanity: The schema lives as code in the project, content is queried with GROQ, GraphQL is additionally supported.
Storyblok: Component-based model. The schema can be maintained in code via CLI. For new projects Storyblok recommends the REST API; GraphQL is only available from the Premium plan.
WordPress: Very flexible through plugins and themes; the structure depends on the specific implementation.
Multilingual setups
Sanity: We implement languages at field level, one translation per field. That is a decision in the schema, not a plugin add-on.
Storyblok: Field, folder or space level can be combined. For multiple domains we work with a folder structure in one space.
WordPress: Multilingual support runs through plugins such as WPML.
Security and maintenance
Sanity: Hosted backend with SOC 2 Type II certification. SAML SSO is only available on the Enterprise plan. The vendor handles backend updates.
Storyblok: ISO 27001 and TISAX, data processing agreement available. SSO, SCIM and custom roles only come with the Premium plan.
WordPress: The core is rarely the problem. According to Patchstack (2025 data), 91 percent of newly reported vulnerabilities were in plugins, 9 percent in themes and only 6 in the core; 46 percent had no patch at disclosure. Security here depends on plugin choice and upkeep.
Performance
Sanity and Storyblok: With Next.js and server-rendered pages, very good scores are readily achievable. There is no platform-wide comparison between headless and WordPress; it depends on the implementation.
WordPress: According to the HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025, 45 percent of WordPress sites pass the Core Web Vitals on mobile, versus 79 percent for TYPO3. The Almanac stresses that results depend heavily on implementation discipline. A well-maintained site with few plugins and good hosting can do considerably better.
Pricing model
Sanity: Start for free, per user on the Growth plan. Usage-based limits for bandwidth and requests apply, and additional datasets incur fees. Enterprise is individual.
Storyblok: Billed per space, with tiers from Starter to Elite. Some features (custom roles, workflows, backups, GraphQL) depend on the plan.
WordPress: The software is free (GPL); costs arise for hosting, plugins, licenses and maintenance.
Current prices are on the vendors' own pages, because they change: Sanity, Storyblok.
Data location and GDPR
Sanity: GDPR-compliant according to the vendor, with a data processing agreement and EU standard contractual clauses. Primary data storage is on Google Cloud in Belgium. For AI features Sanity uses providers in the US, which belongs in your assessment.
Storyblok: Hosting on AWS in Frankfurt by default. The data region can only be fixed contractually on the Premium and Elite plans.
WordPress: You choose the host and therefore the location yourself.
Vendor dependency (lock-in)
Sanity: Content can be exported as NDJSON, and the schema lives in your repository. The backend is a hosted service.
Storyblok: A hosted service; the schema lives in the Storyblok backend and can be synced with the code via CLI.
WordPress: Open and self-hostable, but in practice tied to theme and plugins.
Sanity or Storyblok? Platform and our setup
Sanity. Sanity is a hosted backend for structured content with a freely customizable Studio. We build every Sanity project with Next.js on our own, continuously evolving boilerplate in which Studio and frontend live together in the project. Sanity shines with interlinked content, multilingual setups and individual editorial workflows. Its limits: it is a hosted service, usage-based limits need to be planned from the start (caching, bot protection), and features such as login or comments in the frontend need additional services. Users on G2 also mention a steep learning curve.
Storyblok. Storyblok is a headless CMS from Linz with a visual editor and a component-based model. We mainly use it when several websites or locations run in one system and marketing steers day-to-day work itself. Its limits lie in the pricing model: it is billed per space, and roles, workflows and backups depend on the plan. That should be calculated before deciding.
How we decide. We review the requirements with you and recommend the system that fits. The recommendation follows the requirement, not habit.
When WordPress is the right choice
WordPress is widespread: according to W3Techs, around 40 percent of all websites and around 59 percent of websites with a known CMS use it (as of October 2026), with a slightly falling trend. It is free (GPL), has the largest developer community and remains a good choice for small, application-like projects or existing, well-maintained sites.
We worked for years with our own modular WordPress boilerplate (for example for Darbo) and continue to look after existing projects. Today we rarely build new projects with it, because a headless setup serves us better for interlinked content, multilingual sites and ongoing maintenance. That does not make WordPress bad: a well-maintained custom architecture is something different from a grown plugin stack.
Other systems at a glance
Contentful is a cloud service and has belonged to Salesforce since the acquisition closed on 1 September 2026. Payload CMS is open source (MIT license) and has belonged to Figma since 2025; it is an option when open source and self-hosting are mandatory. TYPO3 is open source and widespread in Germany; we do not use it.
Last reviewed
As of: October 2026. Sources: vendor sites (Sanity, Storyblok, WordPress.org), W3Techs, HTTP Archive Web Almanac 2025, Patchstack “State of WordPress Security in 2026”. We update this page regularly.
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