Quick Answer
Choose Sanity if
Choose Sanity if you care most about flexible structured content model and product teams with developers.
Choose Directus if
Choose Directus if you care most about database-first headless cms and developer-led teams.
Pricing
Sanity
Free plan; Growth $15/seat/mo; Enterprise custom.
Free
$0
Up to 20 seats and 2 public datasets.
Growth
$15
/seat/mo
Private datasets, comments, tasks, scheduled drafts, and AI Assist.
Enterprise
Custom
SSO, SLAs, onboarding, custom seats, and custom quotas.
Sanity add-ons and quotas can change total cost beyond the base seat price.
Directus
Free self-hosted; cloud plans from $15/mo.
Self-hosted
$0
Cloud Starter
$15
/mo
Cloud Professional
$99
/mo
Enterprise
Custom
Directus Cloud pricing depends on project resources, users, and hosting tier.
Best Fit
Sanity is best for
- Product teams with developers
- Sites needing custom content models
- Companies building composable stacks
Directus is best for
- Developer-led teams
- Projects with existing databases
- Companies needing custom content APIs
Decision shortcut
If the buyer wants product teams with developers, start with Sanity. If the buyer wants developer-led teams, start with Directus.
Strengths And Limits
Sanity
Strengths
- Flexible structured content model
- Developer-friendly APIs
- Custom editorial workflows
Limits
- Requires implementation work
- Does not generate content
- Can be too technical for simple blogs
Directus
Strengths
- Database-first headless CMS
- Flexible APIs and admin app
- Good for custom content systems
Limits
- Coordinates or hosts content but does not create it
- Requires team process and ownership
- SEO research usually lives in another tool
Where BeVisible Fits
Sanity and Directus can both support the software workflow around content operations. BeVisible is the layer for turning that strategy, research, or workflow into published search-ready pages with metadata, structure, and AI-answer visibility in mind.
FAQ
Is Sanity better than Directus?
Sanity is better when your use case matches product teams with developers. Directus is better when you need developer-led teams. The right choice depends on workflow fit more than category alone.
Which is cheaper, Sanity or Directus?
Sanity pricing snapshot: Free plan; Growth $15/seat/mo; Enterprise custom. Directus pricing snapshot: Free self-hosted; cloud plans from $15/mo. Verify current packaging on both official pricing pages before purchase.
Where does BeVisible fit with Sanity and Directus?
BeVisible fits when the bottleneck is turning research, briefs, or workflow plans into finished search-ready pages. Sanity and Directus can support the surrounding workflow, but BeVisible is focused on the execution layer.