Yes. Sanity has a genuinely free plan that runs in production indefinitely — it is not a time-limited trial. The free plan includes 2 datasets, 2 non-admin users, 500,000 API CDN requests per month, 10 GB bandwidth, and 20 GB asset storage. You can build and launch a real website on the Sanity free plan without a credit card.

What are the Sanity free plan limits?

The Sanity free tier limits are: 2 datasets (typically production + staging), 2 non-admin users, 500,000 API CDN requests per month, 10 GB monthly bandwidth, and 20 GB asset storage. Scheduled publishing, custom RBAC roles, and Sanity AI Assist are not included on the free plan.

How does the Sanity free tier compare to Contentful free?

Sanity's free tier is more generous for developers: unlimited content types, 2 datasets, no record count limit, and 500K API calls/month. Contentful's free tier caps you at 25,000 records, 2 locales, 5 users, and 500K API calls/month. Sanity has fewer user slots (2 vs 5) but no record ceiling, which is the more common constraint on real projects.

When do you need to upgrade from Sanity free?

You need to upgrade to Sanity Growth when you need a third editor (any non-admin user beyond 2), when you require scheduled publishing, when your traffic pushes past 500K API CDN requests/month, or when you need custom RBAC roles for editorial access control. The API request limit is the wall most free-plan sites hit first, especially with aggressive ISR revalidation.

Is Sanity free for commercial projects?

Yes. The Sanity free plan has no restriction on commercial use. You can build client sites, SaaS products, or e-commerce stores on the free plan. The only constraints are the technical limits: 2 non-admin users, 500K API requests/month, 10 GB bandwidth, and 20 GB asset storage.

Is Sanity CMS Free? What You Actually Get on the Free Tier

Short answer: yes. Sanity CMS has a real free plan — not a 14-day trial, not a sandbox — that you can use to build and ship a production website. Here are the exact limits and a plain-English breakdown of when you'll outgrow it.

What the Sanity free plan includes

Limit	Free tier
Non-admin users	2
Datasets	2 (typically: `production` + `staging`)
API CDN requests / month	500,000
Bandwidth / month	10 GB
Asset storage	20 GB
Content types	Unlimited
Documents / records	Unlimited
Sanity Studio	Included
GROQ API	Included
Scheduled publishing	Not included
Custom RBAC roles	Not included (Admin + Editor only)
Sanity AI Assist	Not included
History retention	Limited

The most important detail: there is no record count limit on the free plan. Contentful's free tier caps at 25,000 records — a constraint that bites content-heavy sites during the build phase. Sanity doesn't have this ceiling, which is why it's the more developer-friendly free option for most projects.

What the free tier is good for

The Sanity free plan is genuinely suitable for:

Personal sites and portfolios — one or two editors, low traffic, moderate asset use
Client handoffs with a solo content editor — you + one client editor stays within the 2-user limit
Prototypes and proof-of-concept builds — 2 datasets (production + staging) covers the standard workflow
Low-traffic marketing sites — 500K API requests/month handles roughly 5,000–15,000 monthly visitors comfortably, depending on your caching setup

When you'll hit the limits

Three limits trigger most free-plan upgrades:

Third editor. The 2 non-admin user limit is the most common reason to upgrade. The moment a client needs two content editors — not just one — plus you as an admin, you need Growth. A single content editor per client is workable; two editors on one project is very common.

API CDN requests. 500,000 requests/month sounds generous, but aggressive ISR revalidation can consume it faster than expected. A site regenerating pages every 60 seconds with moderate traffic can burn through 500K requests in weeks. Move to a longer revalidation window or on-demand revalidation if you want to stay on the free tier longer.

Scheduled publishing. If your client needs to schedule content for a future publish time, that feature is behind the Growth paywall. It is one of the first things clients ask for, so factor it into your CMS recommendation.

How it compares to competitors

	Sanity Free	Contentful Free	Storyblok Free	Payload (self-host)
Users	2	5	1	Unlimited
Records / content types	Unlimited	25,000 records	Unlimited	Unlimited
API calls / month	500K	500K	250K	Unlimited (you own the server)
Scheduled publishing	✗	✗	✗	✓
Self-hosting option	✗	✗	✗	✓
Cost to add a user	~$15/seat/mo (Growth)	$300/mo flat (Basic)	~$99/seat/mo (Starter)	$0 (own your server)

The cost-to-add-a-user column is where Sanity's Growth pricing is notably more gradual than Contentful's. Contentful goes from $0 to $300/month in a single step — the infamous "$300 cliff." Sanity scales at ~$15/seat, so adding one editor costs $15/month instead of $300.

What the Sanity Growth plan adds

When you do need to upgrade, Growth adds:

Per-seat pricing at ~$15/seat/month (or ~$12/seat on annual billing)
Scheduled publishing
Custom RBAC roles (beyond Admin and Editor)
Sanity AI Assist (usage caps apply)
Up to 5 datasets included
Higher API usage thresholds

For most commercial Sanity + Next.js projects, Growth at 3–5 seats is the standard starting point. See the full Sanity pricing breakdown for the complete picture including Enterprise.

Bottom line

Sanity's free plan is one of the most practical free CMS offerings for developers. It runs real production sites, has no record limit, and includes the full GROQ API and Studio. The constraints are narrow but real: 2 non-admin users, 500K monthly API requests, and no scheduled publishing. If your project needs a third editor or a scheduled content calendar, budget ~$15/seat/month for Growth from the start.

Scoping a Sanity project?

If you're deciding between CMS options or need a Sanity + Next.js build delivered on a fixed budget, I work with founders and agencies on these projects. I can tell you in a short call whether Sanity free covers your use case or whether Growth is the right starting point.