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Migrate from Contentful to Sanity

Move to Sanity for better pricing, real-time collaboration, and more flexible content modeling.

30-60 minutes
Medium
100% Free
Start Free Migration

TL;DR

You can migrate from Contentful to Sanity for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Sanity as the destination, and download your content — posts, pages, and media — in minutes. No API keys, passwords, or CLI tools required. Difficulty: Medium. Estimated time: 30-60 minutes.

Official docs: Contentful Documentation · Sanity Documentation

Why Teams Leave Contentful

API-first headless CMS for omnichannel content. Enterprises needing to deliver content across web, mobile, and IoT channels, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.

Expensive — free tier is very limited, paid starts at $300/month

This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Contentful. Sanity eliminates this issue entirely.

Editing experience is functional but not beautiful

With Sanity, groq query language is more powerful and flexible than graphql.

No built-in preview or visual editing (requires custom setup)

Modern architectures like Sanity are designed to avoid this from the ground up.

Vendor lock-in with proprietary content storage

After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Sanity takes a fundamentally different approach.

What Sanity Brings to the Table

Real-time collaborative headless CMS with customizable Studio. Built with JavaScript/TypeScript (React-based Studio), it's developer-led teams wanting maximum flexibility in content modeling and editing experience.

GROQ query language is more powerful and flexible than GraphQL

Real-time collaborative editing (like Google Docs)

Fully customizable React-based Studio admin panel

Portable Text format gives structured rich text (not raw HTML)

Sanity is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports JavaScript/TypeScript, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.

Contentful vs Sanity at a Glance

Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics

MetricContentfulSanity
Ease of Use⭐⭐⭐ 3/5⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Performance⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Flexibility⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Cost 1/5⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Scalability⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Ecosystem⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
LanguageAPI-based (any frontend)JavaScript/TypeScript (React-based Studio)
PricingFree / $300+/monthFree / $15+/month per user
Open SourceNoYes

Ratings are based on publicly available data, documentation, and community consensus as of 2026. Individual experience may vary.

What Gets Migrated

A detailed breakdown of how your Contentful content maps to Sanity

Content Types from Contentful

  • entries
  • assets
  • content types
  • locales

Technical Details

Export Method
Content Management API or CLI export
Source Language
API-based (any frontend)
Destination Format
Structured data imported into Sanity's documents
URL Handling
301 redirect map generated automatically to preserve SEO equity

What may need manual attention

Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Sanity. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.

How It Works

Migrate your content in three simple steps

1

Connect

Enter your Contentful site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.

2

Configure

Select Sanity as destination and choose content options.

3

Export

Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.

Is Contentful to Sanity the Right Move for You?

Migrating from Contentful to Sanity makes the most sense if you're experiencing expensive — free tier is very limited, paid starts at $300/month or outgrowing Contentful's architecture. Sanity is best for developer-led teams wanting maximum flexibility in content modeling and editing experience.

You should migrate if: your Contentful site is slow, your hosting costs are climbing, you need developer flexibility, or you want to adopt a modern headless architecture.

You might want to stay if: your Contentful site benefits from powerful content modeling with structured content types and you don't have the resources to learn a new platform.

The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Contentful URL, select Sanity, and download your content. The more important question is whether Sanity's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why switch from Contentful?
Sanity's pricing is more generous, GROQ is more powerful than GraphQL, and the Studio is more customizable.

Related Migration Guides

Explore more migration paths from Contentful or to Sanity

Contentful to Sanity Guides

In-depth guides and tutorials to help with your migration

Ready to Migrate?

Start your free migration from Contentful to Sanity today.

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