Sanity vs Apollo GraphQL Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Sanity | Apollo GraphQL | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | $15/mo | $5/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 4 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | per-seat | usage-based |
Free
- Up to 20 user seats
- 2 permission roles
- 2 datasets (public only)
- Unlimited content types and locales
- Content Agent
- Agent Context
- Compute and Agent Actions
- Hosted, real-time content database
- Live previews and visual editing tools
Growth
Popular- Up to 50 user seats
- 5 permission roles
- 2 datasets (private or public)
- Pay-as-you-go for higher usage
- Comments and Tasks
- Scheduled drafts
- AI Assist
- Compute and Agent Actions
Enterprise
- Custom # user seats
- Custom roles and access control
- User Attributes
- Custom # datasets
- Media Library (add-on)
- Single sign-on with SAML
- Dedicated support and uptime SLA
- Onboarding program
- Custom historical retention
- Custom usage quota
Free
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router (limited to 60 requests per minute)
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
Developer
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
Standard
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
Enterprise
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Audit logging
- Custom MSA
- (Add-on) Premium Support Packages
- (Add-on) Professional Services Packages
Sanity vs Apollo GraphQL FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- Apollo GraphQL is the cheaper option, starting at $5/mo vs $15/mo for Sanity.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Sanity uses per-seat pricing, while Apollo GraphQL goes with usage-based. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Sanity: At $15/seat, Sanity looks cheap compared to headless CMS peers like Contentful, but that entry price is basically a teaser — the add-on structure means real team costs escalate quickly once you need multiple datasets or dedicated support. They're winning developer mindshare with the low sticker price, then monetizing the operational stuff enterprises actually need. Apollo GraphQL: They're positioned as the accessible entry point into GraphQL federation tooling — $5/mo to start is nearly frictionless compared to enterprise API management suites that require sales calls from day one. The custom-priced tiers exist to compete for platform-level deals against players like Postman or enterprise API gateways once volume and compliance needs escalate.
Still deciding? See the best Sanity alternatives or the best Apollo GraphQL alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
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