A Sanity alternative for Astro sites

Markstage vs Sanity for Astro: visual editing with content as files in your own git repository, self-hosted, no seat fees. Facts checked 3 Nov 2026.

Facts about Sanity checked on 2026-11-03, from its own website. Markstage is not affiliated with it.

Markstage
Visual editor

A visual editor for Astro: writers edit on the site’s real design; content stays Markdown and JSON in git.

Edits on the real page
Yes The site's own components and CSS; text and rich text typed on the page, other fields in a side panel. Components mark their fields with a helper ⁴

Content in git
Yes ³

Self-host
Yes One docker run with the server image, Docker Compose, or systemd and nginx ⁹ ⁸

Price to start
Free to self-host ³

Licence
Elastic License 2.0 Source-available, free to self-host ²⁰
Sanity
Hosted CMS

A customisable Studio on a hosted, real-time content database.

Edits on the real page
Yes Presentation tool with overlays, on a server-rendered Astro site ⁷⁴

Content in git
No Hosted Content Lake ⁷³

Self-host
No Content is hosted ⁷³

Price to start
Free; Growth $15 per seat/mo ⁷³

Licence
Studio: MIT; Content Lake hosted ⁷⁵

From the full comparison; each number links to its source.

Sanity pairs a customisable Studio with a hosted, real-time content database (the Content Lake), visual editing through its Presentation tool, and an official Astro integration. Markstage keeps content as files in git on your own server.

Who each one is for

Sanity suits teams with structured content used in many places, real-time collaboration, and developers who want to shape the editing app in code.

Markstage suits Astro sites whose content is pages and posts, kept as Markdown and JSON in git, edited on the real design, with no seat fees. Markstage is pre-release.

Side by side

	Markstage	Sanity
Visual editing	On the real page	Presentation tool with overlays, on a server-rendered Astro site
Where content lives	Markdown and JSON in your git repository	Sanity's hosted Content Lake
Astro	`@markstage/astro`; the live site stays static	Official `@sanity/astro` integration
Real-time collaboration	No: locks and a three-way merge (live co-editing is planned)	Yes: a real-time content database; comments and tasks on Growth
Price	Free to self-host	Free (up to 20 seats); Growth $15 per seat a month
Roles	Five built in, plus custom roles	2 on Free, 5 on Growth, custom on Enterprise
Staging	Local, staging and production, included	2 datasets; extra datasets $999 each a month
Single sign-on	OpenID Connect, included	SAML on Enterprise
Licence	Elastic License 2.0 (source-available)	Studio: MIT; Content Lake: hosted service

Where Sanity is stronger

Real-time collaboration on a hosted content database.
Structured content for many channels, queried by API.
A customisable Studio, built in code, with a large plugin ecosystem.
AI and agent tools on its platform, and Content Releases on its Enterprise plan.

Moving from Sanity to Markstage

Sanity documents have to become Markdown or JSON files. Export or query your documents, convert rich text to Markdown, and run Markstage's import API: a dry run first, then the import as drafts, idempotent on each source id. This fits sites whose content is mostly pages and posts; content shared across many apps is better left in Sanity.

Frequently asked questions

Does Sanity work with Astro?

Yes. Sanity has an official Astro integration, and its docs cover visual editing with a server-rendered Astro frontend.

Is there a Sanity alternative that keeps content in git?

Yes. Markstage, TinaCMS, CloudCannon, Decap CMS, Keystatic and others keep content as files in git. Of these, Markstage, TinaCMS and CloudCannon edit on the page.

Is Sanity free?

Its Free plan allows up to 20 seats, 2 roles and 2 public datasets. Growth is $15 per seat a month.

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03: Sanity pricing · Sanity Astro docs · Sanity on GitHub · Astro: Sanity guide. Markstage facts: the full comparison.

Get Markstage on GitHub All comparisons Read the docs