Headless CMS pricing is usually per seat or per plan, and excludes front-end development and hosting. Sanity lists $15 per seat per month, Strapi Growth $45 per month with three seats, and Storyblok Growth $99 per month. Payload is MIT-licensed with no licence fee. Always confirm figures on the vendor's page.
Headless CMS pricing is hard to compare because vendors count different things: seats, documents, API requests, traffic or whole spaces. A plan that looks cheap for a five-person team can look different at fifty contributors.
This page lists the public prices we could read on 26 October 2026. It uses vendor pricing pages only, and prices change, so confirm each figure before you buy. For choosing on features rather than price, see choosing a headless CMS for publishers.
What do the headless CMS plans cost?
| Free entry plan | First paid plan | Top listed plan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanity | Free: $0, up to 20 seats, 10k documents | Growth: $15 per seat per month, up to 50 seats, 25k documents | Enterprise: custom |
| Strapi | Community: free | Growth: $45 per month including 3 users, +$15 per month per extra user | Enterprise: contact sales |
| Storyblok | Starter: free, 1 seat | Growth: $99 per month ($90.75 billed annually), 5 seats | Growth Plus: $349 per month ($319.91 billed annually), 15 seats; Premium and Elite custom |
| Payload | MIT-licensed software, no licence fee | Not covered here | Not covered here |
“Not covered here” means we did not read a source for it, not that it does not exist. Sanity and Storyblok are hosted services. Strapi’s price applies to a self-hosted install, and Payload is software you host yourself.
What does each pricing model count?
Sanity counts seats and documents. The Free plan lists 20 seats and 10k documents. Growth raises that to 50 seats and 25k documents at $15 per seat per month, so cost grows with your team.
Strapi counts users on paid plans. Growth includes three users and adds $15 per month for each extra one. The Community plan is free, and its pricing page does not charge for additional users.
Storyblok counts seats, traffic and API requests. Starter lists 100GB of traffic and 100k API requests a month. Growth lists 400GB and 1M, and Growth Plus lists 1TB and 4M. Extra seats cost $15 per month on Starter (up to 2 seats) and Growth (up to 10), and Growth Plus has no extra seats.
Payload has no licence fee. The repository carries the MIT licence. Your cost is hosting, a database and developer time. We did not read a Payload hosted-plan price, so we quote none.
Which editorial features sit behind a higher plan?
The headline price can hide where the features you need start.
| Feature | Where it starts |
|---|---|
| Sanity scheduled drafts | Growth |
| Sanity permission roles | 2 on Free, 5 on Growth, custom on Enterprise |
| Sanity SSO (SAML) | Enterprise |
| Strapi Live Preview | Growth |
| Strapi Review Workflows | Enterprise |
| Strapi SSO | Growth add-on at $150 per month plus $50 per month per user, or included in Enterprise |
For a newsroom, review stages and roles often matter more than the starting price. A free plan with two roles may be enough for a solo publisher and not for a desk of editors.
What else will a headless CMS cost?
The subscription is only part of the bill. A headless system stores and serves content, so you also pay to build and host the front end, a preview route, sitemaps and redirects. Self-hosted options such as Strapi and Payload add server, database and backup costs. Our cost guide lists the budget categories, and the licence guide explains what open-source and source-available terms permit.
Why are Directus and Contentful missing?
Directus’s pricing page gave two sets of Team figures when we read it. The plan cards showed $588 per month billed yearly and $698 billed monthly. The FAQ showed $499 and $599. The Core plan was shown at $89 or $99 per month, and SSO was not available on it. Until the page agrees with itself, we quote no Directus price. See the Directus profile for its licence terms.
We could not read Contentful’s pricing on our last attempt, so we state none. Ask each vendor for a quote and compare Contentful and Storyblok on features meanwhile.
How should you compare quotes?
- Count every person who will log in: editors, freelancers, developers and sub-editors.
- Note which editorial features you need, and the plan that includes each.
- Add hosting, a database and front-end work to any self-hosted option.
- Check what happens when you pass a plan limit.
- Re-read the pricing page on the day you buy.
Questions people ask
How much does a headless CMS cost?
It ranges from nothing to custom quotes. Sanity, Strapi and Storyblok each have a free entry plan, and their paid plans start at $15 per seat per month, $45 per month and $99 per month respectively. Hosting and front-end development are extra.
Which headless CMS is free?
Payload's software is MIT-licensed, so there is no licence fee. Sanity's Free plan, Strapi's Community plan and Storyblok's Starter plan are also free, each with limits on seats, documents or traffic.
Is per-seat pricing a problem for a newsroom?
It can be. Sanity charges $15 per seat per month on Growth, and Storyblok charges $15 per month for extra seats, up to a cap by plan. A large contributor list adds up, so count editors, freelancers and developers.
Which plan do I need for editorial review stages?
On Strapi, Review Workflows are Enterprise only. On Sanity, scheduled drafts start on Growth, and custom roles are Enterprise. Check which workflow features you need before comparing the headline price.
Why does this page not give a Directus or Contentful price?
Directus's pricing page contradicted itself when we read it, and we could not read Contentful's pricing at all on our last attempt. We leave out figures we cannot confirm. Get a current quote from each vendor.
Sources
- Sanity's pricing page lists Free at $0 with up to 20 user seats and 10k documents, Growth at $15 per seat per month with up to 50 user seats and 25k documents, and Enterprise on custom pricing. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- On Sanity's pricing page, Free has 2 permission roles and Growth has 5; scheduled drafts are included from Growth, SSO with SAML is Enterprise only, and Enterprise has custom roles and access control. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Strapi's self-hosted pricing page lists Community as free, Growth at $45 per month including 3 users (+$15 per month per extra user), and Enterprise as contact-us pricing. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- On Strapi's self-hosted pricing page, Live Preview is included in Growth and Enterprise but not Community, Review Workflows are Enterprise only, and SSO is a Growth add-on at $150 per month plus $50 per month per user or included in Enterprise. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Storyblok's pricing page lists Starter as free with 1 seat, 100GB traffic, 100k API requests per month and 2 locales; Growth at $99 per month ($90.75 per month billed annually) with 5 seats, 400GB traffic, 1M API requests and 2 locales; Growth Plus at $349 per month ($319.91 billed annually) with 15 seats, 1TB traffic, 4M API requests and 10 locales; and Premium and Elite at custom pricing. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Storyblok's pricing page lists extra seats at $15 per month on Starter (up to 2 seats) and Growth (up to 10 seats), no extra seats on Growth Plus, and additional locales on Growth at $20 per month. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Payload's repository licence file is the MIT License, copyright 2018-2026 Payload CMS, LLC. — source, checked 26 October 2026.
- Directus's pricing page showed different Team prices in its plan cards ($588 per month billed yearly, $698 billed monthly) and in its FAQ ($499 per month with an annual commitment, $599 on a rolling monthly basis), and listed Core at $89 or $99 per month with SSO not available on Core. — source, checked 26 October 2026.