Slingshot Bio
Roboto converged Slingshot Bio's WordPress and Shopify sites into one headless Shopify build on Next.js and Sanity, instrumented end to end and AI-ready.
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From Dato CMS to Sanity
We are the Dato CMS to Sanity migration experts
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The process
How we migrate from Dato CMS to Sanity
- 01
Access and gating audit
First we check the existing Dato CMS and see whether the data is clean enough to move straight over to Sanity, and plan around any auth walls or bot protection in the way.
- 02
Rendering assessment and extraction
Then we work out how Dato CMS renders its pages and pull the content out, even without CMS access.
- 03
AI-assisted sanitization
Everything extracted runs through our sanitization pipeline, which flags slop, normalizes structure, and leaves us clean content to work with.
- 04
Content-model design with the client
Before anything moves, we agree the Sanity content model with you, shaped around how your editors actually work.
- 05
Transform and soft-migrate
We transform the content to the agreed schema and run a full dry run, so mappings and edge cases prove out before production.
- 06
Execute the real migration
Once the dry run is clean, everything moves into Sanity in one controlled cutover.
- 07
Redirect mapping and throttled sitemap submission
Every old URL gets mapped to its new home with the right redirect, so rankings and link equity survive the move.
- 08
Agentic-browser QA
Finally, automated browsers sweep the new site for data issues, design regressions, and missing SEO signals.
- Ready when you are. We'll bring the moving boxes.Start my migration
Challenges with Dato CMS
Key pain points
DatoCMS gives all the vibes of Prismic, but is somehow less flexible. It can feel like a glorified drag-and-drop schema builder. The moment you want to do anything mildly custom, the walls start closing in. And yes, the pricing stings. It scales fast, which is great for Dato, not so great for anyone trying to run a startup without selling a kidney.
The ecosystem is small, the extensions are thin, and deeper customisation often turns into "well, I guess we're building that ourselves." There's no hard spend cap: DatoCMS confirmed overages accumulate automatically on paid plans with no way to set a budget limit, so surprise bills are a real risk. Once your project grows, you quickly realise drag-and-drop doesn't magically give you validation or extensibility. If you need something genuinely custom or long-term scalable, there are better choices. Just contact us before you start one of the most expensive journeys.
Limited customisation options
DatoCMS hits a ceiling fast if you need deeply custom logic. The drag-and-drop model is convenient, but it doesn't give you the freedom a code-first setup would.
Pricing based on traffic
Costs scale with usage, which can get painful quickly for growing sites. Traffic spikes = surprise bills, and there's no hard spending cap to protect you.
Steeper learning curve
While the UI is simple, the API-driven side demands more technical understanding. Non-developers may struggle once things get complex.
Need for additional plugins
Out-of-the-box features only go so far. More advanced workflows often require plugins or custom development to bridge gaps.
Limited feature set scalability
Great for small–mid projects, but larger, more demanding setups can outgrow what DatoCMS offers out of the box.
Potential integration issues
Certain frameworks and tools need careful configuration, and edge cases appear more often than you'd expect in more mature CMS ecosystems.
Benefits of Sanity
Key advantages
You know where our bias' lies. We think Sanity is literally the best headless content management out there. The schema is code-based, so it can be easily versioned, scaled, and extended without a heap of third-party hoops to jump. Providing you build it with a solid foundation, which we always recommend Turbo Start Sanity, it's going to be the most valuable hub for content you can imagine.
It's got a very unique tooling called the Live Content API, which in simple terms means
when you press publish, its live.
No issues with caching, and a single API usage that scales perfectly with multichannel content delivery.
It also offers one of the best editorial experiences in the industry with Presentation and customizable content structures. We're obviously huge fans of it, and we've pivoted our business with it when we realised how ahead it is.
Real time collaboration
You write, your teammate tags in, adds citations, and updates the same doc without stepping on each other. It’s the fastest way to ship content without the "who has edit access?" chaos.
Live preview block building
With Sanity, you don’t have to guess what your page might look like. Real-time previews update the moment you type. It’s a 1:1 mirror of your site before it ever goes live, so your campaigns look right the first time.
Meta tags, structured content
Sanity’s structured content gives Google clean data and rich schema, so your pages surface higher without manual hacking. Automated schema, smarter metadata, and better rankings.
Better media management
A blazing-fast media library with first-class support for Cloudinary, Mux, Wistia and more. Upload, drag-and-drop, preview without wrestling with assets, and waiting for spins of doom.
Automated social sharing
Ever wanted to share one update, and automatically populate every social platform? Welcome to the future we've built that. Why should social media be a chore.
Automated image generation
Sanity keeps your subject centred and sharp like a tiny author thumbnail or a full-page hero banner. There are no awkward crops, or chopped heads. Your visuals just look right everywhere.
Common questions
Dato CMS to Sanity migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Dato CMS to Sanity migration
DatoCMS pricing is tied to API calls and bandwidth, which means costs scale with your traffic. The free tier includes 100k Content Delivery API calls per month and 10GB of bandwidth. Separately, the Free plan includes 25k Content Management API calls per month. The Professional plan runs €199/month on a monthly basis, or €149/month billed annually, with higher limits including 1M CDA API calls and 1TB bandwidth per month. The Enterprise tier is custom-priced. One real concern worth flagging is that there is no hard spending cap. DatoCMS confirmed in their community forum that paid plans let overages accumulate automatically with no way to set a budget limit, so a traffic spike or viral post can generate surprise bills without warning. Set up API caching aggressively and lean on static generation to keep costs predictable. If budget guardrails are critical to your team, factor that in before committing.
The migration is step one. Our Sanity team handles what comes after: builds, integrations and the content model work that keeps the new platform clean.
Sanity development agencyGet in touch
Tell us what you're building. We reply within one working day. Jono or someone on the team picks up every message personally.
