From Payload to Sanity

We are the Payload to Sanity migration experts

Challenges with Payload

Key pain points

Payload’s biggest issue is how quickly it hands you the responsibility baton. Because it leans so heavily on self-hosting, you’re suddenly running databases, managing infra, dealing with scaling, and debugging auth quirks at 11 pm. And since the platform is still maturing, updates can feel unpredictable, and the surrounding ecosystem isn’t quite deep enough yet to soften the landing when something breaks. The recent Figma acquisition didn’t help either. Support has felt a bit lighter, and some priorities clearly shifted, alongside pricing.

Payload feels flexible on day one, the moment your project grows you’re either engineering around gaps or paying more than expected. If you're debating whether Payload fits the future of your stack (or you’re already feeling the cracks), we’re always happy to help you plan a cleaner path or a migration that won’t come back to bite you.

A line graph on a grid with a rising, dipping, then sharply increasing line. The area under the latter half of the line is shaded with diagonal stripes.

Steep learning curve

Payload’s code-first approach means you need solid dev experience to use it effectively. Non-technical teams will struggle, and onboarding takes longer compared to more guided CMSs.

Smaller ecosystem of plugins

There aren’t many ready-made extensions, so you’ll end up building features yourself. This adds development time and increases long-term maintenance.

Potential performance overhead

Because it’s a full JavaScript backend, Payload can get resource-heavy under high traffic. You’ll need to optimise your server setup and monitor performance more closely.

Gaps in documentation

The docs are improving, but there are still missing pieces and unclear sections. New users often have to dig through GitHub issues to find answers.

Small community

The community is growing but still small, so there’s less shared knowledge, fewer tutorials, and slower troubleshooting compared to bigger CMS ecosystems.

A wavy gear shape with a central dot, surrounded by two concentric circles, all on a grid.

Requires separate hosting

Payload doesn’t come with built-in hosting, so you’re responsible for setting up and managing your server. That adds extra cost, extra setup, and extra operational overhead.

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.

Multiplayer - multiple users editing the same blocks at the same time

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 content API and presentation editor - a way to be able to edit things side by side, directly within Sanity

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 and structured content help to build websites, UI showing the ability to edit granularly

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.

Image generation and optimisation, directly within Sanity CMS, showing a space alien getting optimised

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.