Identity & Access Management · head to head
Ory vs Sanity
Ory
Identity & Access Management
Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Sanity
API Management
Headless CMS with real-time collaborative editing and structured content APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.; Sanity free plan limited to 10,000 documents and 100GB assets
- They diverge on capability: Ory covers Authentication APIs, Sanity covers Content API.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ory and Sanity actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Ory
- Authentication APIs
- Permissions engine
- Machine-to-machine tokens
- B2B organizations
- SAML SSO
- Multi-region deployments
Only in Sanity
- Content API
- Collaborative editing
- Structured content
- Webhooks
- Third-party services
- GROQ query language
- Cloud support
- JavaScript SDK support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Ory
- Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot Sanity
- Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot Sanity
- Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot Sanity
- Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot Sanity
Sanity
- Headless CMS for structured content managementnot Ory
- Collaborative content editing with real-time multiplayer supportnot Ory
- API-driven content delivery with GROQ query languagenot Ory
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Ory
- Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
- SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
- Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.
Sanity
- Free plan limited to 10,000 documents and 100GB assets
- Free plan supports only public datasets
- Growth plan capped at 50 seats maximum
- Private datasets, scheduled drafts, and comments/tasks require paid plans
- Annual billing unavailable for Growth plan; Enterprise-only
Pricing, plan by plan
Ory
Free- DeveloperFree
- Community support
- No production environments
- Production$64/month
- $21 monthly credit included
- 1 production environment
- 3 staging environments
- Growth$779/month
- $255 monthly credit included
- 2 production environments
- B2B organizations (max 3)
Sanity
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Sanity review.
Which should you pick?
Choose Ory if
- You need authentication apis.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want permissions engine.
Choose Sanity if
- You need content api.
- You want to start without paying.
- You also want collaborative editing.
Questions people ask
- Is Ory or Sanity better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ory starts at Free and Sanity at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ory or Sanity?
- Ory starts at Free and Sanity at Free.
- Does Ory or Sanity run on more platforms?
- Ory runs on web, api. Sanity runs on Web.
- Can I use Ory for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Ory best used for?
- Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what Sanity is typically brought in for.
- What can Ory do that Sanity cannot?
- Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations. Sanity covers Content API, Collaborative editing, Structured content, Webhooks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Ory: What does Ory cost?
Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.
SourceOry: How is usage metered?
Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.
SourceOry: What payment methods are supported?
Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.
SourceRelated pages
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