Sanity is a powerful headless content platform for teams that want structured content delivered through APIs to custom frontends. Splitleaf is a local-first desktop app that combines visual page design, file-based content, and publish to your host.
Why this choice matters more than it looks
Sanity separates content from presentation on purpose. That is powerful for multi-channel products. It also means you still need a frontend codebase, preview and draft wiring, deploy pipelines, and someone to maintain the glue when schemas change.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Splitleaf | Sanity |
|---|---|---|
| Product shape | Desktop site manager (design + content + publish) | Headless content platform |
| Content storage | Files in repo / disk | Hosted content dataset |
| Page design | Built-in visual designer | Bring your own frontend |
| Structured content | Collections + field schemas | Strong content modeling |
| Version control | Git commits on publish | Platform history + git for your frontend code |
| Hosting | Bring your own static host | Host content on Sanity; host frontend elsewhere |
| AI workflow | In-app agent on real site files (BYOK) | Platform / ecosystem AI integrations |
| Multi-channel delivery | Website-first static publish | Strong (API to many surfaces) |
| Vendor lock-in | Low on site files | Medium (content platform + query model) |