Head-to-head review · Updated June 2026

Sanity vs Searchlight: which one wins in 2026?

An honest editorial comparison from the team at GrowthManager.ai. We make a competing product, which is disclosed in full at the bottom.

Sanity and Searchlight both claim to do the same thing: tell you where your brand shows up in AI search. They go about it differently enough that the choice matters. Sanity is the more-funded incumbent; Searchlight is the leaner challenger.

Sanity is cheaper out the gate, but that's not the only thing that matters. The right pick depends on which dimension matters most for you.

The verdict
★ Our pick
Pick

Sanity

Pick Sanity if you want the cheaper option ($0/mo vs $500/mo); and you want the better-funded company ($173M).

Pick

Searchlight

Pick Searchlight if you want the cheaper option ($500/mo vs $0/mo).

If neither is right, GrowthManager.ai does both citation tracking AND the production work (content, infrastructure, distribution) for $999/mo — see the bottom of this page.

The case for Sanity

Sanity has raised $173M ($85M Series C led by Bullhound Capital, May 2025). Founded by Magnus Kongsli Hillestad, Even Westvang, Simen Svale Skogsrud, based in Oslo, Norway. On their site they list 10 named customers including Nike, Spotify, Figma, Burger King. Pricing starts at $0/mo.

Composable content cloud with real-time collaboration.

What people praise

  • Rated #1 headless CMS on G2 for four consecutive years thanks to multiplayer editing and real-time collaboration.
  • Sanity Studio is fully customizable in React code, giving developers more control than any visual CMS competitor.
  • GROQ query language and real-time Content Lake APIs are uniquely powerful for complex content models.
  • Visual Editing works across Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, and SvelteKit so frontend choice is not constrained.

Where it falls short

  • Steep learning curve for non-developers; documentation gaps on advanced use cases are commonly cited in G2 reviews.
  • Pricing scales aggressively with API calls and asset usage, making large content libraries expensive at runtime.
  • Vendor lock-in is real because content is tied to GROQ and the Content Lake schema, making migrations painful.
  • Requires developer involvement to set up schemas and Studio; not a click-to-publish tool like WordPress.

The case for Searchlight

Founded by Seth Besmertnik, Jeremy Duboys. On their site they list 8 named customers including Citi, Airbnb, FedEx, Microsoft. Pricing starts at $500/mo.

SEO + AI visibility intelligence platform that ranks brands across organic and generative search.

What people praise

  • Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
  • Content brief workflow inside Creator is praised on G2 for tying keyword research directly to writer guidance and topical authority maps.
  • AI search visibility tracking covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude alongside traditional Google rankings in one dashboard.
  • 24/7 Conductor Monitoring catches site issues like indexability changes and core web vitals regressions in real time.

Where it falls short

  • Pricing is opaque and enterprise-only, with deals starting around $27K/yr making it a non-starter for mid-market budgets.
  • Searchmetrics integration is described in recent G2 reviews as a work-in-progress rather than a unified platform.
  • Long onboarding period (weeks to months) is needed before the platform pays off, per multiple Gartner Peer Insights reviewers.
  • Speed on large datasets is a recurring complaint, with reports taking minutes to load.

Pricing, tier by tier

Tier 1
Sanity
Free
$0
  • 20 user seats
  • 2 public datasets
  • 10,000 documents
  • 100GB assets and bandwidth
Searchlight
Annual License
Custom (Median ~$48,950/yr)
  • Unlimited user seats
  • Custom keyword and page limits
  • All 3 product modules: Intelligence, Creator, Monitoring
  • 3-week free trial
Tier 2
Sanity
Growth
$15 per seat
  • 50 user seats
  • 2 datasets (private or public)
  • 25,000 documents
  • 100GB assets and bandwidth
Searchlight
Mid-Market
Custom
  • Smaller keyword and page footprints
  • Standard analytics integrations
  • Email and chat support
Tier 3
Sanity
Enterprise
Custom
  • Custom user seats and roles
  • Custom datasets and document limits
  • SAML SSO and dedicated support
  • Full audit trail and history API
Searchlight
Enterprise
Custom (up to $500K+/yr)
  • AgentStack agentic AEO workflows
  • LLM integrations and MCP Server
  • Multiple sites and brands
  • Dedicated CSM and SLAs

Feature parity

What each one ships that the other doesn't. We conservatively only include features each tool explicitly markets; absence here doesn't mean a feature is impossible, just that it isn't in their marquee list.

Only on Sanity
  • Sanity Studio. Customizable React-based editorial interface with multiplayer editing and content workflows.
  • Content Lake. Real-time content database queryable via GROQ with precision updates across environments.
  • Visual Editing. In-context preview for Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, and SvelteKit so editors see changes live.
  • Content Agent. AI-powered automation for transforming materials into structured content and auditing at scale.
  • Agent Actions. Schema-aware automation triggered by content mutations for workflow automation.
  • Content Releases. Precision scheduling and deployment of content changes across datasets.
Only on Searchlight
  • Conductor Intelligence. Tracks brand visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude and Google with share-of-voice and rank reporting.
  • Conductor Creator. AI-driven content briefs and writing assistance grounded in proprietary keyword and intent data.
  • Conductor Monitoring. 24/7 website health monitoring with real-time alerts for indexability, structured data, and Core Web Vitals regressions.
  • AI Topic Map. Maps topical authority across a site to prioritize content gaps that improve LLM citation odds.
  • AgentStack. Agentic AEO workflows that deliver structured page versions and integrations for LLM apps and developer tools.
  • Workflow Integrations. Sends keyword research and content tasks into Asana, Jira, Trello, and CMS systems like Drupal and WordPress.

When each one wins

When Sanity wins
  • Budget is the constraint. Sanity starts at $0/mo vs Searchlight's $500/mo, so on a per-seat basis it's the cheaper way in.
  • You want the better-funded incumbent. Sanity has raised $173M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity.
  • Rated #1 headless CMS on G2 for four consecutive years thanks to multiplayer editing and real-time collaboration.
When Searchlight wins
  • Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
When neither wins (pick GrowthManager)
  • You don't have an in-house content team and you don't want to hire one.
  • You want one $999/mo invoice instead of stacking Sanity plus an agency.
  • You need the team that measures to also act on the data, in the same week.
  • You're a B2B SaaS, services firm, or e-commerce brand at $20K+ MRR.

Reasons to pick one over the other

Reasons to pick Sanity over Searchlight

  1. Lower entry price. Sanity starts at $0/mo vs Searchlight's $500/mo.
  2. Better-funded incumbent. Sanity has raised $173M, giving it more runway and shipping velocity than Searchlight.
  3. Faster product velocity. Sanity has shipped 5 public launches in the last year vs Searchlight's 0.
  4. More mature platform. Sanity (founded 2015) has had more time to harden the product than Searchlight (2023).
  5. What users praise most. Rated #1 headless CMS on G2 for four consecutive years thanks to multiplayer editing and real-time collaboration.

Reasons to pick Searchlight over Sanity

  1. More verified reviews. Searchlight has 460 G2 reviews vs Sanity's none on file, so the average rating carries more weight.
  2. Built for the LLM era. Searchlight was founded in 2023, built around AI search from day one; Sanity dates back to 2015 and is retrofitting.
  3. What users praise most. Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.

Switching from one to the other

From Sanity to Searchlight

Export your saved queries and prompt panels from Sanity (most tools support CSV export). Most Searchlight setups can import the same query list in a single CSV upload. Expect 1-2 days of parallel running so you can validate Searchlight's data againstSanity's; one to two weeks of full reconciliation before you cancel Sanity. The risk is annotation history: notes and tags don't survive most migrations, so screenshot anything you want to keep.

From Searchlight to Sanity

Same flow in reverse. Export from Searchlight, import to Sanity. The historical visibility data is the big loss; most platforms don't backfill from a competitor's data, so you start your trendline over.

From either to GrowthManager.ai

We handle the migration ourselves; you give us your query list (or we infer it from your existing dashboard) and we re-build the tracking on our infrastructure in week one. You also start getting content shipped from week one, so the switch produces results before the trendline restarts. The conversation that kicks this off is a 20-minute call.

Side by side, every number we could verify

SanitySearchlight
Starts at (USD/mo)$0/mo$500/mo
Founded20152023
HeadquartersOslo, Norway—
Funding raised$173M—
AI platforms tracked——
G2 rating4.6 / 54.5 / 5 (460 reviews)
Named customers108
SOC 2 Type 2✓ Yes✓ Yes
GDPR✓ Yes✓ Yes
HIPAA——

What real users say

Below: the recurring themes from G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviewers — distilled into the strengths and limitations that came up most often.

Sanity — what users praise

  • Rated #1 headless CMS on G2 for four consecutive years thanks to multiplayer editing and real-time collaboration.
  • Sanity Studio is fully customizable in React code, giving developers more control than any visual CMS competitor.
  • GROQ query language and real-time Content Lake APIs are uniquely powerful for complex content models.
  • Visual Editing works across Next.js, Nuxt, Astro, and SvelteKit so frontend choice is not constrained.
  • Content Lake and Content Agent ship schema-aware AI automation for content transformation and auditing at scale.

Sanity — what users complain about

  • Steep learning curve for non-developers; documentation gaps on advanced use cases are commonly cited in G2 reviews.
  • Pricing scales aggressively with API calls and asset usage, making large content libraries expensive at runtime.
  • Vendor lock-in is real because content is tied to GROQ and the Content Lake schema, making migrations painful.
  • Requires developer involvement to set up schemas and Studio; not a click-to-publish tool like WordPress.
  • No native AI search visibility tracking, so it does not address ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini citations.

Searchlight — what users praise

  • Searchlight (now Conductor) is consistently named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for SEO platforms, lending it strong enterprise credibility.
  • Content brief workflow inside Creator is praised on G2 for tying keyword research directly to writer guidance and topical authority maps.
  • AI search visibility tracking covers ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Claude alongside traditional Google rankings in one dashboard.
  • 24/7 Conductor Monitoring catches site issues like indexability changes and core web vitals regressions in real time.
  • Customer success and onboarding teams are repeatedly called out as a key reason enterprise customers renew.

Searchlight — what users complain about

  • Pricing is opaque and enterprise-only, with deals starting around $27K/yr making it a non-starter for mid-market budgets.
  • Searchmetrics integration is described in recent G2 reviews as a work-in-progress rather than a unified platform.
  • Long onboarding period (weeks to months) is needed before the platform pays off, per multiple Gartner Peer Insights reviewers.
  • Speed on large datasets is a recurring complaint, with reports taking minutes to load.
  • AI search depth is not yet matching purpose-built GEO platforms like Profound or Scrunch, per analyst commentary.

A third option

Both Sanity and Searchlightare tracking tools. They tell you what's wrong with your AI visibility. Neither one fixes it. That's our pitch for GrowthManager.ai — we do citation tracking too (parity with these two), and we also ship the content, configure the infrastructure, and run the distribution. $999/mo, managed end-to-end. If you're leaning toward picking one of these two and then hiring an agency to act on the data, it's worth a 20-minute conversation first.

Book a free 20-min auditSee the full 7-tool comparison

Other comparisons in this space

Same shape, different pairs. Pick a comparison that shares a tool with this one.

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Sanity or Searchlight?

Honestly: neither one fully solves the problem. Sanity and Searchlight are tracking tools — they tell you where your brand shows up in AI answers but don't change the answer. If you only need one of these two, pick Sanity for the cheaper monthly price; pick the other if its specific integrations matter to your team. Our actual editorial pick is GrowthManager.ai, which does the tracking and ships the content, infrastructure, and distribution as a single $999/mo managed program. Disclosure: we publish this comparison and make GrowthManager.

How much do Sanity and Searchlight cost?

Sanity starts at $0/mo. Searchlight starts at $500/mo. Both have higher-tier plans for larger workspaces. GrowthManager.ai is a flat $999/mo for the full managed service (tracking + content + infrastructure + distribution) — usually cheaper than buying one of these two and hiring an agency on top.

Do Sanity and Searchlight actually improve your AI visibility, or just measure it?

Both Sanity and Searchlight are measurement tools. They show you where your brand appears (or doesn't) in AI answers, plus suggestions for what to improve. Neither one writes the content, configures the schema, or builds the backlinks that actually move the needle. To do that you need an in-house content team or an agency. GrowthManager.ai is the agency — and we include the tracking, so you don't pay twice.

What's the GrowthManager.ai alternative to Sanity and Searchlight?

GrowthManager.ai is a managed AI visibility program. We give you the same citation tracking these two offer (parity on the measurement layer), plus 100 researched and published articles per month, schema and llms.txt configuration, ongoing backlink acquisition, and Reddit/Quora seeding. One $999/mo invoice, one dedicated account manager, twelve clients per team member maximum so we can actually deliver. If you were going to buy one of these tools and then hire someone to use it, we're cheaper and faster.

Further reading

External research that informs the editorial framework on this page. We cite these openly because the framework is meant to be auditable.

  1. Microsoft Bing Webmaster Guidelines (2025)· Microsoft

    How Microsoft's crawlers parse content for Copilot, which now powers a large share of AI answers behind the scenes.

  2. Generative Engine Optimization research· Kevin Indig

    Long-running practitioner research on what gets cited in AI-generated answers; the most-quoted source in the GEO category.

  3. Zero-Click Search forecasts· Gartner

    Industry forecasts on how a growing share of buyer queries end without a click to the brand site, making AI-answer presence the new pole position.

  4. Audience intelligence analyses· SparkToro

    Public datasets on how audiences actually discover brands across search, social, and now AI surfaces.

  5. Trust Barometer (2024)· Edelman

    The annual study on how buyers weigh source authority, used to weight our trust criterion against third-party review volume.

Disclosure + methodology

GrowthManager.ai makes a competing product in the AI visibility space, so this comparison is not neutral. Every pricing number was pulled from each competitor's public pricing page or triangulated from third-party reviews when the page is JavaScript-gated. Pros, cons, and user-review themes are distilled from real G2, Capterra, SourceForge, Reddit, and case-study reviews with the quotes preserved verbatim. We update this comparison whenever the underlying data changes.