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Xperience by Kentico vs. Optimizely Content Management System

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Xperience by Kentico

    Score7 out of 10
    N/AKentico is a web content management system for building websites, online stores, intranets, and Web 2.0 community sites. Kentico CMS uses ASP.NET and Microsoft SQL Server for development via its Portal Engine, using Visual Studio, or through Microsoft MVC.

    $9,999

    Subscription license

    Optimizely Content Management System

    Score8.4 out of 10
    N/AOptimizely Content Management System (CMS) is purpose-built for marketers, and fully composable for developers. The CMS supports the end-to-end content lifecycle, helping users to deliver on-brand, high-impact digital experiences that 'wow' audiences.N/A
    Pricing
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Editions & Modules
    Kentico Xperience Business
    $9,999 / year
    Subscription license
    Kentico Xperience Business
    $14,999
    Perpetual license
    Kentico Xperience Enterprise
    $17,999 / year
    Subscription license
    Kentico Xperience Enterprise
    $29,999
    Perpetual license
    Kentico Xperience Corporate
    Upon request
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    YesNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesYes
    Entry-level Setup FeeOptionalRequired
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Considered Both Products
    Kentico software
    No answer on this topic
    Optimizely
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Preference in .Net and the limited functionality of saas offerings like Kentico has kept us on Episerver. Investigation is constant in searching for a solid .Net core solution that is headless first, and provides a similar admin experience to Episerver with a site tree …
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    We selected Optimizely Content Management system for their ease of use and their other offerings like content marketing platform which helps us to keep everything under one roof.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Much easier admin interface.
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Optimizely Content Management System is more mature and resilient
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    Much easier to use and more developer friendly
    Incentivized
    Chose Optimizely Content Management System
    I'm currently using Kentico CMS and by comparison, EpiServer is much better product.
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    No answers on this topic
    97%
    Would buy again
    170 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    98%
    Delivers good value for the price
    144 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    164 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    93%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    104 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    86%
    Implementation went as expected
    120 Answers
    Features
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Security
    Comparison of Security features of Xperience by Kentico and Optimizely Content Management System
    Feature
    Xperience by Kentico
    9.0
    25 Ratings
    11% above category average
    Optimizely Content Management System
    8.4
    169 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Role-based user permissions9.025 Ratings8.4169 Ratings
    Platform & Infrastructure
    Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Xperience by Kentico and Optimizely Content Management System
    Feature
    Xperience by Kentico
    9.0
    22 Ratings
    12% above category average
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.8
    166 Ratings
    0% below category average
    API9.021 Ratings7.8159 Ratings
    Internationalization / multi-language9.019 Ratings7.8127 Ratings
    Web Content Creation
    Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Xperience by Kentico and Optimizely Content Management System
    Feature
    Xperience by Kentico
    8.6
    26 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.7
    194 Ratings
    2% below category average
    WYSIWYG editor8.025 Ratings7.6178 Ratings
    Code quality / cleanliness8.026 Ratings7.9166 Ratings
    Admin section8.026 Ratings8.0178 Ratings
    Page templates9.026 Ratings8.0172 Ratings
    Library of website themes7.013 Ratings7.497 Ratings
    Mobile optimization / responsive design9.024 Ratings7.9176 Ratings
    Publishing workflow10.025 Ratings8.1172 Ratings
    Form generator10.025 Ratings6.4131 Ratings
    Web Content Management
    Comparison of Web Content Management features of Xperience by Kentico and Optimizely Content Management System
    Feature
    Xperience by Kentico
    8.0
    26 Ratings
    19% above category average
    Optimizely Content Management System
    7.5
    180 Ratings
    0% below category average
    Content taxonomy9.025 Ratings7.9165 Ratings
    SEO support7.025 Ratings7.1164 Ratings
    Bulk management10.025 Ratings6.9137 Ratings
    Availability / breadth of extensions8.025 Ratings7.5142 Ratings
    Community / comment management6.024 Ratings8.0117 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
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    Score7 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Sitecore Digital Experience Platform
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Square Online
    Score7.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Progress Sitefinity
    Score7.9 out of 10
    RWS Tridion Sites
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (45 ratings)
    8.5
    (223 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.1
    (22 ratings)
    9.8
    (34 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (4 ratings)
    8.5
    (92 ratings)
    Availability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.2
    (4 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.1
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (8 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.1
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Xperience by KenticoOptimizely Content Management System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Kentico software
    Kentico is a robust and flexible CMS platform that is great for managing multiple websites and multiple environments (dev, stage, and production for instance). It makes content management very easy and makes it easy to keep the environments synced with the same content. However, the Kentico CMS does require a bit more technical understanding to get it set up properly and requires a bit more effort and support than, say, free open-source options.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    If you want to build a website quickly there are plenty of ways to do so with some great examples and plenty of support both from the company and in the forums. if you want to build a more complex structure you can but be ready to spend the time to build exactly what you need as a solid foundation goes a massive way before building out content and making those choices early and sticking with them helps
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Kentico software
    • I love the intuitive top and left navigation within the content management platform. I can easily find what section, sub-section, and page I'm looking to edit
    • For creating content, the WYSIWYG editor is so intuitive; it feels like you're working on an MS Word doc!
    • The tab for adding metadata in simple fields takes away the headache of having to hunt and peck through code to add H1 tag, page description etc.
    • The image library is easy to edit and manage
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • I think the user interface for content admins is very good and very competitive. And compared to other providers, the technology that CMS in particular has. So the way it integrated the net ecosystem is very well because it follows the MBC pattern. So basically it just allows really simple implementations for what would normally be complex components on any other sort of vendor that's out there.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Kentico software
    • Kentico needs to invest in more enterprise class environment management utilities -- example: global CDN support via the CMS is sorely lacking. There are work-arounds, but it should be more elegant.
    • The Kentico staging module could be improved to support the concept of bundled releases. Current staging module functionality is good, but could be improved.
    • Kentico ecommerce support is a touch immature. While content management is superb, Kentico lags in this area when compared to many open source ecommerce engines.
    • Kentico is lacking MVC support. 99% of the time this isn't an issue for the end-user or business user, but can be a hurdle for technology teams depending on the team's makeup.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • Magento did have some nice tools for creating product groups or carousels for promotion. Opti seems to be lacking in that.
    • A blog - maybe this is available and we don't have it installed, but a searchable blog would be very appreciated.
    • Structured Data/MicroData - maybe it's our install, but this seems to be missing
    • Meta data: we have access to limited types and need to make a request from IT, it would be nice to be able to access more to adjust for SEO needs.
    • When in a folder on the BLOCKS tab, it would be wonderful to hit the MEDIA tab and stay in that same folder.
    • I have some less technical people that will make folders with spaces - which Opti handles, but it would be great if it wouldn't accept a space or gave an error message not to use them.
    • I think I know why the extra code is added to urls and image links, but it causes issues when taking things from our testing site to the live site. For example, I need to copy the Navigation from Inspect Element on testing to put it in production. I have learned to work around it, but it's not my favorite.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Kentico software
    We are locked into Kentico for the long haul. It provides us with an easy and flexible solution for a very non technical company to create a site and have the features they want, especially with the inclusion of EMS into our license. Now we have a true platform to build and grow our solutions.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    Since I work on the implementation side of things, and do not directly own licensing for Ektron CMS, I have to base this rating off of how I think it will be received or presented to customers looking to start a new site deployment. I try to remain CMS agnostic, though my specialty is with the .NET and Microsoft stack. Because of the experience I have working with Ektron, I tend to be more forgiving with the shortcomings as I am familiar with how to work around them or past them from experience. Being familiar with the community available also helps, as you become familiar with the best approaches to find solutions to your issues. Each product has it's ups and downs and all of them are only going to be as good as the company or development team implementing them can make them. This is EXTREMELY important to remember when choosing a CMS, as it can make or break your expensive investment.
    Read full review
    Usability
    Kentico software
    It seriously is one of the best interfaces I have ever used. I also love the fact that I can use UI personalization to secure any functionality by user or role that I don't want that role to have access to. The best part is the customization of the UI, I can add in any button, tab, or menu item I want through it, no code required.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    From our editors perspective they find the CMS system easy and to clear to use. Our developers find it very easy to design on and appreciate the level of service support available. It's also always evolving and getting better every year. We find this investment reassuring and encourages us to try keep pace and see how we can continue to push the envelope and continue to improve all aspect of our websites and online touch points.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Kentico software
    No answers on this topic
    Optimizely
    Unplanned outages or errors are fairly rare in our instance. And when there are issues, they're usually fixed fairly quickly
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Kentico software
    Their support staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and will work with you until your issue is fixed. This could take a few phone calls back and forth, but they are very diligent in helping you.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I attended multiple trainings/tutorials early in the process. The vendor-supplied content about Optimizely was engaging for users/attendees (I often analyze training content, compliance programs, governance plans), which helps our OCM people by having good "word of mouth" about the product long before a rollout ever happens. I actually when the user-focused portion of the Optimizely Academy twice in 2022 to ensure I had a grasp on operability and to be able to support the training and OCM efforts
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Kentico software
    No answers on this topic
    Optimizely
    Ektron is one of the best solution for .Net platform. Over the years have improved the performance issues that the previous versions had. My only complain is right now you can't do Page builder pages if you choose to have a MVC architecture
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Kentico software
    The system provides many opportunities to integrate and enhance the platform and makes it easy to do so.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    I was not fully involved.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Kentico software
    I've used Sitecore, Ektron, Joomla!, WordPress, and SharePoint (if you want to count that as a competitor for CMS). Kentico 8 blows them all out of the water. Nothing is more intuitive in the way that content is created, the way the site is setup, and how efficient rollouts can be with Content Staging.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    Optimizely Content Management System is much more feature rich, and less complex that the other CMS platforms we have used. Optimizely Content Management System is more intuitive in how the content is structured and how easy it is to pull blocks of content to create the layout of a page.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Kentico software
    • Kentico has enabled faster speed to market for SMEs. They are empowered to enter content them selves while still having that content go through editorial review to ensure tone of voice and brand are maintained.
    • Deploying Kentico has freed up web developer resources from manual content entry enabling them to build more useful solutions to support the business efforts
    • Tapping into the Kentico event pipelne allows us to trigger external system events when product content is published.
    Read full review
    Optimizely
    • Flexibility with design that allows us to work towards our mission of 'Tennis Opened Up'
    • Speed of deploying content, meaning users can really on us for the most up-to-date content on tennis in Britain
    • Ability to have different logged-in areas for different user groups, allowing us to create more bespoke and personalised experiences
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Xperience by Kentico Screenshots

    Screenshot of Application listScreenshot of Marketing AutomationScreenshot of Kentico DashboardScreenshot of Data ProtectionScreenshot of Persona InsightsScreenshot of Campaign Management

    Optimizely Content Management System Screenshots

    Screenshot of Content delivery: Developers can use modern GraphQL and REST APIs to query content from any source and send it to any channel or device.Screenshot of User roles and permissionsScreenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Add an image: Optimizely Visual Builder offers a range of editing features designed to make content creation and layout building intuitive and accessible to both technical and non-technical users. A drag-and-drop system is used to add, move, and rearrange elements within the layout, for quick and flexible content organization.Screenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Create an experience: Create an Experience functionality in Optimizely Visual Builder offers a code-free way to build and manage captivating digital experiences. It offers pre-built content blocks or elements (like text, images, buttons, forms, etc.) that can be positioned on the page layout as desired. Visual Builder offers extensive options to customize the appearance and behavior of these elements. Users can modify colors, fonts, sizes, animations, and even add interactive features providing flexibility in arranging content, accommodating various design needs and responsiveness across different screen sizes.Screenshot of (SaaS CMS): Visual Builder: Publish: The Visual Builder displays changes in real-time as they are made. This includes side-by-side previews for different devices like desktops, tablets, and mobiles. Before publishing, the Interactive Preview mode can be used to test elements like forms, buttons, and other interactive components to ensure they work as expected on the live site. Changes can then be published directly from the Visual Builder interface, making them instantly available to site visitors.Screenshot of the central location to manage assets, editing and publishing content.