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Magnolia

Magnolia

Overview

What is Magnolia?

Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, Magnolia is presented as a fast way to launch digital experiences. With a mission to help clients move fast and stay flexible and boasting users…

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Recent Reviews

Magnolia CMS

10 out of 10
March 30, 2024
Incentivized
Magnolia is our front end CMS serving the content for our B2B website serving 24 countries and 18 different languages. The Magnolia CMS …
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Personalisation is key

7 out of 10
October 16, 2023
About 3 years ago we looked at updating our CMS solution to something that was more adaptable and allow us to be more personalised with …
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Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Page templates (73)
    8.9
    89%
  • Role-based user permissions (70)
    8.1
    81%
  • Admin section (71)
    8.0
    80%
  • Publishing workflow (74)
    7.5
    75%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Verified User
Manager in Marketing
Financial Services Company, 10,001+ employees
Verified User
Team Lead in Information Technology
Information Technology & Services Company, 10,001+ employees
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Pricing

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Magnolia

Magnolia

N/A
Unavailable

What is Magnolia?

Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, Magnolia is presented as a fast way to launch digital experiences. With a mission to help clients move fast and stay flexible and boasting users among brands like Atlassian and The New York Times, Magnolia…

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)

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Features

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

8.1
Avg 8.0

Platform & Infrastructure

Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.

8
Avg 7.7

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

8
Avg 7.6

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

7.5
Avg 7.3
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Product Details

What is Magnolia?

Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, Magnolia is presented as a fast way to launch digital experiences. With a mission to help clients move fast and stay flexible and boasting users among brands like Atlassian and The New York Times, Magnolia DXP supports industries ranging from automotive to telecommunications, offering enterprise features and headless agility to help them stay ahead.

From humble beginnings in Basel, Magnolia's footprint is now global with offices on five continents and more than 200 certified Magnolia Partners strategically located around the world.

Magnolia Features

Web Content Creation Features

  • Supported: WYSIWYG editor
  • Supported: Code quality / cleanliness
  • Supported: Content versioning
  • Supported: Admin section
  • Supported: Page templates
  • Supported: Mobile optimization / responsive design
  • Supported: Publishing workflow
  • Supported: Form generator
  • Supported: Content scheduling

Web Content Management Features

  • Supported: Internal content search
  • Supported: Content taxonomy
  • Supported: SEO support
  • Supported: Browser compatibility
  • Supported: Bulk management
  • Supported: Page caching
  • Supported: Availability / breadth of extensions
  • Supported: Built-in e-commerce / shopping cart
  • Supported: E-commerce / shopping cart extension
  • Supported: Community / comment management
  • Supported: Import / export
  • Supported: Website analytics

Platform & Infrastructure Features

  • Supported: API
  • Supported: Internationalization / multi-language

Security Features

  • Supported: Role-based user permissions
  • Supported: User-level audit trail
  • Supported: Version history
  • Supported: Simple roll-back capabilities

CMS programming language or framework Features

  • Supported: Java

Magnolia Screenshots

Screenshot of the customer experience: Brings together content and audiovisual digital assets to form more compelling digital experiences.Screenshot of the Magnolia App Launcher, used to switch between workspaces and manage pagesScreenshot of Magnolia's native analytics integration framework, used to take advantage of data directly in the authoring UI, coupled to content.Screenshot of global search that brings relevant content, no matter where it resides.Screenshot of customizing the ecommerce experience.

Magnolia Videos

The strengths of Magnolia in 100 seconds.
How to manage content in Magnolia more efficiently
Magnolia headless with no limits
Introducing the Magnolia Visual SPA Editor
Magnolia - Built for speed

Magnolia Integrations

Magnolia Competitors

Magnolia Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationMobile Web
Supported CountriesGlobal

Magnolia Downloadables

Frequently Asked Questions

Adobe Experience Manager, Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP), and Acquia Digital Experience Platform are common alternatives for Magnolia.

Reviewers rate Page templates highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of Magnolia are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).

Magnolia Customer Size Distribution

Consumers0%
Small Businesses (1-50 employees)10%
Mid-Size Companies (51-500 employees)57%
Enterprises (more than 500 employees)33%
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(120)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-3 of 3)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
March 15, 2023

Large amount of possibilities with low learning time

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Computer Software Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We build solutions based on Magnolia for our customer's needs. These needs include intranets, web pages, eCommerce, etc. Also, our customers come from a wide range of industries, such as banks, wholesalers, or [travel] companies.
Pros and Cons
  • API Rest calls
  • Organising contents
  • Usability by non-technical people
  • User interface
  • Administration site performance
  • More consistency when indicating if a content is published or not
Likelihood to Recommend
Magnolia is well suited for almost every scenario you can [imagine]. It is less appropriate for very basic web pages where other tools like WordPress are more specialized.
Magnolia Feature Ratings
Web Content Creation (6)
63.33333333333333%
6.3
WYSIWYG editor
N/A
N/A
Code quality / cleanliness
80%
8.0
Admin section
70%
7.0
Page templates
100%
10.0
Publishing workflow
50%
5.0
Form generator
80%
8.0
Web Content Management (5)
84%
8.4
Content taxonomy
80%
8.0
SEO support
100%
10.0
Bulk management
90%
9.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
70%
7.0
Community / comment management
80%
8.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
100%
10.0
API
100%
10.0
Internationalization / multi-language
100%
10.0
Security (1)
100%
10.0
Role-based user permissions
100%
10.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
Return on Investment
  • Positive: organization of complex content structures
  • Positive: developing times
  • Positive: reduced number of systems to manage
Usability
9
Intuitive and user-friendly interface. Pretty easy to create new page templates and components for your pages.
Performance
9
It has a quite good performance overall. The only downside I find is the performance of the admin site from Magnolia 6.0 onwards, although it is not terribly bad at all. API calls and so on are very good too.
Alternatives Considered
  • Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP)
When developing, I find Magnolia is better in many different ways, mainly in the consistency of how to create new components and page templates.
Other Software Used
Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Oracle Java SE, Eclipse
Users and Roles
25
Basically, they can be grouped up in Software architects, programmer analysts and human resources and marketing department. These are the people who work directly with Magnolia. The business functions they develop vary from technical solutions for the product, systems management or basic web content creation. Also, we can consider some people use Magnolia less directly, like commercials and managers.
Support Headcount Required
15
For tasks associated to manage the we content, like creating pages, filling them with content, managing the multimedia and so on, no mucha skills are needed.
For development tasks, like creating new page templates, new components or content applications, basic programming skills are needed. It is very recommended specific knowledge of Java, as Magnolia is based on this programming language.
Business Processes Supported
  • Corporate webs
  • Intranets
  • Orgaznization with multiple websites
  • B2C and B2B
Innovative Uses
  • B2B connected to a third-party commerce solution
  • Travel agency with a huge volume of information stored (hotels, destinations, flights...)
Future Planned Uses
  • Actually, we would be able to use Magnolia in the future for almost any purpose
Likelihood to Renew
9
Magnolia, although is it not absolutely perfect, is a very flexible product which includes many options and possibilities out of the box. Moreover, the product receives constant updates and new versions every few weeks, fixing known issues or bugs and adding new features and functionalities.
Its headless approach and numerous ways of customization, makes Magnolia a very good product to work with as well.
March 03, 2023

Magnolia is a highly extensible CMS with tons of integrations and features for enterprise content management

Verified User
Consultant in Information Technology
Internet Company, 51-200 employees
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Our clients like Magnolia for its flexibility and extensibility. We’ve been successful with Magnolia’s hybrid headless approach and multi-channel content distribution for both established companies and growing startups. In addition to leveraging the out-of-the-box features, we’ve built detailed components, layouts, and customized functionality to help meet our clients’ needs. They love that our answer is almost always “yes!” when they ask us “can Magnolia do X?” and the easy-to-use author controls make training and handoff a breeze.
Pros and Cons
  • Hybrid headless
  • Integration
  • Easy to use UI
  • Robust permission controls
  • Extended DAM features
  • Internal site search (currently is handled through optional 3rd party).
Likelihood to Recommend
For omnichannel content distribution, Magnolia does a great job of allowing us to create user-friendly content apps and content models, categorize content, manage taxonomies, etc. We've used it for marketing sites, e-commerce, apps, and more. We also like the built-in checkers and workflows for task management and QA. It can be as powerful or as simplistic as you want, but it's really great for scalable content management for rapidly growing businesses.
Magnolia Feature Ratings
Web Content Creation (7)
77.14285714285714%
7.7
WYSIWYG editor
90%
9.0
Code quality / cleanliness
80%
8.0
Admin section
90%
9.0
Page templates
90%
9.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
90%
9.0
Publishing workflow
100%
10.0
Form generator
N/A
N/A
Web Content Management (5)
76%
7.6
Content taxonomy
90%
9.0
SEO support
90%
9.0
Bulk management
100%
10.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
100%
10.0
Community / comment management
N/A
N/A
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
90%
9.0
API
100%
10.0
Internationalization / multi-language
80%
8.0
Security (1)
100%
10.0
Role-based user permissions
100%
10.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
Return on Investment
  • Consolidated tech stack
  • Happy clients
  • Smooth implementation
Usability
9
It's very easy to use and easy to learn. Whenever we bring on new developers they pick it up right away mostly because there's so much flexibility. On the authoring and editing end, we see the same thing—clients pick it up really quickly and can take off with minimal ongoing guidance.
Performance
9
Magnolia's performance is on par with other enterprises CMS/DXPs. The only performance issues we've run into have been on the client's end (content/migrated existing code) and were easily solved. I've been pleased with performance the entire 3+ years I've been using it.
Alternatives Considered
Compared to other WCMS/CMS/DXPs, Magnolia is among the best enterprise products. It's easier or as easy to use as others and has more features and more flexibility than most. The out of the box features are pretty standard, but the integrations and extensibility really set it apart from the rest.
Users and Roles
15
Product owners, devs, architects, QA, content authors, publishers, content strategists, and business stakeholders all use Magnolia. On the client-end, can vary client by client, but it's usually a group of 10-20 people. With the right governance in place, managing roles and permissions is really easy and helps us manage all our content and channels effectively.
Support Headcount Required
We usually have a set of developers, a technical architect, a product owner, and some QA resources to support Magnolia on an ongoing basis. This depends on the level of customization the business requires and also how complex the channels and usage are—for a really dynamic, growing business it's a larger team, but for some of our smaller clients it's a much smaller team.
Business Processes Supported
  • Omnichannel content management and distribution
  • Digital asset management
  • Structured content
  • Website content management
  • App content management
Innovative Uses
  • Omnichannel content management for many digital channels
  • Multi-site blogging
  • Ecommerce
Future Planned Uses
  • We might be able to extend the use of Magnolia for partner sites
  • One of our clients is starting to use it for campaign landing pages
Likelihood to Renew
10
We will definitely be renewing Magnolia because it is flexible, scalable, and does everything our clients need. We've been really happy with Magnolia and its performance and how we've been able to extend it for so many use cases. It's one of the best enterprise DXPs we use and they've been really great partners with us.
Support Rating
10
We've had great experiences with Magnolia's support team. They have always been super reliable and helpful every time.
Premium Support
We did not purchase premium support.
Bug Resolution
Yes
March 01, 2023

Magnolia, That Great Unknown

Verified User
Employee in Engineering
Computer Software Company, 1001-5000 employees
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Development of content in Magnolia, such as components, content-apps, pages, etc. with headcounts. [In my experience,] the problem that we find at a technical level is the slowness of Magnolia when there is a heavy load of nodes in [the] workspaces. The speed is slow when it comes to solving problems, [like] when we open tickets in Magnolia. Additionally, Magnolia 6 has removed proper functionality from Magnolia 5.
Pros and Cons
  • Shows page content
  • Easy development
  • Intuitive
  • Content loading times
  • Documentation in the absence of examples
  • Content that applies [across] different types of nodes (Example: 2 types of nodes within a content app)
Likelihood to Recommend
Magnolia is put to good use [when] creating a basic website with limited content. It is very easy for both the developer and the customer to contribute content. [In my opinion,] the part [that needs improvement] is in the documentation. Content and examples are missing [when trying to] develop certain properties. [In my opinion, the] Magnolia modules should be explained better in the documentation. In the interface, [I find that] it is difficult to move elements and nodes sometimes. [I also believe that] content loading is sometimes very slow when there are more nodes on the account.
Magnolia Feature Ratings
Web Content Creation (7)
71.42857142857143%
7.1
WYSIWYG editor
60%
6.0
Code quality / cleanliness
70%
7.0
Admin section
90%
9.0
Page templates
90%
9.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
60%
6.0
Publishing workflow
60%
6.0
Form generator
70%
7.0
Web Content Management (5)
56%
5.6
Content taxonomy
60%
6.0
SEO support
70%
7.0
Bulk management
70%
7.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
40%
4.0
Community / comment management
40%
4.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
90%
9.0
API
80%
8.0
Internationalization / multi-language
100%
10.0
Security (1)
70%
7.0
Role-based user permissions
70%
7.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
Return on Investment
  • Loading times (so slow) of nodes in content app
  • Good speed [in terms of timing] of launches
  • Some errors in FTL (not exactly explained on websites)
Usability
7
At the user level, it is a rewarding and intuitive experience when it comes to creating websites, components, and content within content applications. Although, [in my opinion,] there is [a] slowness when it comes to going through the workflow when publishing. To add permissions at the administrator level (going through a PM role) is not very intuitive and a bit messy to give permissions to [other] roles and users.
Performance
5
I put this score, since most of the time, loading content with large images takes a long time [in my experience]. In addition, [I feel that] the content loading of nodes in Magnolia is very slow when there are [a lot] of these nodes. [In my opinion,] the same [can be said] for assets, [as] there are times when loading images takes a long time to render.
Alternatives Considered
  • Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP)
Magnolia gains in ease of content creation but loses in documentation and practical examples for developers.
Other Software Used
Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Adobe Commerce (Magento Commerce), WordPress
Users and Roles
15
Almost all of us use Magnolia to develop components, pages, perform Rest services...in short, we develop and contribute to the end customer. Some of us use it as a headless environment and others develop completely in Magnolia (That is, everything is displayed in Magnolia). Others have dedicated themselves especially to the contribution within Magnolia, with said role, without carrying out any type of development-
Support Headcount Required
15
Technical knowledge may be needed in areas such as software development (preferable knowledge in Java, Javascript), databases, servers, networking. Project management, communication, problem solving and customer service skills may also be required from a project manager.
Business Processes Supported
  • Website management
  • Headless management
  • Digital asset management
  • Intranet/extranet management
Innovative Uses
  • To manage a lot of number of nodes (like using Magnolia as a Database)
Future Planned Uses
  • Work on multiple sites as if they were one
  • Personalization of apps
  • Integration with Jenkins
Likelihood to Renew
7
Magnolia is a powerful cms on a par with the big ones, which is expressly focused on the needs of the client and is easy to use. However, special care must be taken to handle large numbers of nodes to avoid possible slowdowns in the environment. We also have an extensive menu of extensions from both Magnolia and external ones (although it would always be nice to have more).
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