Kentico > SiteCore > Ektron - Here's why
October 23, 2015
Kentico > SiteCore > Ektron - Here's why
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
8
Modules Used
- Integration Bus, Custom tables, Custom Macros, Content Management, User Security, Page Templates, Web Parts, just about everything they offer outside of EMS
Overall Satisfaction with Kentico 8
We use it to provide custom websites to any kind of business. Kentico 8 offers the easy access of content on an admin and onsite level without requiring the expertise of years and training of programming that so many content management systems demand. I personally have used five of the most popular content management systems, and Kentico 8 is the only affordable option that provides the quality and ease of use that most businesses require.
- Page Templates. I've never used any other CMS with the ease of use in creating and reusing the same template across multiple pages.
- User management and security. This is very straightforward and simple when all you want is basic security for your content managers, but it's also granular if you need it to be. Allowing access or denying access to virtually any control or object in the site, or on the administrator side without the need of custom code
- Keeping Custom code to a minimal level when using the portal engine. The Webparts that are built in cover 80% of all business needs, and customizing the rest is a breeze since it is built around .net.
- The learning curve is much faster than with other systems such as Ektron, or Sitecore.
- Custom modules are really cool if you want to package custom code to reuse on different sites and for the community
- Global event handlers to hook into any change that is made on any document or object in the system. You can literally add any code you want and attach it to any event you want.
- Automated Marketing in this system is rivaled by no other CMS
- A/B variant tests are excellent for determining traffic on the site.
- The Shopping Cart feature can use some work. There are excellent modules that make up for this, and I hear the next version has improved this, but nonetheless it is still lacking in the ways it can be customized
- Calendar controls have to be highly customized to make it work right and look good.
- The integration bus doesn't make sense for importing, and is lacking in documentation.
- Increased employee efficiency because of the ease of use.
- Faster lead conversion because of the advanced EMS features that Kentico 8 provides.
- Better Customer Service. Kentico 8 has a guaranteed 7 day bug fix policy.
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.
Kentico Xperience Feature Ratings
Using Kentico 8
15 - Developers, Designers, Content Managers, Project Managers and everything in between.
10 - It depends on what kind of Kentico application you are supporting. All instances need some sort of .net/css/javascript/SQL knowledge. Beyond that we use different technologies with our sites.
- Building out websites for people who want to sell their product.
- Building websites for people who want to grab leads.
- Building websites for people who want to easily update content.
- We've setup our intranet to utilize Kentico 8, and have built our infrastructure an data collecting system to utilize the features that Kentico 8 provides.
- Our clients are constantly asking for new features that we never expect. Because of the way Kentico 8 has setup custom modules, it makes it easy for use to satisfy their needs.
- This is our core industry in the way of making our clients happy. We plan on contributing to Kentico and making this an even better product.
Using Kentico 8
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using | None |
- Creating and using Page Template
- The Portal Engine in general is extremely easy to figure out because of the visual display of what you are changing
- On Site Editing
- User Security
- Shopping Carts
- Incoming Integration Bus Tasks
- Managing Staging Tasks with Database-Only changes
Yes, but I don't use it