Nov 22, 2021
As a CTO, you constantly want to find the best technologies for your company. In this search, you’ve probably stumbled upon Sitecore. However, it’s possible that Sitecore isn’t the right fit. Sitecore is a top-rated platform used in many companies across the world —but not every organization needs all of the features that Sitecore offers.
While Sitecore is a leading digital experience platform, that doesn’t mean there aren’t viable Sitecore alternatives. There are many other platforms out there that can be customized and configured to deliver amazing results while keeping costs manageable.
We’ve enjoyed our status as a Sitecore Partner for many years, and we believe Sitecore is the best content management system and digital experience platform on the market. That said, sometimes our clients want to go in another direction, and when that happens, we recommend three platforms above the rest. All of the platforms we selected are part of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for DXPs, a badge of distinction that shows these platforms’ commitment to delivering the best digital experiences.
Download a free copy of the report here
1. Optimizely
Overview
Founded in 1994, Optimizely — known as Episerver until January 2021 — is an enterprise-grade DXP that provides global companies with an integrable suite of products that encompass web content management, ecommerce store management, and marketing and analytics tools. We are also an Optimizely partner and believe Optimizely is a solid contender and a great alternative if you’re looking for a platform to support digital marketing initiatives.
Optimizely is a robust, marketer-friendly platform as it offers a modular set of integrable platforms—CMS, commerce, marketing automation, and analytics—that enable a 360°view of a company’s operations. Optimizely is one of the easiest-to-use enterprise platforms in the market right now and it’s known for its marketer-friendly interface and its omnichannel content delivery.
Pros
- Superior editor experience
- Solid personalization and A/B testing tools
- Comparatively fast time-to-market
Cons
- Limited search capabilities
- Relatively steep learning curve for developers
- The different tools feel disconnected
G2’s Opinion
Optimizely is a High Performer in the G2 Grid for Web Content Management systems and is rated 3.8 out of 5 stars on the website with 96 aggregated reviews.
2. Kentico
Overview
Founded in 2006, Kentico Kontent is a hybrid headless CMS that makes content publishing simple for marketers and non-technical users. Its enterprise version is a Content-as-a-Service platform that enables global companies to unify and streamline content and operations across devices.
On top of its headless, CaaS foundation, Kentico includes a marketer-friendly authoring interface that empowers non-technical users to create content and business workflows without the help of developers. This frees developers to focus on what they do best: building engaging and compelling digital experiences.
Pros
- You don’t require a partner to implement it
- Solid, granular content workflows
- Easy to onboard employees
Cons
- Feels less robust than other enterprise CMSs
- Very bare-bones out of the box
- Clunky search functionality and asset management
User’s Opinion
Kentico is a High Performer in the G2 Grid for Web Content Management systems and is rated 4.3 out of 5 stars on the website with 108 aggregated reviews.
3. Acquia
Overview
Founded in 2007, Acquia is an open-source digital experience platform that provides a cloud platform for building, delivering, and optimizing digital experiences. Acquia empowers the world’s most ambitious brands to create digital customer experiences that matter.
With open-source Drupal at its core, the Acquia Digital Experience Platform (DXP) enables marketers, developers, and IT operations teams at thousands of global organizations to rapidly compose and deploy digital products and services that engage customers, enhance conversions and help businesses stand out.
Pros
- Reliable platform
- Good choice for Drupal users
- Intuitive UX
Cons
- Subpar support
- Basic CI/CD tools
- Confusing documentation
User’s Opinion
Acquia doesn’t rank for the G2 Grid for Web Content Management systems and is rated 4.1 out of 5 stars on the website with 63 aggregated reviews. However, Acquia is listed as one of the leaders.
Why Sitecore Still Leads the Way
When we look at Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, we see that Sitecore continues to hold on to the Leader position as it did in 2020. Features and products, including the Sitecore Experience Platform, turn Sitecore into a DXP powerhouse with a broad set of capabilities to build digital experiences and stay responsive to the changing market demands.
Sitecore has also been expanding in areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver contextual experiences to both eCommerce and enterprise customers but there’s something that makes Sitecore special in a sea of seemingly identical DXPs. Yes, Sitecore gives you a set of integrated tools, but it doesn’t give you all the tools.
They don’t even try to either.
Sitecore offers you foundational tools. The tools you need to plan, create, orchestrate, and optimize digital experiences. That means they provide tools to get, enterprises started while at the same time enabling them to build an organic platform that allows for integrations and adapts to the customer’s needs while staying true to the company’s particular use case.
Funded for Exponential Growth
In 2021, Sitecore received $1.2 billion in what is, to this date, the biggest investment round in the history of DXPs. Those funds will fuel Sitecore’s growth in the near future and help the company solidify its leadership position in the DXP space.
Strategic Acquisitions
In 2021, Sitecore acquired Boxever, a provider of a SaaS-based CDP and B2B and B2C commerce company Four51. They also acquired Moosend, a marketing automation platform, and Reflektion, an AI-Powered Digital Search Platform. With these acquisitions, Sitecore will improve its ability to offer a fully integrated SaaS-based DXP, making implementation and maintenance even easier.
Enterprise Support
Sitecore has a solid and thriving community that perhaps is not as big as Drupal’s, but it’s equally influential and committed. Sitecore has been offering clients more support options and is also expanding its customer success team to improve its response times. Sitecore offers enterprise support for customers and is committed to nurturing and empowering the community to become a driving force in the company’s future.
Better Integrations
Sitecore aims to create a flexible, scalable, and feature-rich platform, but it also wants to empower customers to build the DXP their particular use case demands. For Sitecore, this means offering a solid base that can be integrated with other third-party software via APIs, making for an agile platform.
Let Us Help You Find the Alternative to Sitecore that Works for You
While we believe that Sitecore is the best solution for many use cases, we are well aware that it doesn’t work for every company. We know better than to try to force a content management system that won’t work for your company.
Sitecore is indeed the best alternative, but if budget is a concern or you don’t need all the bells and whistles of Sitecore, then Optimizely is the right CMS for you as it competes head to head with Sitecore.
However, at Oshyn, we guide you to choose the best platform for your use case, a platform capable of scaling with your company. We collaborate closely with your team to ensure that your user experience and strategy requirements match with the platform’s so we can build the DXP that adapts to your needs.
As the control center of your digital presence, we know that your CMS needs to be chosen in an informed and careful manner. We put together this guide to choosing your new CMS to prepare you for success during the preparation and implementation process and beyond.
Read our ebook: How to Choose the Right CMS for Your Company.
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