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As businesses seek to engage their audiences effectively, they often find themselves faced with a choice: Sitecore XM, Sitecore XP, or Sitecore XM Cloud. Comparing Sitecore product offerings is important for several reasons, especially when considering a Content Management System (CMS) or Customer Experience Platform (CXP) for your organization.

Sitecore is a leading provider of these solutions, and it offers various products tailored to different needs. In this blog, we'll delve into the intricacies of Sitecore's Experience Manager (XM), Sitecore Experience Platform (XP), and Sitecore XM Cloud. Without further ado, let’s make a comparison between the three offerings.

 

Choosing Between Sitecore XM, Sitecore XP, and Sitecore XM Cloud

1. Selecting the Right Fit: Sitecore provides a range of products, each with its own set of features and capabilities. By comparing the offerings, you can identify which one aligns best with your organization's specific requirements, budget, and goals. Choosing the right fit will ensure you get the most value out of your investment.


2. Feature Sets: Different Sitecore products offer different feature sets. By comparing these features, you can determine which product provides the functionalities your organization needs to deliver exceptional customer experiences and achieve its business objectives.


3. Scalability and Performance: Depending on your organization's size and expected growth, you need to consider the scalability and performance of the Sitecore products. Some products might be better suited for smaller organizations, while others are designed to handle the needs of large enterprises.


4. Cost and Licensing: Sitecore product offerings come with different pricing models and licensing options. Comparing them will help you understand the costs involved, including initial investment, ongoing maintenance, and support, enabling you to make an informed financial decision.


5. Ease of Implementation and Maintenance: Implementation and maintenance efforts can vary between Sitecore products. By comparing them, you can gauge which one is easier to implement, integrate with existing systems, and maintain in the long run.


6. Support and Documentation: Examining the support options and available documentation for each product is essential. A comprehensive support system and well-documented resources can significantly ease the implementation process and ensure your team can efficiently work with the chosen product.


7. Third-party Integration: Depending on your organization's tech stack, you may need to integrate Sitecore with other systems and tools. By comparing the product offerings, you can identify which one offers the most extensive support for third-party integration.


8. Future Roadmap: Understanding the future roadmap of Sitecore's product offerings can help you assess whether they align with your organization's long-term vision and technology strategy.


9. User Experience: The user experience of managing content and creating customer experiences within the Sitecore platform can differ between products. Comparing the user interfaces and workflows can help you determine which one is more intuitive for your team.


Sitecore XM, Sitecore XP, and Sitecore XM Cloud: An Overview

  • Sitecore Experience Manager
    Sitecore XM is the entry-level edition of the Sitecore platform. It focuses primarily on content management and experience delivery. With Sitecore XM, you can create, manage, and deliver content to your website visitors. However, it lacks some of the advanced marketing automation and personalization features found in the higher-tier editions.

  • Sitecore Experience Platform
    Sitecore XP is the most comprehensive edition of Sitecore. It includes all the features of Sitecore XM and extends them with robust marketing automation, personalization, and analytics capabilities. Sitecore XP empowers marketers to create personalized, data-driven experiences for their customers, manage customer journeys, and optimize digital marketing efforts effectively.

  • Sitecore XM Cloud
    Sitecore XM Cloud is a cloud-based version of Sitecore XM. It provides the same content management and experience delivery capabilities as Sitecore XM but offers the additional benefits of a cloud-based deployment. This includes easier scalability, automatic updates, and reduced infrastructure management overhead.

Feature

Sitecore XM Cloud

Sitecore XP

Sitecore XM

Content Management

Headless

Headless Only

Headful /

Headless

Headful /

Headless

Structured content

Yes

Yes

Yes

Unstructured content

Yes

Yes

Yes

Multi-language

Yes

Yes

Yes

Multi-tenant

Yes

Yes

Yes

Multi-site

Yes

Yes

Yes

Media Library

Yes

Yes

Yes

Advanced Workflow

Yes

Yes

Yes

Content Editing & Creation

Content authoring tool

Pages

Experience Editor

Content Editor

Horizon

Experience Editor

Content Editor

Horizon

Experience Editor

Content Editor

Authoring speed (out of 10)

9

6

6

Visual in-page editing

Yes

Yes

Yes

Drag & drop page building

Yes

Yes (Only with SXA)

Yes (Only with SXA)

Low-code components with SXA

6 to 8 OOTB components

Over 80 components

Over 80 components

Component builder (Components)

Yes

No

No

Simplified editing interface

Yes

No

No

Security

Role & User-based security

Yes

Yes

Yes

Item & Field-based security

Yes

Yes

Yes

SSO Integration

Coming Soon

Yes

Yes

SOC2 Certified

Imminent

Yes

Yes

Connectivity

Webhooks

Yes

Yes

Yes

GraphQL

Yes

Yes

Yes

Layout Service

Yes

Yes

Yes

Technology

Back-end

.Net Core, MVC

.Net Core, MCV

.Net Core, MCV

Front-end

Next.js / React and GraphQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

 

Next.js / React and GraphQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

 

Pre-build with SXA

 

Next.js / React and GraphQL, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

 

Pre-Build with SXA

Infrastructure Options

Content Delivery

Vercel / Netlify, Not included

Sitecore

Sitecore

Content Delivery Server

No (As it is with Vercel / Netlify)

Yes

Yes

Virtual Machines

No

Yes

Yes

PaaS (Platform as a Service)

No

Yes

Yes

SaaS (Software as a Service)

Yes

No

No

Hosting Environments

SaaS

Azure, AWS, etc.

Azure, AWS, etc.

Architecture

Composable

Yes, by default

Yes (with customizations and integrations)

Yes (with customizations and integrations)

All-in-One CMS

No

Yes

Yes

JAMStack

Yes

Optional

Optional

Headless

Yes

Optional

Optional

Search

Not Included

 

Recommended SaaS enterprise search

Included (Solr)

Included (Solr)

Upgrades

Future Upgrades Required

Not Required

Required

Required

Infrastructure Maintenance

Operational Hosting Support

Included

Not included

Not included

Scaling Management

Included

Not included

Not included

Performance Management

Included for CM

Not included for Content delivery which runs custom code on Vercel

Not included

Not included

Marketing Features

Personalization

In-Session

Multi-Session

In-Session

Campaigns

By Referrer

Multi-Session

In-Session

Profile / Personas

Limited

Multi-Session

In-Session

Marketing Automation

No

Yes

No

Email Marketing

No

Yes

No

Forms

Coming soon

Yes

Yes

Analytics

Yes (Embedded Analytics)

Yes

No

DevOps

Built-in Release Management

Yes

No

No


Final Words

The above comparison should help you in choosing the platform that works the best for you. Keep in mind the factors such as infrastructure maintenance, technology preferences, and overall cost that play a pivotal role in decision-making. Whether it is Sitecore XM, Sitecore XP, or Sitecore XM Cloud, it's crucial to compare their respective features before you consider the next CMS for your organization.

As a Sitecore partner, we can help you with a number of Sitecore services such as migration, implementation, support, and more. If you want to discuss which platform to choose then reach out to us and our experts will get back to you.


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