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 |
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Content Management |
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|
Headless |
Headless Only |
Headful / Headless |
Headful / Headless |
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|
Structured content |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
Unstructured content |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Multi-language |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Multi-tenant |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Multi-site |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
Media Library |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Advanced Workflow |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Content Editing & Creation |
|||||||||
|
Content authoring tool |
Pages Experience Editor Content Editor |
Horizon Experience Editor Content Editor |
Horizon Experience Editor Content Editor |
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|
Authoring speed (out of 10) |
9 |
6 |
6 |
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|
Visual in-page editing |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
||||||
|
Drag & drop page building |
Yes |
Yes (Only with SXA) |
Yes (Only with SXA) |
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|
Low-code components with SXA |
6 to 8 OOTB components |
Over 80 components |
Over 80 components |
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|
Component builder (Components) |
Yes |
No |
No |
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|
Simplified editing interface |
Yes |
No |
No |
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Security |
|||||||||
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Role & User-based security |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Item & Field-based security |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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SSO Integration |
Coming Soon |
Yes |
Yes |
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SOC2 Certified |
Imminent |
Yes |
Yes |
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Connectivity |
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|
Webhooks |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
GraphQL |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Layout Service |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Technology |
|||||||||
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Back-end |
.Net Core, MVC |
.Net Core, MCV |
.Net Core, MCV |
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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 |
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Infrastructure Options |
|||||||||
|
Content Delivery |
Vercel / Netlify, Not included |
Sitecore |
Sitecore |
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|
Content Delivery Server |
No (As it is with Vercel / Netlify) |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
Virtual Machines |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
PaaS (Platform as a Service) |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
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SaaS (Software as a Service) |
Yes |
No |
No |
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|
Hosting Environments |
SaaS |
Azure, AWS, etc. |
Azure, AWS, etc. |
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|
Architecture |
|||||||||
|
Composable |
Yes, by default |
Yes (with customizations and integrations) |
Yes (with customizations and integrations) |
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All-in-One CMS |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
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|
JAMStack |
Yes |
Optional |
Optional |
||||||
|
Headless |
Yes |
Optional |
Optional |
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|
Search |
Not Included
Recommended SaaS enterprise search |
Included (Solr) |
Included (Solr) |
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Upgrades |
|||||||||
|
Future Upgrades Required |
Not Required |
Required |
Required |
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|
Infrastructure Maintenance |
|||||||||
|
Operational Hosting Support |
Included |
Not included |
Not included |
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Scaling Management |
Included |
Not included |
Not included |
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|
Performance Management |
Included for CM Not included for Content delivery which runs custom code on Vercel |
Not included |
Not included |
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Marketing Features |
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Personalization |
In-Session |
Multi-Session |
In-Session |
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Campaigns |
By Referrer |
Multi-Session |
In-Session |
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Profile / Personas |
Limited |
Multi-Session |
In-Session |
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Marketing Automation |
No |
Yes |
No |
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Email Marketing |
No |
Yes |
No |
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Forms |
Coming soon |
Yes |
Yes |
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Analytics |
Yes (Embedded Analytics) |
Yes |
No |
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DevOps |
|||||||||
|
Built-in Release Management |
Yes |
No |
No |
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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.