For enterprise organisations, selecting a digital experience platform (DXP) is a strategic business decision. The platform you choose will shape how effectively you can deliver exceptional experiences, support regional growth and respond to market demands.
Enterprise leaders today face mounting pressure to deliver exceptional digital experiences quickly. Many are held back by platforms that are difficult to scale, costly to maintain and heavily reliant on developer input for even the simplest updates. In an environment where agility is critical, the DXP you choose must empower your teams, not slow them down.
Sitecore addresses these challenges with a highly customisable, modular approach. Its strength lies in its depth, particularly around personalisation, multi-site management and integration with CRMs and marketing tools. However, this depth comes with complexity. Sitecore implementations are typically longer and require specialist developers, meaning higher costs and longer lead times to realise value.
Kentico takes a different route. It provides enterprise-grade functionality in a more accessible, integrated package. Marketing and digital teams can work more independently, making updates, launching content and managing campaigns without always needing to loop in developers. The platform also supports both traditional and headless delivery, giving businesses flexibility as their digital architecture evolves.
Sitecore is widely regarded as a heavyweight in the enterprise DXP space. It’s known for its composable architecture, deep personalisation capabilities and ability to support large, global organisations with complex digital needs.
It has a strong focus on delivering customer-centric experiences at scale and is often chosen by businesses with the internal resources to manage and maintain a sophisticated tech stack. On Gartner Peer Insights, Sitecore holds an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.
Kentico offers a more streamlined approach to digital experience management. It’s designed to meet the needs of enterprise teams without introducing unnecessary complexity. Kentico delivers a hybrid CMS model, intuitive marketing tools and a fast time to value. It’s particularly well-suited to organisations seeking a balance between power and usability. On Gartner Peer Insights, Kentico holds an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars.
From a cost perspective, both Sitecore and Kentico represent significant investments - these are not entry-level solutions. However, Sitecore’s total cost of ownership tends to be higher due to its licensing structure, implementation demands and the need for dedicated development teams. The time to get up and running can range from six months to over a year, depending on the complexity of the project.
Kentico, on the other hand, is often praised for its faster time to value. Many enterprise clients are able to launch new sites or digital experiences in as little as three to six months, thanks to its simplified architecture and more accessible toolset. This speed, combined with transparent pricing and reduced reliance on third-party tools, makes Kentico an attractive option for enterprises that want to move quickly while maintaining control.
Both platforms offer strong support for scalability and enterprise security. Sitecore’s architecture is particularly well-suited to global organisations managing dozens of sites across multiple regions. Its recent move towards cloud-first solutions like Sitecore XM Cloud positions it as a modern platform for the future.
Kentico is equally capable in this area, with multi-site management, multilingual content support and advanced user permissions that allow for granular control across large teams and regions. Security and compliance are also key strengths, with built-in governance features that make it a good fit for organisations in regulated industries.
Both Sitecore and Kentico are strong contenders in the enterprise DXP space, each with distinct strengths.
Sitecore offers unmatched flexibility and depth for organisations with highly complex digital requirements, large in-house team and the budget to support a more involved setup. However, for enterprises seeking a platform that delivers robust, scalable capabilities without unnecessary complexity, Kentico presents a compelling alternative. Its hybrid model empowers marketing and digital teams to move faster, reduce reliance on developers and maintain control - all while keeping long-term costs in check.
If you're exploring your options or rethinking your current platform, we’re here to help. We work with enterprise businesses to deliver websites and digital ecosystems that are easy to manage, built for scale and focused on results.