From easier management to streamlined publishing and automation; a CMS platform allows you to handle digital content in a way that helps your business become more efficient and result-driven. No doubt every business has a different set of requirements and different grounds on which they operate, however it is crucial to choose a CMS platform for your content management needs.

Poor content management and lack of focus on customer experience is the main reason that businesses at times become so inefficient in driving outcomes and more leads. Moreover, the most hidden yet impactful mistake that businesses make is when choosing the wrong content management system for their needs. When you choose a CMS platform for your company, make sure to check out fundamental factors like scalability, security, and compliance with your organization’s long-term and short-term goals.

This blog covers a detailed headless CMS comparison on Sitecore vs. Sitefinity; two of the most used content management systems.

Let’s dive into the details.

Sitecore vs. Sitefinity: The Noticeable Differences

Take a look into the detailed technical factors that one must research before making the final choice for an enterprise content management system (CMS) platform:

Scalability and Futureproofing

The first things a business must focus on while choosing a CMS are long-term goals and expectations for the business growth. A solution that appears great at times might become worse in the future and destroy the scaling stats. Thus, such a CMS platform should be chosen that allows business scaling and future evolution with time.

With Sitecore, it allows you to not just scale your growth based on demand, but also target your long-term business goals. Consider a business that gets the most audience influx in a certain quarter of the year. In such cases, Sitecore allows scalability of the business by providing enough resources and features using Microsoft Azure. For example, accessing expanded storage to adjust the business needs without having the need to pay extra for Sitecore upgrade features.

However, Sitefinity’s package offers a range of features to level up and grow your business. The features like load balancing adjust the business project influx rate, so no matter how much traffic an organization expects, you can always scale the growth that ultimately triggers the milestone progress for goals.

As both these content management softwares are up to the mark when it comes to scaling and future-proofing your digital business, make a final decision based on considering the other crucial factors like storage needs, security, legal terms, and other elements discussed beneath for your concern. 

Security

Security has always been a challenging factor, and one must always research content safety in a CRM platform’s features and legal policies.

Sitecore CMS allows enterprise holders to protect their data in an advanced form. Moreover, Sitecore allows its users to visually analyze how they handle the data so they can be aware of how the content is kept secure on the platform. They have implemented a three-line defense model for the security and safety of data.

Various security standards such as ISO 27001: 2013, ISO 27017: 2015, and more have been implemented into the platform that ensures the confidentiality of customer data. Generally, the businesses that deal in finance like banks, and insurance companies go for ISO 27001:2013. IT industries prefer to choose ISO 27017:2015 for their cloud services.

On the other side, the Sitefinity content management system platform offers security audits through a standard security module for digital content. Sitefinity also uses multiple security advisories like Apache Log4j security vulnerability, Spring4Shell vulnerability, and some other security advisories as well. These vulnerabilities mean the data could potentially be exploited by a third-party person through Log4j and execute a code.

Sitefinity security advisories prevent these vulnerabilities and protect the user data from all safety perspectives. Hence, both content management platforms are safe and secure, however, make sure to check these modules out in further detail for your verification and compliance with your businesses’ security needs.

Content Management and Publishing

As CMS itself stands for a content management system, check for how good Sitefinity and Sitecore actually are when it comes to managing the digital content and its publishing.

Sitecore offers a number of features that content managers can use to personalize their space. These features allow you directly land your content and digital services on the target niche,and help nourish the content quality as well. Some of the content management and publishing features include Customer Experience Database, A/B testing, Authoring, Versioning, Asset Management, Internal Search, etc., which help in better content management, production, and publishing of the digital assets.

The content personalization capabilities of Sitecore enhance the brand experience, and thereby, the platform is not just a CMS but a fully integrated Digital Experience Platform (DXP).

Whereas, Sitefinity also offers some personalization features that one can control through parameters after optimizing them based on their current needs and future goals. Sitefinity's drag and drop layout features and inline editing enables advanced handling and luxe publishing of content. But, Sitecore wins the race, as their advanced analytical features like A/B testing allow marketers to test the CMS’s performance and efficiency to verify whether they positively impact the conversions or not. Hence, Sitecore allows better management, publishing, and efficient prediction of content. 

Website Niches

CMS features matter, but a comparison of what sort of businesses prefer which CMS platform for their needs is also crucial for you to have better insights into choosing the right CMS according to your service categories and your needs.

Businesses in health, finance, consulting services, heavy mechanical industries, engineering manufacturers, and travel and tourism industries prefer to choose Sitecore CMS for their digital asset handling needs. The main reason is that Sitecore allows expanded personalization for the advertisements on the basis of the audience, location, and geography hence these businesses can opt for effective marketing support from Sitecore. Moreover, the A/B testing is another reason since this allows better prediction of conversions.

However, businesses in electronics and computer technologies, science, education, arts, and entertainment niches generally manage their websites and digital content services with Sitefinity.  Such businesses are generally start-ups or mid-market businesses. The main reason such businesses choose Sitefinity is that Sitefinity supports and makes it less costly for them to adapt to the CMS platform. 

Supported Platforms and Integrations

The level of compatibility and integration of a content management system is also crucial for feature enhancements - ensuring a fully functional MarTech setup that is ready to forge business growth. The higher the compatibility of a CMS, the better options it offers for management.

Sitecore CMS is supported by Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, Mac, Web-based platforms, iPhone, and iPad. However, Sitefinity supports Mac, Windows, SaaS, iPad, Android, Linux, and iPhone.

Sitecore allows you to integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, AnswerRocket, Alvara, Common Ninja, Fotoware, Microsoft Sharepoint, and other mandatory integrations. Whereas, the Sitefinity CMS platform allows integration with Eloqua, Microsoft Sharepoint, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Siteimprove, Hawksearch, and Salesforce.

Pricing

Sitefinity has two pricing editions. One edition named Sitefinity DX is available for a free trial. While the other edition named Sitefinity DX + Enterprise Package carries a price month and per year. You can contact Sitefinity to get a custom quote for your enterprise needs.

However, Sitecore DXP does not offer a free trial. A custom quote can be requested from the Sitecore support or its partners for a bespoke solution based on your organization’s needs. 

Sitecore vs. Sitefinity: Final Thoughts

Although there are many more noticeable differences, the above-provided fundamental factors are the most necessary factors to look at while choosing the right CMS platform for your enterprise.

Are you looking for the right CMS option for your organization?

Prepare a list of crucial factors like the organization’s long/short term goals, scalability and content management needs, security expectations, and affordability, and then start your research according to the set preferences.

At Icreon, we can assist you in choosing the right platform suitable for your enterprise needs. Schedule an inquiry here to discuss about a clear strategic roadmap to digital maturity for your business.