Your content management system (CMS) can make or break your website. Your site needs to be easy to use, intuitive, and search-engine friendly to entice readers to stay on your website longer, easily find what they’re looking for, and share it with their friends via social media. Umbraco and Kentico are two of the most popular CMS solutions; which one should you choose? This blog post compares Umbraco vs. Kentico to help you decide the most suitable CMS platform for your specific needs.
Umbraco Overview
Umbraco is a free, open-source content management system (CMS) built on the Microsoft .NET Framework. It is used by over 700,000 websites worldwide, including some high-profile brands like Heinz, Peugeot, and Vogue.
While Umbraco is free to download and use, it does require some technical expertise to set up and maintain. But once it’s up and running, using it is relatively simple.
Umbraco is a very flexible CMS that can be customized to fit the needs of almost any website. It also has a large and active community of users and developers who always create new plugins and add-ons to extend its functionality.
Some of the critical features of Umbraco include the following:
- A user-friendly interface that makes it easy to create and edit content
- A powerful templating engine that gives you complete control over the look and feel of your website
- Excellent multi-language support out of the box
- A robust permissions system that lets you control who can see and edit what
- A built-in search engine that makes it easy to find the content you’re looking for
- An integrated e-commerce solution that lets you sell products and services online
Umbraco Pros And Cons
When it comes to Umbraco, you should be aware of a few key pros and cons. Here’s a quick overview:
Pros:
- Open source CMS platform with strong community backing and support
- Flexible and extensible – can be customized to fit nearly any need or workflow
- Easy to use, even for those without much technical experience
Cons:
- Lack of some out-of-the-box features that other platforms offer (though many can be added through plugins or custom development)
- Even though Umbraco is one of the most popular CMS platforms available. It still doesn’t have the same recognition or popularity as WordPress.
Overall, we think Umbraco is an excellent option for those who need a flexible and customizable CMS. It’s easy to use and has a strong community backing it. However, be aware of some of the downsides to this platform before using it.
Kentico Overview
Kentico is a web content management system (CMS) and online marketing platform that provides a complete set of features for building websites, intranets, extranets, and online stores on the Microsoft ASP.NET platform.
Founded in 2004, Kentico is headquartered in the Czech Republic with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore. The company has a global network of 1,500+ certified partners and developers in over 90 countries.
Kentico’s notable customers include McDonald’s, Vodafone, O2 Telefonica, Ford Europe, Subaru Europe, Migros Switzerland, Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and others.
In 2010, Kentico was named the fastest-growing technology company in Central Europe by Deloitte Fast 50. In 2012 and 2013, Kentico was recognized as a Visionary leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management. And in 2015 and 2016, Kentico was named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Web Content Management Systems for Digital Experience Delivery report.
Kentico Pros And Cons
Kentico is a powerful CMS with many features and capabilities. However, it also has some drawbacks that should be considered before choosing it as your CMS platform.
Pros:
- Kentico offers many out-of-the-box features, including e-commerce, online marketing, and social media integration.
- It is easy to use and learn, even for users with no previous experience with CMS platforms.
- The Kentico team constantly updates and improves the platform, ensuring users have access to the latest features and security fixes.
- Kentico also offers excellent customer support. They offer a variety of ways to get in touch with them 24/7. The Onboarding process is also straightforward, as their support team is very welcoming and helpful.
Cons:
- While Kentico offers many features, some are only available in the higher-priced enterprise software versions. This can make it prohibitively expensive for some organizations.
- The platform can be slow and resource-intensive, mainly when used for large websites or those with high traffic levels.
- It has a high learning curve and can be challenging for beginners who have never used a CMS platform.
- It is not open-source and is also quite costly compared to a free option like Umbraco or Drupal.
Umbraco Vs. Kentico – Content Management
Regarding content management, both Umbraco and Kentico offer great flexibility and functionality. However, some critical differences between the two platforms may make one more suitable for your needs than the other.
Umbraco is often lauded for its ease of use in managing content. The platform features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that makes it simple to create and organize content. Additionally, Umbraco offers a wide range of built-in tools for managing media, documents, and other types of content.
On the other hand, Kentico offers a more traditional content management approach. The platform features a hierarchical tree structure for organizing content and a robust set of tools for managing different types of content. Kentico also offers granular control over user permissions, making it easy to restrict access to certain site areas.
Both Umbraco and Kentico offer a great deal of flexibility when it comes to managing content. However, depending on your needs, one platform may be more suitable than the other.
Umbraco Vs. Kentico – Content Editing
Regarding content editing, both Umbraco and Kentico offer a great user experience. However, there are some critical differences between the two platforms.
Umbraco:
- Umbraco offers a WYSIWYG editor called “Umbraco Forms.” This allows you to create and edit forms without having to code.
- Umbraco also has a built-in image editor called “Image Cropper.” This allows you to crop and resize images directly within the CMS.
- Umbraco also offers an inline editing option, which allows you to edit any web page directly without needing to open up separate browser windows for previewing changes.
Kentico:
- Using the Kentico editor is similar to using Microsoft Word. You can have complete control over your document. You can add images, format text, insert links, and more.
- Kentico also offers a WYSIWYG editor called “Page Builder.” This allows you to create and edit pages without having to code.
- Kentico also comes with a built-in image editor. You can modify existing or new images using the image editor before adding them to your website.
Umbraco Vs. Kentico – Multi-Language Support
Both Umbraco and Kentico offer great multi-language support. However, there are some key differences to consider when deciding which one is right for you.
Umbraco:
- Offers built-in language support for about 20 languages. Note this is an open-source platform, so more languages may have been added after writing this post.
- Allows you to create multilingual content in a single tree, making it easy to manage your translations
- Umbraco also has a translation manager extension that can help translate your content into other languages.
Kentico:
- Kentico also offers built-in language support for a vast majority of languages worldwide.
- Allows you to manage your translations through a dedicated Translation Management application
- Kentico also provides a multilingual feature that will enable you to host your content in various languages.
To summarize this section, both CMS platforms offer support for many languages, and we wouldn’t really say one is better than the other in this aspect. Both platforms provide helpful features if you want to host your website in different languages.
Umbraco Vs Kentico – Support
Both Umbraco and Kentico offer support options to their customers, but Umbraco seems to have a much more robust support system in place. This includes a forum on the official website, blogs with helpful tips, and even webinars that you can watch to learn about how to use the software. With Umbraco, you can almost find any answer to your issue as it has a vast and active community online.
Kentico only offers a knowledge base that doesn’t seem as in-depth compared to Umbraco’s resources. There doesn’t appear to be any live chat or phone support available for Kentico users. However, they have a helpful support team that can assist you with any issues. Just know that sometimes their response times can be delayed. Kentico also offers premium support packages at an additional cost that might be good if you need urgent assistance or guaranteed response time.
Umbraco Vs Kentico – Ease of Use
Umbraco and Kentico are easy to use and require little technical knowledge to install and start with. However, while Umbraco has a steeper learning curve, it can also be more powerful if you have the patience to learn how to use it effectively.
Both systems offer excellent functionality for creating websites, with an intuitive interface that makes it easy to work with your content and create new pages or posts.
If you’re looking for a more straightforward system to learn from scratch, then Umbraco might be better suited to your needs; but if you want a more customizable platform, then Kentico may be the better option.
Umbraco Vs Kentico – E-Commerce
Umbraco and Kentico allow companies to sell products through their websites in two main ways. First, they can embed a third-party eCommerce platform such as Paypal or Stripe, allowing shoppers to check out like they would on any other website. The second option involves building an eCommerce system directly into Umbraco or Kentico through their native platforms and APIs (application programming interfaces).
Umbraco and Kentico offer two different ways to accomplish eCommerce through their platforms, which can be especially useful depending on a business’s needs or industry. In addition to eCommerce functionality, both provide advanced functionality that can be tailored to specific industries and businesses—without building a custom platform from scratch or maintaining multiple systems! However, it’s important to note that while Umbraco and Kentico are created with features in mind and allow customization, they aren’t explicitly built as eCommerce platforms by design.
Kentico has an eCommerce module that you can easily add to your website that will increase its functionality by adding on many necessary features required to run a successful eCommerce website. These features allow you to do everything from managing users and permissions to processing payments, tracking inventory levels, handling fulfillment orders, customizing how customers view items online and setting up marketing campaigns, including newsletter subscriptions and promotions.
Umbraco isn’t designed with eCommerce specifically in mind, but it offers many features that will allow you to add eCommerce functionality on top through third-party plugins and extensions. This makes it easy to set up if you don’t need eCommerce capability out of the box and allows you to save time and money when getting started. Umbraco currently has two well-recognized variants that are Ucommerce and Tea commerce.
What We Like About Umbraco
We like that Umbraco is open-source and free to use, which means there are no licensing fees, and you have complete control over your content and website. Additionally, the Umbraco community is active and supportive, so you can always find help when needed.
Another thing we like about Umbraco is its flexibility. With Umbraco, you can create any website you want, and there are no limits to what you can do. Umbraco allows you to build anything you can imagine.
Finally, we appreciate how easy Umbraco is to use. Even if you’re not a technical person, you should be able to figure out how to use Umbraco without too much trouble. The user interface is intuitive and straightforward, and plenty of resources are available to help you get started.
What We Dislike About Umbraco
We don’t have much to say here – there isn’t much we don’t like about Umbraco! However, there are a few things worth mentioning:
- The learning curve can be steep for newcomers. There is a lot of functionality to Umbraco, and it can take some time to get familiar with all of it.
- Umbraco can be slow when working with large amounts of data. Umbraco stores all data in XML files, which can take longer to process than other database types.
What We Like About Kentico
There are many aspects of Kentico that we appreciate, but these are just a few of them:
Multi-Language Support: Kentico offers great multi-language support, making managing content in multiple languages easy.
E-Commerce: Kentico’s e-commerce features are robust and easy to use, making it an excellent option for businesses that want to sell online.
Support: Kentico offers excellent support through its own team and the large community of developers and users.
Ease of Use: Overall, Kentico is very user-friendly and easy to use.
What We Dislike Kentico
We found a few things that we didn’t like about Kentico:
- The learning curve is a bit steeper than Umbraco. There are more features and options which can overwhelm new users.
- Kentico’s online community isn’t as active as Umbraco’s. There aren’t as many resources available, and it can be challenging to get help when you need it.
- Kentico is a costly solution and is only suitable for businesses with bigger budgets.
Key Similarities
Umbraco and Kentico are excellent content management systems (CMS) options, and they both have pros and cons but also some fundamental similarities. Here are some of the key similarities between Umbraco and Kentico:
- Both Umbraco and Kentico are based on the .NET framework. This means that they can be used with other .NET applications and components.
- Both Umbraco and Kentico have strong community support. Many resources are available for both CMSes, including forums, documentation, and tutorials.
- Both Umbraco and Kentico are suitable for small to medium-sized websites. They can be scaled up to accommodate larger websites, but Kentico might be the best option for huge websites.
Key Differences
There are several critical differences between Umbraco and Kentico. Here are some of the most important ones:
- Umbraco is open source, while Kentico is commercial software. Umbraco is free to use and modify, while Kentico comes with a price tag.
- Kentico offers a broader range of features out-of-the-box than Umbraco. However, Umbraco’s open-source nature makes it easier to extend and customize.
- Kentico is geared more toward enterprise users, while Umbraco can be used by businesses of all sizes.
These are just some key differences between these two popular CMS options. Ultimately, your best option will depend on your specific needs and requirements.
Conclusion
If you’re trying to decide between Umbraco and Kentico for your next web project, it’s essential to understand the key differences between the two platforms. Umbraco and Kentico are great options for content management, but they have different strengths and weaknesses.
Umbraco is an excellent option if you need a flexible and customizable platform. It’s easy to use and has a wide range of features, but it doesn’t have as much built-in functionality as Kentico.
Kentico is a good choice if you need a platform that’s easy to use and has many built-in features. It’s not as flexible as Umbraco, but it has everything you need to start your website. Lastly, consider pricing; Kentico is paid, while Umbraco is free. Umbraco is the better option for you if you’re on a budget.
Ultimately, either CMS could be a good fit for your organization!