The foundation of any great content-sharing website is a top-notch content management system (CMS). While there are hundreds of options available, we prefer Umbraco to power our clients’ websites and help them reach their goals.
Read more about our Umbraco CMS services.
Although Umbraco is our top choice, our team is also well-versed in Sitecore, and we offer extensive Sitecore consulting services. Both Umbraco and Sitecore offer many of the same features, and there are a few unique benefits that may make each CMS a complement to your digital content strategy.
If you are considering rebuilding your existing website, starting from scratch, or looking to switch up the CMS you currently use, let’s dig into the benefits of both Umbraco and Sitecore to help you understand which might be a better fit for your business.
Also watch our recent webinar “Umbraco or Sitecore”:
How do Umbraco and Sitecore compare?
We’ll start with the similarities: Umbraco and Sitecore are both content management systems that help you create, edit, store, and publish content on your website. They were both created in Denmark in the early 2000s and they’re both built on Microsoft’s .NET platform. Each platform has a great reputation, and they’re both used by thousands of businesses.
But Umbraco and Sitecore also have their differences, and it’s important to pick the one that best fits the needs of your organization.
Umbraco is an open-source CMS that’s known for being intuitive and easy to use. It’s flexible, customizable, and can scale with your business.
Sitecore, on the other hand, is a heavyweight solution designed to handle millions of users or multiple web properties. It’s not the cheapest CMS out there, but it has a host of built-in tools and features that help meet the needs of medium to large enterprises.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Keep reading for a deeper look into how each platform can help your business reach its goals.
Benefits of Umbraco CMS
Open-source and flexible.
Umbraco’s open-source platform and architecture means that their CMS can be customized to fit your exact needs. With the help of a developer (or a community-created plugin) you can be on your way to building the perfect user experience on your site. Umbraco’s focus on a great CMS experience means that you can integrate the marketing and e-commerce tools you already use without any friction and customize the platform exactly to your liking.
Seamless content editing experience.
Umbraco is a fan favorite of content editors everywhere! The simple content editing experience means that you do not need to have deep, technical knowledge to create, manage and post content assets on your site. Coupled with SEO-friendly features and a simple media management platform, you can immediately begin sharing content with your customers!
Awesome grassroots community with great documentation and community-created plugins.
Umbraco has a great community of passionate developers and marketers who are dedicated to the platform’s success and sharing their findings. The Our Umbraco forum is their community hub full of insights, advice, documentation, and user-created plugins that you can use on your site. Umbraco calls themselves the “friendliest CMS” and their community certainly reflects that!
Cost-effective.
Umbraco is free to download and use. After downloading, you’ll only need to pay for hosting costs, making this CMS a great low-cost option to get your site up and running so you can begin delivering value to your customers.
Now that we’ve covered some of the most attractive benefits of Umbraco, let’s dive into the perks of Sitecore.
Benefits of Sitecore CMS
Built to handle large, complex, enterprise-level websites.
Sitecore’s platform is designed to handle massive, complex websites, making it a potential solution for large, enterprise-level companies. Their platform offers tools to supportmarketing, website content, and e-commerce.
Personalization & automation features.
Sitecore’s personalization and automation features help to create positive experiences for customers each time they visit your website. Sitecore’s components allow you to display the most relevant information to site users based on their browsing behavior, all with a few clicks of a button.
E-commerce solutions.
Sitecore’s Experience Commerce Platform combines e-commerce and content marketing to help you drive your sales strategy and deliver unique customer experiences. If your business is centered around e-commerce, this platform has you covered.
Built-in tools for analytics.
Sitecore's built-in analytics tools help you to make more informed decisions about where to spend your marketing budget and how clicks and traffic to your website turn into conversions.
Should you use Umbraco or Sitecore for your website?
As you can see, both Umbraco and Sitecore offer many benefits. They’re both top content management solutions that help you provide a great user experience.
When to use Umbraco
We typically recommend Umbraco to clients who are looking for flexible and customizable content editing. For example, Kalahari Resorts enjoys Umbraco’s block editor and multi-lingual editing capabilities.
When to use Sitecore
Sitecore might be the better choice for enterprise-level companies who need a robust platform to integrate with their marketing stack. Read about how we implemented Sitecore for The Tile Shop.
Every situation is unique and choosing a CMS requires a team of experts to help you through your journey. Contact our team today to talk over if Umbraco or Sitecore is a the right fit for your site!
