CMS comparison Adobe Experience Manager vs Progress Sitefinity

Adobe Experience Manager vs Progress Sitefinity

Adobe Experience Manager is a closed-source enterprise DXP that runs on the vendor's cloud. Progress Sitefinity is a closed-source enterprise DXP that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 6.

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Adobe Experience Manager Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 25 of 28 built in
Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 22 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Adobe Experience Manager on 29 Sept 2026, Progress Sitefinity on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Adobe Experience Manager vs Progress Sitefinity feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Adobe Experience Manager Enterprise DXP	Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Adobe's enterprise CMS for websites and headless content, run by Adobe as a cloud service with page, fragment and document-based authoring.	Progress's .NET CMS and DXP for websites, run self-hosted or on the Sitefinity Cloud PaaS, with ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Adobe Experience Manager Sites as a Cloud Service Version 2026.9.0, released 24 Sept 2026	Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud Version 15.4.8639, released 29 Sept 2026
Vendor	Adobe business.adobe.com	Progress Software progress.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Cloud Service runs only on Adobe's cloud. AEM 6.5 LTS is the separate self-hosted edition.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Java, Apache Sling, OSGi, HTL	.NET, ASP.NET Core and Next.js renderers
Database	Apache Jackrabbit Oak repository, managed by Adobe	Microsoft SQL Server
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	No free option Pricing on request.	No free option Pricing on request. DX and DX+Enterprise editions, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Built in Components, dialogs and Universal Editor models live in the project repository. 2	Built in Export for deployment writes module and field changes to files for source control. 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in Content Fragment Model editor. 3	Built in Module Builder.
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in 2 9	Built in Page editor widgets.
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in Language copies with translation projects and connectors. 4	Built in Multilingual content per item.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Web-optimized image delivery resizes, crops and converts DAM images to WebP. 5	Built in Resize through URL parameters and thumbnail profiles. 4
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in Content Fragment Delivery with OpenAPI. 6	Built in OData REST web services. 5
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in GraphQL for Content Fragments. 6	Built in GraphQL on the web services layer. 6
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in AEM Eventing delivers events through Adobe I/O Events. 7	Built in Service hooks with a webhook action, available on all licences. 7
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Built in HTL page rendering or Edge Delivery Services. 10	Built in ASP.NET Core, Next.js or legacy MVC renderers. 1
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in Edits stay on the author tier until published. 11	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Built in Publish later and unpublish later. 11	Built in Scheduled publish and unpublish per item. 9
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in	Built in Revision history.
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in Separate preview tier.	Built in
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Universal Editor and Page Editor. 9	Built in Page editor with widgets.
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Built in	Built in One or two approval levels, or a custom workflow. 8
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Built in Launches group changes across pages and promote them together. 8	Not available Publishing and scheduling work per item. 9
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Limited Only with document authoring in Word or Google Docs. The Universal Editor has no co-editing. 10	Not available Pages lock while another user edits them. 10
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Built in AEM groups with repository permissions. 12	Built in 11
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Limited Repository ACL restrictions can target named properties. No per-field setting in the editors. 12	Limited Module Builder types only, in the classic editing UI. Built-in content types have none. 12
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Built in SAML or OIDC federation through Adobe Admin Console. 13	Built in OpenID Connect and external providers such as Azure AD. 13
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Built in Page, replication and DAM audit logs. 14	Paid tier DX + Enterprise includes Audit Trail. Progress sells it as an add-on for DX. 14 2
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Built in Multi Site Manager with live copies. 15	Built in Multisite with shared content and per-site permissions. 15
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in UI extensions built with App Builder. 16	Built in Custom fields, widgets and AdminApp extensions.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Extension Manager catalogue of Adobe and partner extensions. 16	Built in Sitefinity integrations directory. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Built in Core Components form container emails, posts or stores submissions. 17	Built in Forms module with a drag-and-drop builder.
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Limited Publish-tier login via SAML or OIDC. Sign-up flows need custom code and user sync. 18 13	Built in Front-end users with registration and login widgets.
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Built in Generate Variations needs AEM Cloud Service with Edge Delivery entitlement. Licence includes an action allowance; extra actions cost more. 19	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity AI subscription for text generation and agents. 17
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in AEM MCP Server for pages, fragments and assets. 20	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity MCP Server, 15.4.8633 or later, needs a Sitefinity AI subscription. 18

Adobe Experience Manager sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Adobe Experience Manager Sites as a Cloud Service.

Progress Sitefinity sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud.

Considering more platforms? Compare Adobe Experience Manager and Progress Sitefinity with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Adobe Experience Manager and Progress Sitefinity get a different status on 6 of the 28 features and the same status on 22. Adobe Experience Manager has 25 built in on its baseline edition, Progress Sitefinity has 22. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Self-hosting: Adobe Experience Manager cannot be self-hosted. Progress Sitefinity can be self-hosted.

Built in on Adobe Experience Manager, a different answer on Progress Sitefinity 4

Content releases Adobe Experience Manager: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.
Audit log Adobe Experience Manager: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Paid tier.
AI writing assistant Adobe Experience Manager: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.
Official MCP server Adobe Experience Manager: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.

Built in on Progress Sitefinity, a different answer on Adobe Experience Manager 1

Site member accounts Adobe Experience Manager: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 1

Real-time co-editing Adobe Experience Manager: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Adobe Experience Manager vs Payload.

Adobe Experience Manager against other platforms

Progress Sitefinity against other platforms

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