CMS comparison Contentful vs Xperience by Kentico

Contentful vs Xperience by Kentico

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Xperience by Kentico 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 17.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 19 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, Xperience by Kentico 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

Contentful vs Xperience by Kentico feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	Kentico's .NET digital experience platform for websites, email and headless channels, sold as Kentico-hosted SaaS or a private-cloud licence.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Xperience by Kentico Version 31.9.0, released 24 Sept 2026
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	Kentico kentico.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Runs only in Contentful's cloud. The local MCP server and SDKs are open source.	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	.NET, ASP.NET Core
Database	Managed by Contentful	Microsoft SQL Server
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Lite $300 per month. Extra Lite Space $850 per month. Enterprise on request.	No free option Pricing on request. Licensed per channel in Standard and Advanced tiers, plus AIRA credit packages.
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.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentful CLI change the model. No declarative schema files. 3	Built in Continuous Integration serializes content types to files in the repository. 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in 1	Built in Field editor in the Content types application.
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Reorderable reference fields to typed entries. Studio page building is Enterprise. 1	Built in Page Builder widgets and sections, plus reusable content items.
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in 2 locales on Free, 3 on Lite, custom on Enterprise. 1	Built in Language variants per page and content item.
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Images API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 4	Built in Image variants with configured crops and sizes. 4
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Limited The Management REST API is for local development only. Headless delivery is GraphQL. 5 6
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Paid tier Headless channels need the Advanced tier. 6
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Not available No outgoing webhooks. Content events need custom handler code. 7
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Built in ASP.NET Core website channels.
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Built in 8
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Lite and Enterprise. 1	Built in Schedule publish and unpublish. 8
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Built in View and restore previously published versions. 9
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in Preview mode and shareable preview URLs.
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Live preview inspector mode opens the field next to the page. Needs the live preview SDK. 6	Built in Page Builder.
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Paid tier Not on the Starter Space. Up to 5 on a Lite Space at $850 a month, custom on Enterprise. 1	Built in Custom workflow steps with role permissions. 10
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Plugin or add-on Launch is available on Lite and Enterprise plan families, but requires Contentful admin support to purchase and install. 7 8	Limited Cascade publishing sends linked items with the parent. No standalone release bundles. 11
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Paid tier Live collaboration on Lite and Enterprise, with per-field presence avatars. 1 13	Not available Content locking lets one user edit an item at a time. 12
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Lite 3. 1 9	Built in Roles with application, workspace and page permissions. 13
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Field and locale rules in custom roles. Premium plans only, sold as Enterprise. 10	Not available Permissions stop at application, workspace and page level. 13
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML 2.0 SSO on Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. 11	Built in OpenID Connect for the administration, for example Microsoft Entra ID. 14
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Audit logs on selected Enterprise plans, by sales agreement. 12	Limited Event log records system events. Version history shows who changed versioned items. 15 9
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier One Starter Space on Free and Lite, plus one paid Lite Space. Multiple spaces on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier Several main website channels need the Advanced tier. Standard adds only microchannels. 2
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in App Framework for custom field, sidebar, entry and page apps. 14	Built in Custom React UI pages and form components. 16
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Built in Integrations directory on the Kentico Community portal. 17
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in Form Builder.
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Built in Members with registration, login and member roles. 18
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Content Generator app with your own OpenAI key. AI Actions need Enterprise. 1 15	Built in AIRA text generation and translation on both tiers. Licences include 200,000 credits a year. 2 19
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted beta server at mcp.contentful.com and an open-source local server. 16	Limited Management MCP server works on local development instances only. 20 5

Contentful sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans.

Considering more platforms? Compare Contentful and Xperience by Kentico with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Contentful and Xperience by Kentico get a different status on 17 of the 28 features and the same status on 11. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Xperience by Kentico has 19. 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: Contentful cannot be self-hosted. Xperience by Kentico can be self-hosted.
Free option: Contentful has a free option. Xperience by Kentico has no free option.

Built in on Contentful, a different answer on Xperience by Kentico 4

REST API Contentful: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
GraphQL API Contentful: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier.
Webhooks Contentful: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Official MCP server Contentful: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.

Built in on Xperience by Kentico, a different answer on Contentful 9

Content model in code Contentful: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Renders the website Contentful: Not available. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Approval workflows Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Custom roles Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Single sign-on Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Form builder Contentful: Not available. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Site member accounts Contentful: Not available. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
AI writing assistant Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 4

Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Field-level permissions Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Audit log Contentful: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Contentful vs Payload.

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