CMS comparison Contentstack vs Xperience by Kentico

Contentstack vs Xperience by Kentico

Contentstack 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 16.

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Contentstack Headless · Closed source · 17 of 28 built in
Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 19 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentstack 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

Contentstack vs Xperience by Kentico feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentstack Headless	Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentstack, sold alongside its AI agent and customer data products. It delivers content 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.	Contentstack Content Cloud headless CMS, Free, Growth and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Xperience by Kentico Version 31.9.0, released 24 Sept 2026
Vendor	Contentstack contentstack.com	Kentico kentico.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, CLI and SDKs	.NET, ASP.NET Core
Database	Managed by Contentstack	Microsoft SQL Server
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Growth $299 per month, extra users $25 per user 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 Contentstack CLI. No declarative schema files. 2	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 Modular Blocks fields, plus the Visual Editor for page layout. 12	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 Entry-level localization in over 200 languages. 15	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 Image Delivery API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 3	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 5	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 4	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	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	Built in 8
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Built in 6	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	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 12	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 Visual Editor on every plan. 1 12	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 Custom workflows on Growth and Enterprise. 1 7	Built in Custom workflow steps with role permissions. 10
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Built in Releases deploy grouped entries and assets to an environment. 6	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.	Limited Field-level locks and presence. Rolling out in phases with Drafts and Auto Save. 8	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 2 custom roles on Growth, 500 on Enterprise. None on Free. 1	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 rules inside custom roles, from Growth. 1 9	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.	Limited SAML 2.0 documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Eligible tiers are not public. Confirm access in the contract. 10	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.	Limited Stack and organization logs documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Confirm access and retention in the contract. 11	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.	Built in Separate stacks in one organization. Scaling stacks is a Growth and Enterprise option. 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 Developer Hub apps in field, sidebar and dashboard UI locations. 13	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 Contentstack Marketplace. 13	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 Assistant app with Contentstack-managed or your own model keys. 1 13	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 Official server run locally with npx @contentstack/mcp. 14	Limited Management MCP server works on local development instances only. 20 5

Contentstack sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentstack Content Cloud headless CMS, Free, Growth and Enterprise plans.

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

Where they differ

Contentstack and Xperience by Kentico get a different status on 16 of the 28 features and the same status on 12. Contentstack has 17 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: Contentstack cannot be self-hosted. Xperience by Kentico can be self-hosted.
Free option: Contentstack has a free option. Xperience by Kentico has no free option.

Built in on Contentstack, a different answer on Xperience by Kentico 6

REST API Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
GraphQL API Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier.
Webhooks Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Content releases Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
Multiple sites Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier.
Official MCP server Contentstack: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.

Built in on Xperience by Kentico, a different answer on Contentstack 8

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

Built in on neither, with different answers 2

Real-time co-editing Contentstack: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Field-level permissions Contentstack: Paid tier. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.

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