CMS comparison Contentstack vs Progress Sitefinity

Contentstack vs Progress Sitefinity

Contentstack is a closed-source headless CMS 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 12.

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Contentstack Headless · Closed source · 17 of 28 built in
Progress Sitefinity Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 22 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentstack 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

Contentstack vs Progress Sitefinity feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentstack Headless	Progress Sitefinity 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.	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.	Contentstack Content Cloud headless CMS, Free, Growth and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Sitefinity CMS 15.4 DX edition, self-hosted or on Sitefinity Cloud Version 15.4.8639, released 29 Sept 2026
Vendor	Contentstack contentstack.com	Progress Software progress.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 and Next.js renderers
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. 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.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentstack CLI. No declarative schema files. 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 1	Built in Module Builder.
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 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 Entry-level localization in over 200 languages. 15	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 Image Delivery API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 3	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 5	Built in OData REST web services. 5
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 4	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	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.	Not available	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	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Built in 6	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 12	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 Visual Editor on every plan. 1 12	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.	Paid tier Custom workflows on Growth and Enterprise. 1 7	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 Releases deploy grouped entries and assets to an environment. 6	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 Field-level locks and presence. Rolling out in phases with Drafts and Auto Save. 8	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.	Paid tier 2 custom roles on Growth, 500 on Enterprise. None on Free. 1	Built in 11
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	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.	Limited SAML 2.0 documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Eligible tiers are not public. Confirm access in the contract. 10	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.	Limited Stack and organization logs documented; baseline availability unconfirmed. Confirm access and retention in the contract. 11	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 Separate stacks in one organization. Scaling stacks is a Growth and Enterprise option. 1	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 Developer Hub apps in field, sidebar and dashboard UI locations. 13	Built in Custom fields, widgets and AdminApp extensions.
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentstack Marketplace. 13	Built in Sitefinity integrations directory. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	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.	Not available	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.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Assistant app with Contentstack-managed or your own model keys. 1 13	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 Official server run locally with npx @contentstack/mcp. 14	Plugin or add-on Sitefinity MCP Server, 15.4.8633 or later, needs a Sitefinity AI subscription. 18

Contentstack sources

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

Progress Sitefinity sources

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

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

Where they differ

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

Built in on Contentstack, a different answer on Progress Sitefinity 2

Content releases Contentstack: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.
Official MCP server Contentstack: Built in. Progress Sitefinity: Plugin or add-on.

Built in on Progress Sitefinity, a different answer on Contentstack 7

Content model in code Contentstack: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Renders the website Contentstack: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Approval workflows Contentstack: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Custom roles Contentstack: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Single sign-on Contentstack: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Form builder Contentstack: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.
Site member accounts Contentstack: Not available. Progress Sitefinity: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 3

Real-time co-editing Contentstack: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Not available.
Field-level permissions Contentstack: Paid tier. Progress Sitefinity: Limited.
Audit log Contentstack: Limited. Progress Sitefinity: Paid tier.

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