CMS comparison FirstSpirit vs Xperience by Kentico

FirstSpirit vs Xperience by Kentico

FirstSpirit is a closed-source enterprise DXP that you can host yourself or run 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 12.

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FirstSpirit Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 19 of 28 built in
Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 19 of 28 built in

Sources checked: FirstSpirit 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

FirstSpirit vs Xperience by Kentico feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	FirstSpirit Enterprise DXP	Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP
Overview
What it is	Java-based enterprise CMS with in-preview editing and a CaaS layer for headless delivery. Runs as FirstSpirit Cloud or on-premises.	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.	FirstSpirit 5.2 monthly release line, FirstSpirit Cloud and on-premises Version 2026.10 (5.2.261011), released 15 Sept 2026	Xperience by Kentico Version 31.9.0, released 24 Sept 2026
Vendor	Crownpeak Technology GmbH, part of Rezolve Ai since December 2025 firstspirit.com	Kentico kentico.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	Self-hosting Vendor cloud	Self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Java, ContentCreator web client, SiteArchitect desktop app	.NET, ASP.NET Core
Database	Built-in repository, plus SQL databases such as PostgreSQL for data sources	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. 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.	Built in Templates sync to files in Git through external synchronization and FSDevTools. 3 4	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.	Limited Developers build templates in SiteArchitect but write their forms as XML. 4 12	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 Pages consist of sections based on section templates.	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 Language-dependent fields per project language.	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 FirstSpirit automatically generates the image resolutions defined per project.	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 CaaS REST API. 5 6	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 CaaS GraphQL API generated from the FirstSpirit data model. 5 6	Paid tier Headless channels need the Advanced tier. 6
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Limited CaaS Change Streams push change events over WebSocket. 6	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.	Built in Generates pages from templates. CaaS covers headless delivery.	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 Changes stay unreleased until the release workflow runs. 8	Built in 8
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Limited Admins set up timed schedule entries. Editors have no per-item publish date. 10	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	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 ContentCreator in-preview editing. Omnichannel Manager for headless frontends. 7	Built in Page Builder.
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Built in 8	Built in Custom workflow steps with role permissions. 10
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Limited Release with dependencies publishes a page with its linked media and parents. 9	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.	Not available The Collaboration module adds comments on fields. No co-editing. 11	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.	Built in Groups with permissions per store and node.	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.	Limited Form rules hide or lock single fields per user group. 12	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.	Built in SAML and OpenID Connect login modules. 13 14	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.	Built in Audit logging to the server log once enabled. 15	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 Several projects per server. Multisite Management shares content between them. 16	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 ContentCreator and SiteArchitect plug-ins.	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 FirstSpirit Marketplace. 17	Built in Integrations directory on the Kentico Community portal. 17
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Plugin or add-on Formcentric for FirstSpirit, a partner product. 18	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 AI Suite module: Content, Analyze and Image assistants. 1 17	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 CaaS Platform MCP server builds and runs CaaS GraphQL queries. 19	Limited Management MCP server works on local development instances only. 20 5

FirstSpirit sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. FirstSpirit 5.2 monthly release line, FirstSpirit Cloud and on-premises.

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

Where they differ

FirstSpirit and Xperience by Kentico get a different status on 12 of the 28 features and the same status on 16. FirstSpirit has 19 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.

Built in on FirstSpirit, a different answer on Xperience by Kentico 5

REST API FirstSpirit: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
GraphQL API FirstSpirit: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier.
Audit log FirstSpirit: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.
Multiple sites FirstSpirit: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier.
Official MCP server FirstSpirit: Built in. Xperience by Kentico: Limited.

Built in on Xperience by Kentico, a different answer on FirstSpirit 5

Content model in the UI FirstSpirit: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Scheduled publishing FirstSpirit: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Form builder FirstSpirit: Plugin or add-on. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
Site member accounts FirstSpirit: Not available. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.
AI writing assistant FirstSpirit: Plugin or add-on. Xperience by Kentico: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 2

Webhooks FirstSpirit: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.
Field-level permissions FirstSpirit: Limited. Xperience by Kentico: Not available.

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