CMS comparison Xperience by Kentico vs Squarespace

Xperience by Kentico vs Squarespace

Xperience by Kentico is a closed-source enterprise DXP that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. Squarespace is a closed-source site builder that runs 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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Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP · Closed source · 19 of 28 built in
Squarespace Site builder · Closed source · 9 of 28 built in

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

Xperience by Kentico vs Squarespace feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Xperience by Kentico Enterprise DXP	Squarespace Site builder
Overview
What it is	Kentico's .NET digital experience platform for websites, email and headless channels, sold as Kentico-hosted SaaS or a private-cloud licence.	Hosted website builder with templates, a visual editor, blogging and commerce. Squarespace runs the hosting.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Xperience by Kentico Version 31.9.0, released 24 Sept 2026	Squarespace website plans on version 7.1 SaaS, continuously updated
Vendor	Kentico kentico.com	Squarespace, Inc. squarespace.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	Self-hosting Vendor cloud	No self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	.NET, ASP.NET Core	Hosted SaaS, custom CSS and JavaScript on Core and higher plans
Database	Microsoft SQL Server	Managed by Squarespace
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	No free option Pricing on request. Licensed per channel in Standard and Advanced tiers, plus AIRA credit packages.	No free option Basic $19, Core $29, Plus $49, Advanced $99 per month billed annually in the US. 14-day free trial.
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 Continuous Integration serializes content types to files in the repository. 3	Limited Custom post types in template.conf, only with Developer Mode on version 7.0. 2 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in Field editor in the Content types application.	Not available Fixed page and collection types. No custom fields in the editor. 2
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Page Builder widgets and sections, plus reusable content items.	Built in Editors add and reorder sections and blocks.
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in Language variants per page and content item.	Plugin or add-on Weglot extension. Without it, editors duplicate pages per language. 4 5
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Image variants with configured crops and sizes. 4	Built in Squarespace serves uploaded images in generated sizes.
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Limited The Management REST API is for local development only. Headless delivery is GraphQL. 5 6	Limited Commerce APIs for products, orders and inventory on Core and up. No API for pages. 1 6
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Paid tier Headless channels need the Advanced tier. 6	Not available
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Not available No outgoing webhooks. Content events need custom handler code. 7	Limited Commerce events only, through the Webhook Subscriptions API. 7
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Built in ASP.NET Core website channels.	Built in
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 8	Paid tier Page drafts need a Premium or Enterprise plan. Blog posts can be drafts on any plan. 8
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Built in Schedule publish and unpublish. 8	Limited Blog posts only. 9
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in View and restore previously published versions. 9	Not available Undo and redo within an editing session only. 10
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in Preview mode and shareable preview URLs.	Built in Editing happens on the rendered page.
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Page Builder.	Built in
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Built in Custom workflow steps with role permissions. 10	Limited Enterprise Draft editor role drafts pages for an admin to publish. No custom stages. 8 11
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Limited Cascade publishing sends linked items with the parent. No standalone release bundles. 11	Not available
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 Content locking lets one user edit an item at a time. 12	Not available
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Built in Roles with application, workspace and page permissions. 13	Not available Fixed contributor permission types. 11
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Not available Permissions stop at application, workspace and page level. 13	Not available
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Built in OpenID Connect for the administration, for example Microsoft Entra ID. 14	Paid tier Premium and Enterprise plans. OpenID Connect through Entra ID, SAML through Google. 17 18
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Limited Event log records system events. Version history shows who changed versioned items. 15 9	Not available
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier Several main website channels need the Advanced tier. Standard adds only microchannels. 2	Limited Each site needs its own plan. Enterprise teams manage several sites from one account. 11
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in Custom React UI pages and form components. 16	Not available
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Integrations directory on the Kentico Community portal. 17	Built in Squarespace Extensions, a directory of third-party tools. 12
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Built in Form Builder.	Built in Form blocks store submissions. 13
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Built in Members with registration, login and member roles. 18	Built in Customer accounts on all plans. Member sites for gated content. 1 14
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Built in AIRA text generation and translation on both tiers. Licences include 200,000 credits a year. 2 19	Built in Squarespace AI writer. Monthly AI credits vary by plan. 1 15
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Limited Management MCP server works on local development instances only. 20 5	Not available The official MCP server covers domain search only. It can't reach site content. 16

Squarespace sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Squarespace website plans on version 7.1.

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

Where they differ

Xperience by Kentico and Squarespace get a different status on 16 of the 28 features and the same status on 12. Xperience by Kentico has 19 built in on its baseline edition, Squarespace has 9. 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: Xperience by Kentico can be self-hosted. Squarespace cannot be self-hosted.

Built in on Xperience by Kentico, a different answer on Squarespace 10

Content model in code Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
Content model in the UI Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Localization Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Plugin or add-on.
Drafts Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Paid tier.
Scheduled publishing Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
Version history Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Approval workflows Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Limited.
Custom roles Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.
Single sign-on Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Paid tier.
Extensible admin UI Xperience by Kentico: Built in. Squarespace: Not available.

Built in on neither, with different answers 6

GraphQL API Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier. Squarespace: Not available.
Webhooks Xperience by Kentico: Not available. Squarespace: Limited.
Content releases Xperience by Kentico: Limited. Squarespace: Not available.
Audit log Xperience by Kentico: Limited. Squarespace: Not available.
Multiple sites Xperience by Kentico: Paid tier. Squarespace: Limited.
Official MCP server Xperience by Kentico: Limited. Squarespace: Not available.

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