Prismic vs Umbraco
Prismic is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS 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 15.
- Prismic Headless · Closed source · 16 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Prismic on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco 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
| Platform |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Hosted headless page builder where marketers compose pages from developer-built slices. Run by Prismic, with SDKs for Next.js, Nuxt and SvelteKit. | Open-source .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Prismic SaaS, Free to Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Prismic prismic.io | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Closed source Proprietary | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | No self-hosting Vendor cloud | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | SaaS with SDKs for Next.js, Nuxt and SvelteKit | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | Managed by Prismic | SQL Server, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free plan. Starter $10, Small $25, Medium $150, Platinum $675 per repository per month, billed yearly. | Free to start Free to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| 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 Model files live in the project. The Prismic CLI pushes and pulls them. 2 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Type Builder in the web app. 3 | Built in Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Slices with variations. 4 | Built in Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| 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, 8 on Platinum, custom on Enterprise. 1 | Built in Culture variants per property. |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Image optimization and processing on all plans. 1 | Built in ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in Document API. 15 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Built in 15 | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in 6 | Built in 8 |
| 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 Razor templates. |
| 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 Scheduled through releases on every plan. 18 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Full revision history on every plan. 1 | Built in Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in Shareable previews on every plan. 17 | 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 Page Builder shows live slice previews from your site next to the fields. 7 | Not available |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Limited Writer and Publisher roles from Medium. No configurable review stages. 9 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Built in Up to 200 pages per release. 8 | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| 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 In progress with a waitlist. A status indicator shows who is editing. 10 | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Limited Enterprise only. Fixed Read-only, Writer or Publisher levels set per locale. No role builder. 19 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier Enterprise. 19 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Not available Not documented publicly. | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Built in Each site is a repository on its own plan. Spaces group content inside one. 111 | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Limited Integration fields load external catalog data into a picker. No custom UI code. 12 | Built in Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Not available Integration guides only. No installable marketplace. 13 | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Limited Beta on request: AI translation and SEO metadata suggestions. 114 | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Hosted at mcp.prismic.io, activated per repository. 15 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
Prismic sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Prismic SaaS, Free to Enterprise plans.
- Prismic pricing and plan comparison
- Prismic CLI
- Prismic Type Builder
- Prismic slices
- Prismic API references
- Prismic webhooks
- Prismic previews and live previews
- Prismic releases
- Prismic users and permissions
- Prismic update: real-time collaboration
- Prismic: organize pages with spaces
- Prismic integration field
- Prismic integrations
- Prismic AI (beta)
- Prismic MCP server
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Prismic and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Prismic and Umbraco get a different status on 15 of the 28 features and the same status on 13. Prismic has 16 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- Prismic is closed source (Proprietary). Umbraco is open source (MIT).
- Self-hosting
- Prismic cannot be self-hosted. Umbraco can be self-hosted.
Built in on Prismic, a different answer on Umbraco 4
- Content model in code Prismic: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- GraphQL API Prismic: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Visual editing Prismic: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Content releases Prismic: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Prismic 6
- Renders the website Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Prismic: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Prismic: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Extensible admin UI Prismic: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Plugin marketplace Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 5
- Approval workflows Prismic: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Field-level permissions Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
- Audit log Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Prismic: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant Prismic: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
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