24 Enterprise Content Management Systems in Comparison

This is already the fourth edition of the Content Management Systems Market Overview. In 2018, we compared 12 solutions; in 2019, we compared 14; and in 2023, we compared 24 enterprise content management systems. These solutions are compared in 11 categories and on the basis of 120 criteria. This makes it much easier for you to find your way around the software selection process. You can download the comparison as a PDF.

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1 Enterprise Content Management Systems: The framework in which it all unfolds

2 Categories of the market overview

4 All providers have equipped their solutions with very extensive functions and features

5 A CMS as a central point for content needs interfaces

6 Content has to be visible and a Content Management System has to help with that.

7 Legal criteria

8 Price models of the providers very different, the amount of the costs too

Enterprise Content Management Systems: The framework in which it all unfolds

Companies are communicating more and more with their target groups via the website and social media. In the process, the number of content threads and also the number of channels has increased significantly. An important task for marketing managers is to manage the content produced, i.e. to ensure that it is distributed on different channels. It is important that the content is adapted to the specifics of each channel. Another crucial task is to ensure that existing content can be quickly replaced, updated or taken offline. Content management systems (CMS) provide the right framework and are an important part of the enterprise content technology stack. We compared 24 commercial solutions for you in the following categories:

We compared these enterprise content management systems:

Bloomreach is a US company based in Mountain View. More than 900 employees develop and distribute the company’s software, which has been on the market since 2009 and is used by over 1,000 customers.

USP (according to its own statement): “Headless CMS for business users (WYSIWYG editor, out of the box features) and developers (open API, customizable) simultaneously.”

References: Baby Walz, Telekom, Puma, Bosch, Miele

Munich-based censhare GmbH has been on the market with its product since 2001 and employs 230 people. The software is used by over 350 customers. In 2021, the company generated sales of 26.3 million euros.

USP (according to its own statement): “censhare offers a fully integrated solution for Digital Asset Management (DAM), Product Information Management (PIM) and Content Management (CMS), which can be extended by functional modules that are also fully integrated, e.g. HCMS, Print Production Management, Variant Management, Translation Management, and more.”

References: R+V Versicherungen, BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, FTI Group, Lands’ End, motor presse stuttgart

Behind the CMS CONTAILOR stands the ProComp GmbH from Marktredwitz. The company has been on the market since 1990 and employs 65 people. Last year, ProComp GmbH generated a turnover of 11 million euros.

USP (according to its own statement): “Intuitive handling, individual solutions, maximum security”.

References: V. FRAAS, Wunsiedel district, city of Marktredwitz, Knoll Hydraulik

The content management system of CONTENS Software GmbH has been around since 1999. The company operates from Munich and takes care of its approximately 200 customers.

USP (according to its own statement): “Intuitive Web GUI (WYSIWYG); very good usability; flexible definition of content elements; multiple use of content; different display of content with format templates; multilingualism; multi-client capability; on premise and cloud; page generation static and dynamic; form builder for building individual data structures and lists; backend for external data management, etc.”

References: Würth Elektronik, Goethe-Institut e.V., OBI, McDonald’s, radio NRW, Best Western Hotel Central Europe, UniCredit Direct Services

The Berlin-based company Contentful has been selling its CMS solution Contentful Content Management Platform since 2013. With 850 employees, Contentful serves its customers, according to its own statements.

USP (according to its own statement): “Launch faster, consistently, and at scale with the Contentful Composable Content Platform.”

References: HABA, alpro, Asics, Headspace, Bang & Olufsen

The CoreMedia company is based in Hamburg. The company has been on the market with its solution since 1996 and employs 170 people who look after its 2020 customers. Last year, the company achieved a turnover of 22 million euros.

USP (according to its own statement): “Hybrid CMS (headless and server side rendering), intuitive (low barrier) editorial interface, high customizability of the solution, deep eCommerce integrations. Operation can be on-prem, on-cloud as well as as-a-service. As a best-of-breed solution, CoreMedia can be easily integrated into existing infrastructures. High requirements for performance, availability as well as IT security are met.”

References: Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom, DMG Mori, Deutsche Börse, Finnair

Crownpeak is headquartered in Denver (USA) and has been on the market since 1999. In Germany, it is located in Dortmund. With 250-400 employees, the company serves 825 customers, according to its own information.

USP (according to its own statement): “Crownpeak is one of the few CMS providers with native barrier-free accessibility and quality in the CMS. It ensures compliance and support for central governance and maintenance of brand standards. By incorporating Product Discovery, Crownpeak is able to turn both content and product recommendations into personalized experiences across multiple channels.”

References: Nintendo, Bosch, Ernsting’s Family, Volkswagen AG

The Enterprise Content Management System dotCMS comes from the company of the same name dotCMS from Miami, Florida (USA), which has been on the market since 2007. According to its own information, dotCMS currently has 65 employees.

USP (according to their own statement): “We help organizations with sophisticated content requirements create, manage and deliver content anywhere.”

The Danish company Dynamicweb has been on the market since 1999 and currently has more than 4,000 customers and 150 employees.

USP (according to their own statement): “Dynamicweb E-Commerce Suite is a cloud-based all-in-one solution with CMS, e-commerce, PIM and marketing tools in one application. This approach reduces the complexity of your IT stack and helps you create exceptional customer experiences.”

References: Euronics, Europcar, Flying Tiger, Hummel, Mann + Hummel, bellissa HAAS

The US company HubSpot has been on the market since 2006. The company has its headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts and another office in Berlin. With more than 7,000 employees, HubSpot says it supports over 150,000 customers and generated sales of 967.79 million euros last year.

USP (according to its own statement): “We offer content management software that is both user-friendly and powerful, from free to enterprise versions. CMS Hub is integrated with HubSpot’s CRM platform: This puts all the information marketing teams need at their fingertips to deliver a fully personalized experience to potential and existing clientele.”

References: Trusted Shops, Toyota Material Handling Germany, IDEAL Vorsorge, ELPRO-Buchs, Canva

InterRed GmbH has been offering its solution since 1993. More than 10,000 customers are now using it. InterRed is based in Siegen and employs 70 people.

USP (according to their own statement): “InterRed is the central headless CMS for all channels: Online, Social, Print, E-Paper, App. As a central content hub, InterRed offers AI-based multi-channel publishing. Integrated features include digital asset management, action & topic planning, communication & workflow management, AI & data analytics, flexible content control and search engine optimization (SEO) technologies.”

References: Axel Springer SE, Rheinische Post Mediengruppe; Motor Presse Stuttgart, VDI Wissensforum GmbH, Wort und Bild Verlag

The provider Liferay is a company headquartered in Diamond Bar, California (USA). In Germany, the company is located in Eschborn near Frankfurt a.M. The software has been available since 2004 and is currently used by 1,200 customers. Liferay employs 1,200 people.

USP (according to its own statement): “With its cloud-based Digital Experience Platform (DXP), Liferay helps companies address their unique challenges: developing innovative, customer-centric experiences. Our platform is open source, which makes it more reliable and secure. More than 1000 companies in Finance, Insurance, Manufacturing and Public Sector use Liferay worldwide.”

References: Putzmeister, SCHOTT, A1 Telekom, Stuttgarter Versicherung, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

Swiss vendor Magnolia International AG is headquartered in Münchenstein, near Basel, and has eight other globally distributed offices. The company has been on the market since 1997. 550 customers rely on the solution of the company, which employs 205 people.

References: OBI, Generali, Union Investment, Carglass, Rose Bikes, Bike24, Dehner, R&V, Peri

The Optimizely company is headquartered in New York (USA). In Germany, Optimizely operates from its location in Berlin. Founded in 1996, the company has 1,500 employees and in 2021 had a turnover of 350 million euros.

USP (according to its own statement): “Simplicity of the system & maximum output thanks to high-quality intelligence.”

References: Arvato, HDI, Dorothee Schumacher, Swiss Re, Güntner, Peri SE

pirobase CMS is the solution of the Cologne-based company pirobase imperia GmbH, which has been operating on the market since 1995. With 250 employees, Girobase has 80 customers.

USP (according to its own statement): “Our platform for digital content combines the capabilities of enterprise content management with the convenience of an intuitive editorial system. With pirobase, you master the full complexity of modern omnichannel communication.”

References: Axa, Deka, Strabag, State of Baden-Württemberg

Scrivito CMS is backed by the JustRelate Group, a company with offices in Berlin, Munich and Wroclaw. The solution has been on the market since 1989. With 155 employees and 280 customers, it turned over 18 million euros last year.

USP (according to its own statement): “As a decoupled/headless enterprise web CMS, Scrivito serves as a flexible foundation for all of our customers’ websites and apps. It delivers content to any channel and device, is user-friendly, secure, scalable, highly integratable, and designed for high-performance global deployment.”

References: ADAC, Nuremberg Airport, ERGO Insurance, OBI

Sitecore’s German headquarters are in Mannheim. The company employs 2,200 people worldwide and serves 5,200 customers, according to the company. Sitecore has been on the market since 2001.

USP (according to its own statement): “Experience Manager Cloud is a software-as-a-service headless CMS including personalization and WYSIWYG editing. In addition, our customers can access other services of our SaaS Composable Digital Experience Platform at any time (e.g. CDP, Commerce etc).”

References: Thule, l’Oreal, Hilti, Metro, Volvo, Festool, Grohe, Palm Dubai, Emirates

Behind the Sitefinity software is the provider Progress Software Corporation from Burlington (USA), with a German branch in Cologne. The company employs 2,000 people and has been on the market with its solution since 2005, which is used by 2,000 customers. In 2021, the provider had a turnover of 531.3 million US dollars.

USP (according to their own statement): “Sitefinity is powerful, user-friendly and cost-effective CMS system. Sitefinity CMS is based on ASP.NET and offers almost unlimited freedom in page layout and the possibility to integrate external applications. With built-in analytics, personalization and optimization features, you can segment your audience, differentiate the customer journey.”

References: Fujitsu, Diamond Sugar, Henry Ford, Tom Tailor, Best Western Hotels

The solution provider Six Offene Systeme has been offering SixCMS on the market since 1991. 50 employees are at the company’s headquarters in Stuttgart to serve its approximately 500 customers.

USP (according to its own statement): “As a headless CMS, SixCMS enables platform-independent content output. Content is stored in a structured and media-neutral way. Large amounts of data are just as little a challenge as multilingual multisites. Detailed workflow management, individually customizable input masks, and precise role and rights assignments ensure the necessary efficiency and security.”

References: Cewe Fotobuch, Spektrum der Wissenschaft Verlag, GTÜ, Land Brandenburg, Landkreis Dahme-Spreewald, Freie Hansestadt Bremen

Storyblok is the CMS solution from the Austrian company of the same name, Storyblok. The company, which has been on the market since 2017, has more than 200,000 projects and employs 236 people.

USP (according to its own statement): “Storyblok is the only content management system that empowers both developers and content teams to create and scale better content experiences across all digital channels. Storyblok was also voted #1 Customer’s choice in the January 2023 Gartner Peers Insight, received 30+ G2 badges, and achieved a 582% ROI in a 3-year period according to Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study.”

References: Marc O’ Polo, Chronext, DM, Oatly, Tesla

Sulu GmbH from Austria has been on the market since 2015 and, according to its own information, serves 50 customers with its solution. The company has seven employees.

USP (according to its own statement): “Open source. Fit for enterprise.”

References: Küchengötter, Allianz Cinema, BRAX, Brille24, Tchibo MOBIL

Woodwing is based in Amsterdam and employs 230 people. With its 5,000 customers, the company achieved sales of EUR 27 million last year. The solution has been on the market since 2000.

USP (according to its own statement): “Multi channel publishing: digital, apps, apple news+ and print.”

References: Aller, TX Group, Bauer, Dotdash Meredith, Hearst

The company behind this CMS is Kentico Software GmbH from Neuss. The company has been on the market since 2008 and achieved an annual turnover of EUR 20 million with its 1,500 customers.

USP (according to its own statement): “The hybrid headless architecture of Xperience by Kentico- CMS enables faster and more flexible implementation, so you can start small and gradually expand composable. With a wealth of out-of-the-box features and APIs, you’ll need fewer people to get to market faster and achieve amazing ROI.”

Xpublisher GmbH is a software company based in Munich, Germany. It has been on the market with its solution since 2009.

USP (according to its own statement): “Xpublisher is a workflow-centric multichannel publishing system that can be used to create different content, manage it in a content pool and publish it highly efficiently and economically to any media channel. Benefits: BPMN workflow engine, metadata management, open API, certificates related to reliability and data & data center security.”

References: Lufthansa Technik, Heise Medien, Holtzbrinck Buchverlage (including Fischer, Droemer Knaur, rowohlt, Kiepenheuer & Witsch), Diogenes, Michael Page, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ashp), Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)

All providers have equipped their solutions with very extensive functions and features

All content management systems in this overview have a wide range of functions and features. Some belong to the mandatory category, some rather to the optional. First of all, it can be said that all solutions are on a similarly very good level when it comes to the basic features of the tools. These include, for example, a WYSIWYG editor, a user/authorization system, a file management system or responsive design. In this market overview, we have also paid special attention to the criteria of omnichannel, data analysis and headless CMS – with broad coverage as well. In short, every CMS compared in the market overview has the basic functions that users need on board. What is astonishing, however, is that the providers also cover almost all of the more advanced functions – i.e., more of the optional extras – to a large extent with their solutions. These functions include, for example, the option of personalization, workflow management, content staging and content versioning.

A CMS as a central point for content needs interfaces

Important for a CMS is its ability to cooperate with other tools and solutions via interfaces. For example, are there interfaces to Google Analytics and Google Search Console? Can third-party analysis tools such as Piwik or eTracker be connected? The question of newsletter tools or external store systems (-> see also our market overview of shop systems) and common social media platforms was also asked here. The result: Almost everything is possible and can be integrated, but not everything is included in the functional scope of the solutions without effort or additional costs. Users should therefore look at their tool setup and check to what extent a CMS provider allows integration. In this market overview, we also explicitly asked about interfaces to digital asset management (DAM) systems, product information management (PIM) solutions, CRM systems and customer data platforms. And here, too, connections are possible with most CMS providers.

Content has to be visible and a Content Management System has to help with that.

Why produce content if it can’t be found? There is a lot of truth in this sentence. At the same time, it shows the importance of SEO criteria for a CMS – and we asked about them. The good news: All providers have very good options for presenting the content in a search engine optimized way. These include the possibility to create individual snippets, the possibility of breadcrump navigation or the prevention of duplicate content through a canonical attribute. Basically, you should check whether the SEO software that you may already be using as a stand-alone solution can be integrated into the CMS (-> see also our SEO software market overview).

Legal criteria

Of course, legal criteria are also a factor that should not be underestimated when selecting software. Particularly against the Background of data protection regulations, it can be relevant where the provider’s servers are located or whether there is a standardized contract for commissioned data processing. The question of certifications is also relevant in this context. Here, there are differences among the providers within the market comparison, although at the same time it must be noted that the companies are of a good standard here. By the way, there are also some legal pitfalls in the transfer of content management systems, independent of the providers.

Price models of the providers very different, the amount of the costs too

Anyone who chooses a CMS naturally also looks at the price. It is interesting to know what the costs of the software for a company are made up of. There are big differences here: While with some providers the costs arise primarily through the number of users or installations, with others it is the number of visitors/views that the website in question has. The model of charging according to the number of functional modules used in the solution was also mentioned. There are large differences in the minimum monthly costs for the software. The range here is between EUR 79 and EUR 70,000 – at least among the providers who provided information on this question. In general, the providers are reluctant to specify the costs. This is also the case, for example, with the question of setup costs, because the implementation of a CMS can be very complex. Here, many providers have not provided any details. At the same time, some providers also offer a free setup.