Which one is the “right” one and which one should you choose depends entirely on your business’ requirements, budget, scope, and scalability.
To help you choose the “right” one for you, we have created this guide, which analyses both platforms in detail so you can pick the one that works best for you.
Overview of Kentico and WordPress
Both WordPress and Kentico development gives developers and businesses the autonomy over easily building and managing a website, but they are created for different audiences, use cases and industries.
Kentico is an all-in-one platform built mainly for businesses that want to centralise all their platforms, content, websites and analytics in one dashboard. The platform’s integrated tools and in-built functionalities have powerful digital marketing tools, e-commerce features, and enterprise-level scalability at one unified platform. All this functionality, capability and flexibility makes it a popular choice for larger organisations and enterprises that have complex custom websites, multiple users, and large volumes of content.
On the other hand, WordPress is an open source platform that was originally only used for blogging but slowly evolved into a power platform for web development. Despite being free, the CMS comes with thousands of themes and plugins which are often paid and can be used to create an online store, blogging site, brochure site or a service-offering store. While WordPress can be customised to create a high level website, it is most commonly used for small-scale websites.
Key Features Comparison
Both platforms are packed with unique features which are suitable for businesses of different types and sizes.
Kentico's All-in-One Solution
Kentico is known to be an all-in-one platform that has powerful content management tools combined with integrated marketing, and data analytics tools. The all-in-one dashboard makes it easy for large-scales business to manage content, multiple websites, customer data, payment details, cart checkout methods, and paid marketing tools from a unified central platform. Even though Kentico has pricing options for single primary websites, it is best suited for larger enterprises that have custom and complex websites and need tools to engage users, track performance, drive and track conversions and stay consistent across all platforms.
WordPress's Flexibility and Plugins
WordPress is a popular choice for small-medium sized businesses because it is an open source platform and needs low-investment in terms of plugins and themes. If you are running a small-medium business that doesn’t have multiple websites and has a limited number of social media platforms, WordPress is perfect for you. Through its easy design options and flexible customisation options through plugins, you can meet your business’ needs and personalise your website as you see fit. There are plugins available for all kinds of things but keep in mind, updating and maintaining plugins can be a task sometimes.
Ease of Use
Managing a business is difficult as is. And we know that you don’t want to make it even more difficult with a complicated CMS. Here’s how both platforms provide ease of use.
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Kentico's Intuitive Dashboard
Kentico’s dashboard is designed with both technical and non-technical users in mind. The interface is clean, logically organised and accessible to be used by users with different technical capabilities. The platform has a drag-and-drop editor, the visuals of the platform makes it easy to create and manage content across different social media and marketing channels. One of my personal favourite features is the multi-user access and controls which allows for role-based permissions so content editors, marketers, and developers can collaborate within the same platform without getting in each other’s way.
WordPress's User-Friendly Interface
WordPress’s dashboard is famous for its user-friendly interface, which is why it is widely adopted globally. To begin with, WordPress has hundreds of static and dynamic themes that can be downloaded on the dashboard and customised according to your website's branding and content. After themes, you can explore and create web pages, blogs, service pages and product pages with easy-to-install plugins. The editors like Elementor, Bakery and Gutenberg are also very easy and most drag and drop based which makes it possible for non-technical users to create websites.
Security Considerations
A website is a front end of a business, and a lot of thought and effort goes into making a website. You’d want it to be secure so you don’t lose any sensitive data of your business and customers.
Security Features in Kentico
Since Kentico is mainly designed for enterprise-level websites, the security it offers is unmatched. Based on the package you choose, the security levels of your website vary. The platform includes built-in internal security protocols like role-based access control, so only authorised users can access and manage specific areas of the site. Other than internal, Kentico also supports external security measures like multifactor authentication (MFA) and follows industry standards like GDPR and ISO 27001. These standards make the platform ideal for handling secure and sensitive data.
Security Features in WordPress
Since WordPress is an open-source platform, it comes with some inherent security risks. The core platform is considerably secure, but since it relies heavily on third-party plugins and themes, there is a security risk if plugins are not regularly updated or properly maintained. Outdated plugins are prone to be hacked and cause security breaches. But the platform provides capabilities like firewalls, malware scans, and login protection.
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Customisation and Flexibility
Every business is unique and so is their website, so how much room does a CMS provide for customisation is very important.
Customisation offered by Kentico
Kentico has a modular architecture that lets you make customised design and development capabilities, which makes it easy to expand functionalities and integrate third-party systems if needed. You can create custom web parts through drag and drop options, modules, and widgets suitable for your website, and the API makes it possible to connect Kentico with external applications. This level of customisation is perfect for fast-growing businesses.
Customisation offered by WordPress
WordPress has a huge library of themes and plugins, so naturally, the customisation options are endless. You can choose as many plugins and themes as you want (Of course, at a cost) to either create a basic or high level, complex website. For more advanced customisation, users can modify the site’s code directly through HTML or CSS or install high-level plugins. There is no limit to creating and customising pages and plugins, so you can keep customising and updating the website as your business grows.
Cost Analysis: Wordpress vs. Kentico
Both Kentico and WordPress have unique functionalities and, of course, unique costs.
Kentico's Pricing Model
Kentico is mainly marketed toward larger businesses and enterprises, and its pricing models reflect this. The pricing packages depend on the level of functionality required by the businesses such as the number of websites they want to operate with one dashboard, digital marketing tools, e-commerce capabilities, and integrations. The pricing usually follows a licensing model and a monthly subscription as well.
WordPress's Cost Factors
WordPress is open source, so it is technically free to use. But, to create a fully functional website, you cannot only rely on the free features alone, and you will have to pay for the hosting, the paid themes and plugins. So the upfront pricing of the platform is zero. But the recurring cost will depend on the type of hosting you choose, the plugins you install and the themes you use for your website. The pricing model of WordPress is the same as Umbraco, and you can explore the difference between Kentico and Umbraco to discover which of the three is best for you.
Technical Support and Community
Problems do not come knocking on your door. They usually kick the door down and surprise the hell out of you. That is why, whichever CMS you choose, you need quick and efficient support.
Kentico's Dedicated Support
One standout point of Kentico is its dedicated customer support, especially for enterprise clients who might need a higher level of assistance. They have 24/7 chat support globally, quick email support, personalised account management, and detailed documentation and videos that you can use for training.
WordPress's Extensive Community Support
WordPress doesn’t offer centralised 24/7 customer support like Kentico. Rather, it relies on a large, active community of developers, users, and contributors which help each other and share new ideas among themselves. Even though the community is strong and doesn’t shy away from sharing solutions, finding a solution to your specific problem can sometimes be a hassle.
Migration Considerations
Sometimes you simply grow a CMS, or you might want to migrate from it for some other reasons. Should you build a new website? Absolutely not! You can migrate your website with all your data to a new platform. Let’s see the level of migration both Kentico and WordPress offer.
Website Migration to Kentico
Migrating a large website with custom functionalities and significant amounts of content can be a task. And naturally, you’d want to transfer all the data and functionalities without missing anything. Since Kentico CMS is an all-in-one platform, migrating to it requires careful planning to ensure that content, and integrations, is transferred smoothly. Kentico does offer a migration Toolkit, and you can map out the migration process to see and fix any potential migration gaps. When migrating, a custom code or third-party applications may need to be rebuilt or adjusted.
Website Migration to Wordpress
Since WordPress already has external themes and plugins, migrating to WordPress can be a simpler process. Like everything, it has plugins for migration that can import content, themes, and settings from other CMS to WordPress. But in case of custom functionalities and features, some issues may be faced. But as we mentioned, the WordPress community is huge, and you can seek help from your fellow developers.
Performance and Scalability
A platform should grow with your business and offer scalability options as you continue to build your website.
Kentico's Performance Capabilities
As we talked about this before in this article, Kentico is built with enterprise-level performance in mind. In other words, it is designed to grow and scale as the business grows. The platform’s architecture is designed to support complex websites with heavy content loads, multiple integrations, and high levels of user interaction. With heavy websites in mind, it has performance optimisation features like caching, content delivery networks (CDN) integration, and load balancing, which contribute to fast page loading times even for large websites.
WordPress's Scalability
WordPress can be flexible to scaling depending on how the site is set up and maintained. The platform can handle small to medium websites efficiently, but as traffic and content increase, you will be needing additional caching plugins, CDN integration, and optimised hosting.
One very important thing to keep in mind is that as the website grows, you’ll need to keep installing plugins to keep up. At one point, maintaining those plugins would become a full-time job. So safe to say, that WordPress’s performance is suitable for small-med sized businesses, but it becomes a hassle with larger websites.
WordPress vs. Kentico Which CMS is Right for You?
The right CMS for you depends on your business size, budget, and long-term goals, scale, and technical requirements. Which one is right? WordPress or Kentico? Depends entirely on what your business is after.
Kentico is the go-to choice for larger, enterprise-level websites that need an all-in-one platform to manage content, digital marketing, e-commerce, and analytics from a singular point of contact. Its advanced, built-in features, 24/7 dedicated support, and security measures make it ideal for businesses with complex websites, multiple users, and higher demands for scalability and performance. However, all of this comes at a price which might be suitable for larger business but a bit much for small websites.
WordPress is a popular choice for independent and small-medium sized businesses because of its lower upfront costs. The usability and possibilities are endless with a library of thousands of plugins, but if you are looking to build a complex website, the number of plugins you use can get overwhelming. The platform also doesn’t have 24/7 technical support, so for any platform queries, you will have to refer to the community.
Lucky for you, these two are not the only options in terms of CMS, there’s also Sitecore, which is different from Kentico and Drupal which also has differences from Kentico.
By keeping all these things and differences of features in mind, it is your choice to decide which one is the right one for you.
FAQs about Kentico vs WordPress
What are the key differences between Kentico and WordPress?
Kentico is an all-in-one enterprise platform with built-in digital marketing, e-commerce, and scalability features. While WordPress is an open-source platform with a plugin ecosystem suitable for smaller websites. Kentico has dedicated, 24/7 technical support staff available, while WordPress relies mostly on the community. Kentico has a recurring pricing model, while the upfront cost of WordPress is zero.
Which CMS is more suitable for large enterprises?
Given the in-built ecommerce, marketing, analytics, design tools, scalability, security measures, and 24/7 support, we reckon that Kentico is more suitable for large enterprises. Also, the pricing model is more suited for larger clients as compared to smaller websites.
How does the cost of using Kentico compare to WordPress?
Kentico operates on a licensing and subscription-based model. WordPress itself is free, but additional costs come from hosting, themes, plugins, and maintenance.
What kind of support do Kentico and WordPress offer?
Kentico has a 24/7 chat support available globally, along with prompt email support, detailed documentations and videos. On the other hand, WordPress does not have a dedicated support team and relies heavily on the community of developers to help each other.
Can I migrate from WordPress to Kentico or vice versa?
Yes, migration between these two platforms is possible but may require some level of custom development to ensure all content, functionality, and integrations are transferred smoothly.
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