Sitecore XM Cloud vs Sitecore XP vs Born-Headless CMS

Technology

Sitecore CMS DXP Composable

Christian Burne

Dec 05, 2022

Sitecore XM Cloud is Sitecore’s new SaaS product. It is hosted by Sitecore and you only pay for a subscription to the product. Sitecore upgrades the software automatically without you even knowing it is happening. It has great potential for customers, however it may not be for every customer. I would like to compare XM Cloud vs Sitecore XM/XP (Platform DXP) and then compare XM Cloud to a born-headless CMS such as Contentful or Strapi.

XM Cloud vs Platform DXP

Sitecore XM and XP is a monolithic DXP. Your user experience (i.e. your web page templates, html, css, etc) are built inside the platform with all your custom code alongside the Sitecore CMS software. It looks like this:

XM Cloud on the other hand is a headless CMS that only provides managed content (the body). You’ll notice there are no digital marketing tools or custom site logic and your UX templates get moved out to a “head”.

Here is a matrix comparing key differentiators between the two:

	XM Cloud	Sitecore XM / XP
Where does my logic go?	You need to come up with a new spot for your custom logic. UX logic should be embedded in the Head. Back-end type logic will now reside in a new Enterprise Service application	Logic is part of the platform, rolled into the same monolith accessed by the layouts you create as part of the CMS.
How do I deploy?	XM Cloud gets deployed via Sitecore CLI. However since you’ve removed all your custom logic from the CMS you really won’t have much to deploy in XM Cloud other than your content template structures.	You build pipelines in a CI/CD tool (such as Azure DevOps) to compile your code, run your unit tests and deploy your artifacts to the destination.
Who owns the infrastructure?	Sitecore, if you have an issue, you will call them.	Unless you use Sitecore Managed Cloud, or buy it from someone else, your team likely manages/maintains the infrastructure.
Do I need to do upgrades?	No, upgrades will be rolled out by Sitecore.	Yes, you will upgrade the Sitecore software periodically.
What do I pay Sitecore for?	You pay Sitecore for each subscription you buy. XM Cloud is one, CDP is another, Personalize is another. Experience Edge comes with XM Cloud so you don’t have to pay for that as well (even though it is purchasable separately).	Consumption license: based on the number of users per year, typically a 3-year term. Server-based: based on the number of servers you have Sitecore installed on, plus an annual maintenance fee.
What handles my digital marketing capabilities?	You need to purchase this separately from XM Cloud and integrate it into your solution. Sitecore CDP / Personalize will be part of that, but most likely a marketing automation tool, analytics tool, conversion rate optimization (CRO) tool, and even more.	Many of these tools are already embedded into Sitecore XP, however a persistent knock on the XP toolset is that they are not as good as ones that are available from other vendors. This has resulted in a perpetual problem for companies trying to realize the value from these digital marketing tools. It’s also the key reason why Sitecore has purchased SaaS components and is moving the entire ecosystem towards “composable”.
How will I get maximum Core Web Vitals?	Architecture is natively edge friendly which will improve Core Web Vitals and pagespeed scores which will maximize SEO.	The architecture is more challenging to achieve high Core Web Vitals and Pagespeed scores, making maximizing SEO more challenging

XM Cloud vs Born-Headless CMSs

Born-headless CMSs were built from the ground up within the last five years and were created to be headless from inception. They use modern technology and are cloud-native and leverage cloud services. Examples of these are: Contentful, Strapi, Kontent.ai, and ContentStack. They can be used with or without a rendering host. They’re just a straight JavaScript client-side application fetching content directly from the headless CMS. Any JavaScript framework can be used — or none at all.

Sitecore XM Cloud has come from the other direction as a CMS incepted over 20 years ago with rich capabilities that have been added to and refined over a long time. It started as a traditional CMS, adding headless capabilities four years ago, and is now evolving into a headless-only SaaS product.

XM Cloud is a headless CMS. However, there are some key differentiators that impact how the platform performs for customers. XM Cloud requires a rendering host which is a different component that must be procured and increases the hops between the end user and your content. It is necessary because of the JSS component needed for communication to XM Cloud. This component also requires that you use one of the five JavaScript frameworks that are available to work with (NextJS, React and React Native, Vue, Angular). Your choice on the head is limited. The upside that you get for this is that inline editing works when the head is embedded or connected into XM Cloud.

Some key differentiators between XM Cloud and born-headless CMS:

	XM Cloud	Born-Headless CMS
Technology	Older technology, large code base evolved over many years. An even bigger platform has had many components stripped out of it but its legacy may present issues when comparing it to born-headless CMS.	Recently designed and built so it uses current technologies.
Editor UX	Everything except for inline editing has a worse user experience for users of the CMS when compared to born-headless CMS.	Editor experience will be clean and modern for the capabilities that are present. These tools were born in the post-iPhone era so an emphasis on simplicity, whitespace, and intuitiveness outweighs comprehensiveness and complexity.
Has Inline Editing for Editors	Yes, inline editing is a key differentiator here. It remains to be seen how well this works, but this is a key selling point of XM Cloud. It is a vestige of the original JSS Headless implementation that is available in Sitecore XP/XM.	No, however most vendors are building ways to do this as it is a clear need that has been identified in the headless CMS marketplace. The best we’ve seen is the “Live Preview” on Contentstack.
CMS Tool Sophistication	Very sophisticated with CMS tools like: content models, content reuse, language capabilities, versioning, workflows, and content authorizations (not available yet, but coming soon)	Not very sophisticated. Expect to find the CMS tools lacking if you are coming from Sitecore XP. However, if you don’t use or can live without some of those capabilities, it could be a fit.
Requires Rendering Host	Yes, it uses JSS, which is how the XM Cloud delivers headless (similar to how Sitecore XP delivers headless) and it requires a rendering host. This is an additional component in your architecture.	A rendering host is not required unless you want to build your own SSR capabilities for custom functionality.
Developer Independence	Since in XM Cloud, the head and the body are tied together more tightly with JSS, the developer doing the head will need to learn more about the CMS.	Dependence between head and body is limited to the API so the developer working on the head is not required to know very much about the body.
Head Choice	One of NextJS, React and React Native, Vue, Angular or .NET core.	Unlimited.
Has Preview Capability	No.	No.
Has some Personalization	Has some personalization added in via connectivity to Sitecore CDP/Personalize, but it will not be comparable to Sitecore XP. Most customers will require purchase and use of Sitecore Personalize.	This will require a separate package.
Leverages Edge Delivery Fully	Yes, but a more complicated route to get there.	Yes, the head application can be deployed directly to a CDN.

As you can see, there are quite a few considerations for customers figuring out if XM Cloud is right for them. It can seem overwhelming, but if composable is right for you, the result can be transformative.