Understanding Sitecore XM Cloud Pricing

Sitecore XM Cloud Pricing

Sitecore’s XM Cloud pricing isn’t a fixed SKU right now. A Sitecore XM Cloud license is based on several factors and looks different for each customer, depending on their needs. Although as a partner we can't just release pricing 😅, we’ll cover the different factors that affect pricing for a Sitecore XM Cloud and more maybe importantly the value in features that feed into the pricing.

Most of our Sitecore customers are on consumption  licenses.  A primary factor for the cost of those licenses is the number of unique users per month. We can expect this to continue with XM Cloud.  The license scales with the volume of unique users. If not known exactly, it will generally be product of your website traffic. More website traffic gives you more opportunities, capabilities, and value.

Factoring In Sizing & Performance

This is where it gets different. Sitecore XM Cloud is an entirely SaaS platform and its licensing will account for not only your traffic, but also include your sizing and performance needs.  Performance costs used to be controlled by infrastructure (be it Managed Cloud or in your own cloud environment) but now you'll see it reflected in the license. There may be some variability in pricing relative to each client’s needs. Speak with us, or contact your Sitecore rep for more details.

What Are You Buying With Sitecore XM Cloud?

When purchasing a Sitecore XM Cloud license or transitioning to Sitecore XM Cloud from a previous Sitecore product, it’s important to understand exactly what you’re buying. There are new technologies and capabilities are included.  These affect the cost of the platform as well as the costs to operate and support it.

Understanding these impacts shows us the value of upgrading to Sitecore XM Cloud. Let’s get into it.

Enterprise SaaS-Based CMS

First and foremost, you're truly getting an enterprise-tier SaaS solution with Sitecore XM Cloud. This isn’t a solution for mom-and-pop websites pretending to have an enterprise tier.. This is Sitecore, a decade-leader in digital experience, releasing their SaaS platform.

Sitecore XM Cloud is a reworked version of their original Sitecore Experience Manager (XM) platform. It has seen over a decade-long success, with the largest brands in the world. Sitecore XM Cloud is built as a composable platform, allowing maximum flexibility, scalability, and a rock-solid roadmap.

New SaaS Features - Component Builder & Pages

With Sitecore XM Cloud, you will receive all new features and capabilities. Some features like the Sitecore Component Builder and Sitecore Pages are the first of their kind and have not been seen before on any platform. Sitecore XM Cloud’s features are 100% SaaS-based, so in addition to each feature's value, they'll continue to receive updates and innovations going forward. Of course, we can generally expect net-new features to be released seamlessly as part of the product lifecycle.

Future Upgrades

The Sitecore XM Cloud platform has automatic upgrades and will equate to significant savings in the cost of ownership. This will nearly eliminate the significant planning and cost of upgrades, saving you five to six figures every two to three years. It's critical for existing Sitecore customers to incorporate these cost savings when evaluating the potential switch to Sitecore XM Cloud.

Edge Caching & GraphQL Querying

Sitecore XM Cloud uses a technology called Experience Edge. This is an out-of-the-box (OOTB) feature that allows your website to leverage a robust network of servers ("edge servers") around the world to cache to deliver your content. Experience Edge will also provide a level of performance beyond what is achievable with traditional web server architecture.

Hosting

Sitecore XM Cloud removes the need to host your Sitecore environment. You can apply your monthly hosting costs in Sitecore Managed Cloud or in your own hosting towards your Sitecore XM Cloud pricing. There are also operational savings in not having to manage any aspect of your hosting.

Performance / Scaling

Sitecore XM Cloud manages performance and scaling. It’s also built to embrace JAMStack philosophy and incorporates frameworks such as Next.js which support more performance-driven sites.

Lights-On Operations

Sitecore XM Cloud allows you to reduce the number of resources and costs associated with the day-to-day "keeping the lights on" of your system.

Maintenance

No website is maintenance-free but Sitecore XM Cloud allows you to reduce the cost associated with server maintenance, server patching, staffing Sitecore infrastructure expertise, and some Sitecore application expertise.

Summary 

These critical elements determine the cost of Sitecore XM Cloud:

• Traffic / Month Unique Users
• Size / Performances

These critical elements go into seeing the value of implementing Sitecore XM Cloud:

• New features
• Built-In upgrades
• Hosting savings
• Operations savings

To gain more understanding of the true cost of Sitecore XM Cloud, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We’d love to set up a no non-sense chat where we can really get into it and help connect the dots. The goal as always is to make Sitecore XM Cloud's pricing as attractive as possible by evaluating all the angles unique to your business.

Thanks for reading!