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The Truth: Sitecore vs Optimizely
Understanding misleading claims.
Optimizely Is Lying About Sitecore
Oh no. What has Optimizely done? I keep seeing these ads from Optimizely comparing themselves to Sitecore, and the other day I finally clicked on one. I was surprised—and frankly, disappointed—by what I saw.
What I found was an exercise in dishonesty, a masterclass in comparing your product to a ghost—the ghost of Sitecore past. Their entire argument is built on outdated facts and a fundamental misunderstanding of what Sitecore is today, and what it has been for the last two years.
Now, for the record: I'm not an Optimizely expert. But I am a Sitecore expert. I value fairness and honesty, which is why that page was so disappointing. Disappointing enough that I felt compelled to write this article.
So let’s dismantle their fantasy, point by point, and talk about the reality of Sitecore XM Cloud.
Page of Reference
The information I’m talking about here is available on https://www.optimizely.com/vs-sitecore as of June 21, 2025. I’ve also taking a screen capture of the entire page so it’s available for reference, in case the page is updated or changed.
Optimizely Core Delusion: "Sitecore hasn't evolved"
Let's be crystal clear: this is complete nonsense. To claim Sitecore hasn't evolved while ignoring the existence of XM Cloud is like claiming that artificial intelligence hasn't evolved while ignoring modern LLMs like Gemini, Claude & ChatGPT.
Sitecore XM Cloud is not an evolution, it’s a revolution for the product. It addresses virtually every issue with the previous iterations of Sitecore while fully embracing SaaS and composability.
The very problems they describe—clunky workflows, painful upgrades, reliance on legacy tech—are the exact issues XM Cloud eliminates. It's more than an upgrade; it's a different, and vastly superior, platform.
Let’s Dismantle This, Point by Misleading Point
I’ve taken their talking points from their table and put them against the hard facts. Let’s see how their claims hold up against reality.
| Their Claim About Sitecore | The Sitecore XM Cloud Reality | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Time to market: "Reliance on proprietary, legacy framework often requires extensive specialist input and delays time to market for content projects." | XM Cloud is headless and embraces modern, mainstream frameworks like React and Next.js. With the XM Cloud Page Builder, marketers can visually build and launch entire campaigns in hours, not weeks The built-in Deploy App provides one-click, automated deployments, eliminating release bottlenecks | ☠️ So False |
| Who it’s for: "Overly complex codebase and backend means Sitecore is best suited to teams with extensive developer resources." | This is outdated thinking. XM Cloud is built for the entire digital team. Marketers are empowered with the no-code Page Builder and Component Builder. Developers work with modern, common frameworks like Next.js, which means you can hire faster from a larger, more affordable talent pool. | ☠️ Very False |
| User experience: "Steep learning curve. Multiple authoring UIs result in complex publishing and time-consuming development workflows." | This describes a platform that no longer exists in the XM Cloud world. The Page Builder provides a single, unified, and intuitive interface that our clients report is 4x to 10x faster than the old Experience Editor. It's built for speed, with side menus and real-time previews that make content creation effortless. | ☠️ That’s False |
| Integrations: "While Sitecore does offer decent integration capabilities, custom dev work is required." | XM Cloud is a composable, API-first platform. This design, combined with Sitecore Connect (an enterprise iPaaS solution based on Workato), makes connecting to other tools seamless. It's built to integrate, not isolate. And any integration done with code on any platform requires custom dev work. | ☠️ Misleading |
| Innovation: "Sitecore's platform is outdated, leaving customers to face modern CMS challenges with a platform that's lacking in innovation." | This is just laughable. XM Cloud is innovation. We're talking about a low-code/no-code Component Builder (FEaaS) that lets users build components connected to live APIs. Personalization at the edge that runs in milliseconds without performance hits. A platform that's AI-ready and built to integrate with next-gen tools. Sitecore is setting the pace. | ☠️ Incredibly False |
| Maintenance: "Resource-intensive for most customers on XM. Upgrading to new versions necessitates manual intervention from a dedicated internal dev team or agency." | This is the most dishonest claim of all. XM Cloud is Software as a Service (SaaS). There are no more upgrades. No more infrastructure. The platform is updated continuously and automatically by Sitecore. | ☠️ Completely False |
| Maintenance: "Outdated codebase (.NET 4.8x and legacy ASP.net) compromising performance." | They’re talking about a ghost. With XM Cloud, the front-end is built on modern JavaScript frameworks like Next.js, not legacy .NET. The back-end is fully managed by Sitecore. Performance is a key strength, powered by Vercel's serverless architecture and a global edge network for lightning-fast delivery. | ☠️ Straight False |
| Support: Optimizely has an active user community, friendly experts, 24/7 support while delays are reported by Sitecore customers. | This is wild. Sitecore has the largest, most active, online (and offline) community of any CMS platform. That is a fact. The other statements are just silly conjecture. | ☠️ Misleading |
| Governance: "Custom permissions and roles available to enterprise customers only." | False. Firstly, Sitecore doesn’t have a separate verison of the platform for enterprise customers. Secondly, Sitecore has always had a robust, granular security model at its core, with role-based and item-level permissions available to everyone. This is a foundational feature of the platform, not a pay-to-play add-on. | ☠️ Way False |
| Pricing: "Sitecore's frequent changes and upgrades result in extra costs, which can make long-term financial planning more difficult." | This is a fundamental misunderstanding of SaaS (or an intentional lie). Because upgrades are eliminated, costs become more predictable, not less. You are not hit with unexpected six-figure upgrade bills every couple of years. The subscription model makes long-term financial planning easier. | ☠️ 1000% False |
| Pricing: "Additional costs for add-ons can strain budgets and reduce ROI overall." | There are not additional costs for add-ons with Sitecore. There are other software platforms that you can also buy from Sitecore, but they work with or without Sitecore XM Cloud. They’re not “add-ons.” XM Cloud is all you need to buy. | ☠️ Misleading |
You're Buying a Platform Built for Speed
Optimizely talks about "speeeed to market" which to be honest isn’t a game they should want to play. The reality is, the XM Cloud ecosystem is engineered for velocity and we’ve seen it with our customers at every level:
- Faster for Marketers: Drag-and-drop page building and reusable components mean you can launch campaigns and update content with zero friction. No dev queue, no delays.
- Faster for Developers: No more wrestling with complex local setups. With modern frameworks and a headless architecture, development cycles are shorter and more efficient. Changes are reflected instantly without slow rebuilds.
- Faster for Customers: With serverless delivery from Vercel and a global edge network, your site is lightning-fast and can handle any traffic spike without breaking a sweat. No crashes. No slowdowns. Just speed.
Optimizely Is Lying About Customer Reviews (Sitecore Wins)
On Optimizely comparison page they say, “Optimizely consistently outperforms Sitecore on major review platforms, boasting an 8.7/10 score on Trustradius vs. Sitecore’s 7.4/10” which is another lie. Then they link to Trustradius, G2 and Gartner Peer Insights leading you to believe those pages well validate their claims. Hilariously, they don’t.
Trust Radius Reviews (Sitecore 8.3 vs Optimizely 8.6)
Optimizely does have an edge in reviews here, but it’s only 8.6 to 8.3. A far cry from 1.3 point gap they’re claiming. I do have a couple of items to consider related to this:
- Optimizely has 2x the reviews on this platform, which doesn’t map with its install base. Perhaps there was a concerted effort to get positive reviews pumped into Trust Radius. No problem with that though, fair game.
- If Sitecore was at 7.4 and now it’s an 8.3, that it a massive swing in the moving average. The average recent scores would all need to be in the +9.0 range to pull the average up so much higher. Which lines up with the success customer are having on XM Cloud.
G2 Reviews (Sitecore 4.0 vs Optimizely 4.0)
On G2 Sitecore has 2x the reviews (makes sense, it’s a more established platform) but they are tied at 4.0/5. Again it’s worth considering this 4.0 for Sitecore consists of their legacy Sitecore XP platform and their new Sitecore XM Cloud platform. They are not differentiated even though they are dramatically different products. And a quick review shows that most reviews in 2025 have been 5-stars.
Gartner Peer Insights Review (Sitecore 4.8/5 vs Optimizely 4.4/5)
The ratings are very close but Sitecore is actually the winner, not the loser in this comparison. Which might be a surprise to Optimizely.
Granted it is a small sample size, but we when you filter for last 12 months (which I’d presume would be weighted towards XM Cloud) Sitecore scores a 4.8/5 with 80% of reviewers giving it a perfect score.
The Final Word
If you’d like to understand the the Sitecore ecosystem & Sitecore XM Cloud platform and the benefits in more detail I strongly recommend these resources.
- On-Demand Webinar: Making the Case for Sitecore XM Cloud
- Article: Sitecore XM Cloud Benefits
- Article: Deep Dive - Sitecore XM Cloud vs Sitecore XP vs Sitecore XM
And about this Optimizely campaign, competition is healthy but it should be honest. Comparing your modern platform to a legacy version of a competitor isn't just misleading; it's a disservice to buyers who are trying to make an informed decision.
| Claim About Sitecore | Did Optimizely Tell the Truth About Sitecore? |
|---|---|
| Time to market | Lied |
| Who its for | Lied |
| User experience | Lied |
| Integrations | Lied |
| Innovation | Lied |
| Maintenance | Lied |
| Support | Lied |
| Governance | Lied |
| Pricing | Lied |
| Speed | Lied |
| Customer Reviews | Lied |
I think this reflects extremely poorly on Optimizely. Literally every talking point is a lie. It would make you wonder if Optimize has any advantage whatsoever of Sitecore. So what is the truth?
Sitecore XM Cloud, combined with the power of Next.js and Vercel, is actually a lot more than a traditional CMS / DXP. It’s a transformative platform that gets you past legacy headaches and into a modern, high-performance stack. It makes your teams faster, your workflows smarter, and your business ready for whatever comes next. I’ve seen it.
If you're tired of marketing fluff and want to talk facts with someone who's been in the trenches and has launched a ton of sites XM Cloud sites, then let's talk.
Please reach out to us at Fishtank. We’d love to show you what Sitecore XM Cloud actually is and what it can do for your organization.
Thanks for reading.
