Why Sitecore Clients Are Moving to Optimizely

Enterprise organisations are re-evaluating their digital experience platforms (DXPs) and many are making the switch from Sitecore to Optimizely. But why?  

In this article, we’ll explore the key reasons why businesses are making the move and how Optimizely offers a better path forward.

Some current DXP market insight

While both Platforms have taken a step to introduce SAAS (Software as a Service) product lines into the mix in addition to their established PAAS (Platform as as Service) offerings,  Sitecore has taken the strategic step to back away from its flagship PAAS DXP Sitecore XP. 

Sitecore XP’s complexity, cost, and scalability issues were limiting growth. And accordingly, Sitecore’s business direction is to now migrate customers on to Sitecore XM cloud, its SAAS delivered CMS that they have put at the heart of their DXP functionality. This move may suit some. But it involves some uncomfortable technical headaches and certainly expenditure.  

SAAS CMS’s platforms have been gaining popularity for their ability to underpin composable platforms. So it was little surprise that the larger DXP’s would respond, as they had been offering hybrid capability for a while.  

Optimizely’s SAAS product, however, shares underlying code with its PAAS counterpart. Optimizely are promising to persist with PAAS and SAAS options. PAAS systems offer a different set of advantages to their SAAS counterparts.  For many Optimizely provides a flexible, cost-effective, and innovation-driven alternative. 

A more detailed look at if SAAS is right for you can be found here.  

This article talks to customers who see benefit and wish to persist with PAAS delivery for their DXP. We’ll explore the key reasons why businesses are making the move and how Optimizely offers a better path forward.

1. High Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)  

Sitecore’s licensing fees, infrastructure, and most significantly, its ongoing upgrade costs often exceed expectations.

• Unpredictable licensing costs – Pricing varies based on features and add-ons.
• Infrastructure expenses – Hosting and scaling Sitecore can be complex.
• Ongoing maintenance fees – Upgrades require ongoing developer investment.

💡 Optimizely's Advantage: Predictable, pricing with far more out of the box, no surprise costs. Incremental upgrades means they can ordinarily be handled swiftly and easily within preexisting development sprints.  

2. Faster Time-to-Value 

Enterprises need to deploy digital experiences quickly, without long development cycles. 

• Sitecore development is invariably more developer intensive  – Implementation hinders ROI.
• Custom integrations required – Connecting Sitecore with existing tools is complex.
• Training burden – Marketers require extensive training to use Sitecore effectively. 

💡 Optimizely's Advantage: Faster implementations with easy-to-use, out-of-the-box functionality.

3. Sitecore's Complexity Slows Innovation 

Businesses accustomed to working within Sitecore XP often find the architecture overly complex, requiring significant developer resources to maintain and enhance. 

A shift to Optmizely can create a paradigm shift in what can be delivered and the velocity that can be achieved within a product programme  

• Heavy IT reliance – Custom development is often needed for straightforward changes in Sitecore.
• Steep learning curve – Marketing teams struggle with Sitecore usability.
• Difficult upgrades – Major version upgrades can be disruptive and very expensive. 

💡 Optimizely's Advantage: Speed of development and a back end  UI that empowers marketers.

4. Scalability Challenges 

As businesses grow, they need a DXP that scales effortlessly. 

• SitecoreXP requires IT-heavy scaling – Scaling Sitecore requires resources and planning.
• Performance bottlenecks – High-traffic sites require complex optimisation.
• Multi-site management is difficult – Managing multiple sites within one Sitecore stack is cumbersome. 

💡 Optimizely's Advantage: New customers find Optimizely azure provisioning Auto-scaling cloud infrastructure and built-in multi-site management easier to work with and supportive of their business aspirations.

5. Personalisation and Experimentation Gaps 

Sitecore’s personalisation and A/B testing require significant effort to set up and manage. 

• Manual rule-based personalisation – Lacks AI-driven automation.
• Limited testing capabilities – Requires third-party tools for advanced experimentation.
• Slow execution – Marketers struggle to implement tests quickly. 

💡 Optimizely's Advantage: AI-driven personalisation and experimentation tools that can be licenced within the Optimizely one suite.

Next Steps: Evaluate if it's time to make the switch 

If you’re evaluating your DXP strategy, now is the time to assess whether Sitecore is holding you back.

Let's have a chat and see if Optimizely can deliver what you need your digital strategy really needs it to.