Why more organisations are moving to Umbraco.

There’s a quiet shift happening in the CMS world.

Not the loud, overhyped “this changes everything” kind. More the steady, pragmatic migration of organisations reassessing what they’re paying for, what they’re locked into and what they actually need. The kind of shift that tends to happen when finance teams start asking sharper questions and digital teams stop tolerating workarounds.

And increasingly, that journey ends with Umbraco.

We’re seeing it with Sitefinity users and, occasionally, Kentico. And every now and then, someone who’s wrestled WordPress into something it was never really designed to be.

Let’s start with the uncomfortable bit: cost.

Sitefinity, in particular, has become harder to justify. Licensing costs have crept up over time, and for many organisations the value simply isn’t keeping pace. You’re often paying enterprise-level fees without getting enterprise-level flexibility, and that gap becomes more obvious the longer you live with it. Kentico sits in a slightly different position. It’s more balanced, and in the right scenario it still delivers well, but even there the move towards higher licensing tiers and bundled functionality means you can end up paying for a lot you don’t actually use.

Umbraco flips that model on its head. There are no licence fees for the core CMS, which immediately changes the conversation. Instead of paying for access, you’re investing in the build and the outcomes. It’s a subtle shift, but an important one. In a climate where every line of spend is being scrutinised, that difference tends to land well with both digital teams and the people holding the budget.

Traditional platforms like Sitefinity were built around the idea of being all-in-one. Everything bundled together in a single, tightly integrated ecosystem. On paper, that sounds efficient. In practice, it often creates compromise. You rarely use everything that’s included and the parts you do rely on aren’t always best-in-class. More importantly, once you’re in, swapping anything out becomes difficult. You’re effectively committed to the entire stack, whether it continues to serve you well or not.

Umbraco takes a different approach, leaning into composability in a way that actually feels practical rather than theoretical. You’re not forced into a predefined ecosystem. Instead, you choose the tools that are right for your business and integrate them cleanly. That might mean pairing Umbraco with a best-in-class AI search, a CRM that your sales team already loves or ERP that already runs 90% of your business. The point is, you’re building something tailored rather than inheriting something generic.

This is one of the biggest drivers behind the movement away from Sitefinity and Kentico. That original all-in-one promise is starting to feel more like a constraint than a benefit. What once looked convenient now looks limiting, particularly for organisations that have matured digitally and want more control over their stack.

Another factor that comes up consistently is direction of travel.

With Sitefinity, there’s often a sense of uncertainty. Not that the platform is going anywhere, but more that it’s not entirely clear where it’s heading, or how well that aligns with what modern digital teams actually need. When you’re making a platform decision that’s going to last three to five years, that lack of clarity becomes a risk.

Umbraco, by contrast, feels far more deliberate. There’s a clear commitment to modern .NET, which continues to evolve at pace, and a strong focus on making life easier for both developers and content editors. The release cycle is consistent, the roadmap is visible and the whole offering is maturing in a way that simplifies delivery rather than complicating it. It feels like a platform that understands its role and executes against it well, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.

The strength of the UK partner ecosystem is another piece that shouldn’t be underestimated.

One of the challenges with more closed platforms is that you can end up in a fairly restricted partner landscape. That can limit choice, reduce commercial flexibility and, in some cases, slow things down. With Umbraco, there’s a deep pool of experienced agencies across the UK who have delivered complex, enterprise-grade solutions. That creates a much healthier environment. You have options, you can find the right fit culturally and commercially, and you’re not tied into a single way of working. It sounds obvious, but it has a direct impact on the quality of what gets delivered.

And then there’s WordPress…

It does a job, and for certain types of site it does it very well. But when it starts being pushed into enterprise use cases, things tend to get messy. You end up with layers of plugins solving individual problems, which introduces complexity, performance issues and an ongoing security overhead that never quite disappears. Development becomes more about navigating around the platform than working with it. It’s not really a fair comparison at this level, and most organisations considering a move from Sitefinity or Kentico already know that.

Partly, it’s down to cost pressure. Licensing is under more scrutiny than it’s been in years, and organisations are less willing to carry ongoing costs that don’t clearly translate into value. At the same time, composable architecture has moved beyond being a buzzword. The tooling is there, the patterns are proven and teams are more comfortable building in this way. Add to that the ongoing evolution of .NET and you have the foundations for platforms like Umbraco to really stand out.

There’s also a broader mindset shift. Organisations are less willing to be locked into platforms that dictate how they should operate. Flexibility is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s expected. The ability to adapt, swap components and evolve your digital stack over time is becoming a baseline requirement rather than a differentiator.

It’s worth saying that this isn’t about dismissing these larger CMSs outright. They still have their place and for organisations that are well invested and getting value from it, there’s no immediate need to jump. But even here, we’re seeing more conversations around flexibility, cost and long-term direction. Umbraco isn’t forcing that conversation, it’s simply making it easier to have.

Ultimately, this isn’t about chasing the next big thing. It’s about making a more considered platform decision.

If you’re on Sitefinity and questioning the value you’re getting, you’re not alone. If you’re on Kentico and starting to think about what the next few years should look like, it’s a conversation worth having. And if you’ve outgrown WordPress but aren’t sure where to go next, this is exactly the gap Umbraco fills.

It’s cost-effective, composable, backed by a clear roadmap and supported by a strong UK ecosystem (including excelled Contributing Gold Partners like Pixelbuilders).

More importantly, it gives you control over how your digital platform evolves. And right now, that’s what most organisations are really looking for.