The licence costs more than the value
Renewals are expensive, and much of the suite goes unused.
Leaving Sitecore? Here’s where to go.
A licence renewal, a major upgrade, or the push to XM Cloud is the natural moment to ask whether the next version of your site needs Sitecore at all.
Should you move off Sitecore?
If your team uses little of Sitecore’s personalisation and marketing suite, move to a headless CMS such as Sanity or Contentful with an Astro frontend. You keep structured content and governance at a fraction of the platform overhead.
If you rely heavily on Sitecore’s personalisation, analytics, and commerce features, and have a capable Sitecore team, staying, or moving to XM Cloud, can be the right call.
Signs it’s time to leave Sitecore.
A major upgrade or XM Cloud move is looming
Either path is a significant project, so it is worth comparing with alternatives.
Specialists are scarce and expensive
Sitecore and .NET expertise is hard to hire and costly to contract.
Publishing is slow
Editors find the experience heavy, and simple changes take too long.
Personalisation isn’t really used
The features that justified the platform were never fully adopted.
Where Sitecore teams usually go.
Most teams leaving Sitecore keep structured content and governance, and drop the platform weight around it.
| Option | Best for | Who edits content | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Astro with a visual CMS | Content-heavy or performance-critical sites with custom integrations | Marketing, in the CMS; developers own templates and components | New templates need a developer |
| Headless CMS (Sanity or Contentful) | Content reused across the website, product, and other channels | Editors, in structured content models | More architecture to plan before you build |
Option
Astro with a visual CMS
- Best for
- Content-heavy or performance-critical sites with custom integrations
- Who edits content
- Marketing, in the CMS; developers own templates and components
- Watch out for
- New templates need a developer
Option
Headless CMS (Sanity or Contentful)
- Best for
- Content reused across the website, product, and other channels
- Who edits content
- Editors, in structured content models
- Watch out for
- More architecture to plan before you build
Stay on Sitecore, or go?
Not every site needs to move. Here’s the honest version.
Leaving Sitecore makes sense when
- The renewal is hard to justify
- You use a fraction of the suite
- An upgrade would cost as much as a rebuild
- Editors want a faster publishing experience
- You want to reduce specialist dependency
Staying on Sitecore is fine when
- Personalisation drives measurable revenue
- You have a strong in-house Sitecore team
- Commerce and marketing tools are deeply integrated
- XM Cloud is already planned and budgeted
- Governance needs are met and stable
What comes with you.
Templates, content items, media, and workflows are mapped to a new content model, with governance rebuilt in the new CMS.
- Content types, fields, and taxonomies
- URLs, with a tested 301 redirect map
- Editorial roles, approvals, and workflows
- Personalisation rules, rebuilt where they earn it
- Integrations and single sign-on
- Digital assets, re-optimised
Leaving a different platform?
Leaving Squarespace
Outgrown Squarespace? Compare moving to Framer or Astro for more design control, better SEO, and room to grow, and see when staying is the better call.
Read the guidev0 to Production
Turn the polished interfaces you made in v0 into a real product, with data, auth, testing, and a design system under the screens you already like.
Read the guideLeaving Webflow
Leaving Webflow? Framer matches its CMS, loads faster, is easier for marketing to edit, and is often around half the enterprise cost. See when Astro fits better instead.
Read the guide
Leaving Sitecore: common questions.
Should we move to Sitecore XM Cloud or leave Sitecore?
Compare the full cost of each. If you use Sitecore’s personalisation and marketing features heavily, XM Cloud may make sense. If not, a headless CMS with a modern frontend is usually simpler and cheaper to run.
What is the best alternative to Sitecore?
For most marketing and content sites, a headless CMS such as Sanity or Contentful with an Astro frontend. Personalisation and experimentation can be added with focused tools where they earn their place.
Can a headless CMS handle enterprise governance?
Yes. Roles, permissions, approval workflows, and scheduled publishing are standard in Sanity and Contentful, and can be shaped around how your teams actually work.
Will we lose personalisation if we leave Sitecore?
Only the rules you choose not to rebuild. We audit which personalisation is actually used and recreate what earns its place with lighter tooling.
How long does a Sitecore migration take?
Most take twelve to twenty-four weeks, depending on content volume, integrations, and workflow complexity. We scope it after a discovery audit.