10 Reasons to Upgrade to Xperience by Kentico
If you’re still running Kentico Xperience 13, you may be asking yourself: Should I upgrade to Xperience by Kentico, or stick with what I have? Today, we’re looking at how an upgrade can transform your digital experience and help your marketing team make more of an impact with less effort.
Key Takeaways
- Upgrading to Xperience by Kentico from Kentico Xperience 13 delivers an evergreen, versionless, digital experience platform with continuous updates and security enhancements.
- Xperience by Kentico includes built-in AI tools: AIRA, AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite, and KentiCopilot to accelerate campaign creation, content optimization, and development workflows.
- Azure-based SaaS and private cloud deployment provide enterprise-grade security, WAF, DDoS protection, scalability, and automatic monthly feature refreshes.
- Automated migration tools simplify upgrading from Kentico Xperience 13.
Why upgrading is the smartest move for your digital experience platform
Your team might be comfortable with your current CMS, but sticking with a legacy platform for short-term convenience could lead to missed opportunities down the line.
Here’s the thing: upgrading isn’t just about keeping up with technology. It’s about improving your digital operations, future-proofing your marketing stack, and empowering your team to work more efficiently.
Xperience by Kentico delivers both convenience and a rich set of new marketing features, including built-in AI with AIRA and the AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite to help marketers create, optimize, and scale campaigns faster, along with KentiCopilot to accelerate development and streamline technical work. Together, these AI capabilities empower your teams to deliver results sooner and stay ahead of evolving digital trends.
We’ve rounded up 10 compelling reasons why upgrading to Xperience by Kentico is the right move for your business.
1. Evergreen & versionless platform (no more major upgrades)
Say goodbye to costly and time-consuming upgrades. Xperience by Kentico is evergreen, meaning you get continuous monthly refreshes instead of disruptive version changes.
- No more “big bang” upgrades
- Lower technical debt
- Always on the latest features and security patches
Continuous platform updates and security patches keep your digital platform fresh and future-ready, allowing marketers to focus on creating high-performing marketing campaigns instead of managing upgrades, maintenance, and website security fixes.
2. Flexible hosting with a vendor-managed SaaS option
While not cloud-native in the strict technical sense, Xperience by Kentico SaaS offers a fully managed, scalable Azure-based environment. Here's what that means for your team:
- Savings on upfront cloud infrastructure costs
- Enterprise-grade security and disaster recovery
- Automatic updates and WAF/DDoS protection
- Built-in high availability and performance optimization
For businesses and organizations that need greater control and flexibility, Xperience by Kentico is available as either SaaS or as a private cloud deployment, giving teams the freedom to choose the hosting model that best fits their security, compliance, and operational requirements.
3. Modern & streamlined user experience
A user-friendly platform makes all the difference. Fast, intuitive access helps your team work more efficiently and avoid frantic IT requests. Built on the latest tech stack (.NET 8 and React), Xperience by Kentico offers:
- Intuitive content management experience
- Faster load times and responsiveness
- Consistent UI/UX across the entire platform
Whether you're a developer or a marketer, Xperience by Kentico was created with everyone in mind. With an intuitive interface and powerful capabilities, it helps teams get more done with less friction.
4. Built-in multichannel content management
So many channels, so little time. Upgrading removes the time and content limitations that hold you back from reaching customers where they are. Xperience by Kentico helps you engage your customers across web, email, and headless channels with one platform.
- Reusable content from a centralized Content Hub
- Hybrid headless structured content with marketer control
- Easier governance and consistency across channels
You can create content once and confidently publish it everywhere. Marketers stay in control while developers get the flexibility they need. It’s multichannel delivery without the complexity.
5. Enhanced digital marketing features
Digital marketers love the built-in marketing features that come standard with Xperience by Kentico, it means fewer tools and a cleaner, more manageable martech stack. Plus, there's even more features to look forward to in upcoming releases.
- AIRA, our native AI, can complete a multitude of digital marketing tasks, from analyzing customer behavior to repurposing assets for every channel and more
- Easy to set up native personalization
- Marketing automation for seamless email campaigns
- Customer Journey Mapping to better track engagement and optimize touchpoints
Xperience by Kentico’s built-in tools help you run effective campaigns, without the hassle of juggling too many third-party add-ons. Plus, there's even more features to look forward to, such as AI and digital commerce enhancements, in upcoming releases.
“While we only went live just over a month ago, the shift to Kentico is already proving to be a great decision. The simplicity, transparency, and scalability of the platform are helping our teams work smarter and deliver value faster. A big thank you to Devotion for supporting us through this transformation – we’re excited about what’s to come.”
6. Transparent & predictable pricing
Unpredictable costs often hold teams back from upgrading, but straightforward, transparent pricing means there's no surprises. You shouldn’t need a finance degree to understand your platform costs!
- No consumption-based pricing traps
- Transparent and predictable pricing and TCO
- Lower TCO and better budgeting predictability
Compare that to legacy DXPs or overbuilt solutions and you’ll see the difference in both price and ROI.
7. Enterprise-grade security and compliance
Technology is rapidly evolving, and so are security risks. Xperience by Kentico is designed to keep up, with security is built into every layer:
- ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II compliant
- Continuous patching and proactive protection with monthly refreshes
- Built-in Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection (via Cloudflare)
These features help keep your marketing efforts and customer data secure so you can focus on engagement, not vulnerabilities. It’s all about building confidence and trust with every interaction.
8. Smarter marketing with AI assistance
Take your campaigns to the next level with AI that’s built to support your daily work. AIRA Core, AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite, and KentiCopilot are all embedded directly into Xperience by Kentico, giving you the advantage of AI that knows the context of your setup.
Here's what AI can do for you:
- Use AIRA to suggest image focal points for better design
- Helps with content and email transformations
- Spot trends and analyze customer behavior
- Fast translations to help you reach every audience
- Repurpose assets
In Xperience by Kentico, AI is an integrated part of the user workflow. This makes it a dependable, time-saving tool that you can count on for your marketing activities. With new AI agents, like the Content Strategist, and more on the way; AIRA helps teams move faster within Xperience by Kentico.
9. Built for developers, loved by marketers
Xperience by Kentico is based on .NET 8 with extensibility and flexibility in mind.
- Streamlined deployment
- Modern DevOps-friendly architecture
- Supports low-code extensions and API integrations
While not “API-first” in the strictest sense, the architecture is developer-friendly and built for scalability.
10. A thoughtful migration experience
Upgrading from Kentico Xperience 13 to Xperience by Kentico doesn’t mean starting from scratch, all on your own! Resources are available to help you along the way:
- Clear or documented upgrade path
- Clear best practices for transition
- Up to 90% cost savings thanks to automated content and data migration, too
With the right support and tools in place, your move to Xperience by Kentico can be smooth and efficient.
Check out our video to get a feel for the familiar features and exciting updates in Xperience by Kentico.
From KX13 to Xperience by Kentico
What's new and what carries over
Ready to future-proof your digital experience?
With Xperience by Kentico, you’re not just upgrading your CMS; you’re investing in a modern, agile, and efficient way to run your digital marketing operations:
- Streamlined multichannel delivery
- AI-enhanced workflows
- Evergreen innovation
- Predictable costs and lower IT overhead
Let's take the next step together. Your team (and your future self) will thank you.
Looking for more information about upgrading from Kentico Xperience 13 to Xperience by Kentico?
Download our free ebook on upgrading to learn more.