Crownpeak CMS vs. RWS Tridion Sites

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Crownpeak CMS
Score 7.2 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Crownpeak CMS is a composable, enterprise-ready content management system that empowers global teams to seamlessly orchestrate personalized digital experiences across all content channels. Marketing teams can create, manage, and monitor inclusive, accessible, and transactional experiences fast without compromising on functionality, security, or service.N/A
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
RWS Tridion Sites provides web content management capabilities, connecting people, processes, and information across teams, brands, and markets, to deliver impactful online experiences globally. RWS Tridion Sites' DPX platform enables the use of either traditional or headless publishing. It includes advanced features such as automated personalization, multilingual capabilities and Semantic AI. The BluePrinting® technology at the core of RWS Tridion Sites simplifies reuse and…N/A
Pricing
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Considered Both Products
Crownpeak CMS
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Crownpeak is the only true SAAS CMS on the market. All the others are either not/partially SAAS or providing it through other 3rd party vendors.
Chose Crownpeak CMS
I was not at this team within my organization during the evaluation period of Crownpeak. However, my previous team used Sitecore. Crownpeak is a bit easier to use from a UI perspective and has more creative options within the tool. Sitecore's clunky UI also was a reason I found …
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Easier to procure all aspects of DX including hosting and rapidly implement Lower total cost of ownership Independence from internal IT
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Crownpeak DXM is decoupled and easier to work with than Sitecore Experience Platform.
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Crownpeak DXM has a very robust product offering, balanced cost/value ratio, excellent support, and service.
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Have not used other products like Crownpeak DXM so far.
Chose Crownpeak CMS
Crownpeak DXM has a better total cost of ownership with a real and straightforward SaaS model for version updates. DXM has a better composable enterprise capability, allowing for easier and more effective API integrations. Crownpeak partner relationships are more open and …
Chose Crownpeak CMS
As an agency, we work with several different content / digital experience platforms. My clients who chose Crownpeak over other options did so primarily due to the lack of need to perform costly upgrades and the ability to support multiple development options (i.e., not just …
Chose Crownpeak CMS
CrownPeak’s DQM gives the entire CrownPeak suite a slight advantage because it’s so helpful in tracking functionality issues, typos and areas for SEO improvements.

The other competitive products I used had not had these features in such a robust way the last time I used them …
Chose Crownpeak CMS
WordPress,MS SharePoint,Custom Application
RWS Tridion Sites
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Interwoven teamsites, Documentum, Adobe - teamsites and documentum are old and limited. Adobe rocks but I like where I am and Tridion does a lot of the same things. No need to reinvent the wheel or move to a lateral product.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
It is a nuclear missile compared to the other handguns and knives on the market today. But it also requires nuclear technicians and expertise that a handgun doesn't require. Do you need to decimate your competition and you have the investment capabilities necessary to put a …
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Tridion is much better for multi-site installations, though Sitecore is a bit easier for content editors to know content types are being used based on visual icon indicators. We've had content editors pick the wrong templates by accident, but Sitecore's visual indicator …
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Adobe CQ is SDL Tridion main competitor. Sitecore is designed for smaller companys. Adobe CQ is all java and thus has limitations. Sitecore is also all .net and has limitations. Both use a dynamic model and everything is compiled at runtime. SDL Tridion can be published in a …
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Tridion again seemed to be more enterprise level then EpiServer, EpiServer allowed for faster ramp up time of a intuitive .NET framework, but Tridion seemed to have more tools and overall functionality once the CMS was customized towards the needs of the customer.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
I did not play a role in selecting this product so I can't say how it stacked up. I do know that Tridion is an improvement over the last CMS.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
I feel that SDL Tridion's User Interface is to difficult for content authors to understand. I worked with a client that used Tridion for years and she still would get lost in the UI and had to ask questions. There was close to 30% of continual time spent on the project simply …
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
SDL Tridion is far superior to CommonSpot. It is much more user friendly and increases efficiency.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
I believe the biggest selling factor for SDL was its customer service and it ability to be responsive. We knew that it was a company that was going to be around for a long time and would continue to provide the support that we would need in the long term.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Tridion's strength is really hosting multiple websites across development, test stage and production.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
The decision to purchase Tridion was made at a corporate level removed from the technical teams. Against our previous open source solution, this has been wildly expensive, impossible to find experienced developers for, and has required completely retooling our organization.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
SDL has a better API and also handles high server load much better. Also, the built-in integrations for translations are more suited for performing lots of translations for many sites. However, Umbraco, like Tridion, has a great community and finding solutions with both …
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
We didn't chose WordPress because can't handle the traffic we generate. Sitecore is what we are currently looking at and it looks like a much better alternative to Tridion.
Chose RWS Tridion Sites
Adobe does a great job in managing sites. Its user interface for authors is intuitive and leaps and bounds better than SDL Tridions new 2013 UI. The ease of install and management makes Adobe CQ a much better product. However, Adobe CQ (AEM) has limitations. It cannot scale as …
Features
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Crownpeak CMS
8.9
Ratings
10% above category average
RWS Tridion Sites
9.0
Ratings
11% above category average
Role-based user permissions8.90 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Crownpeak CMS
8.0
Ratings
5% above category average
RWS Tridion Sites
9.1
Ratings
18% above category average
API7.80 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language8.10 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Crownpeak CMS
8.1
Ratings
5% above category average
RWS Tridion Sites
8.5
Ratings
10% above category average
WYSIWYG editor7.70 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness7.60 Ratings8.00 Ratings
Admin section8.30 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Page templates8.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design8.40 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Publishing workflow8.50 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Form generator7.80 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Library of website themes00 Ratings8.20 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Crownpeak CMS
7.9
Ratings
7% above category average
RWS Tridion Sites
7.6
Ratings
3% above category average
Content taxonomy7.70 Ratings9.00 Ratings
SEO support8.50 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Bulk management8.10 Ratings9.00 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions7.30 Ratings8.30 Ratings
Community / comment management00 Ratings3.00 Ratings
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Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Bloomreach - The Agentic Platform for Personalization
Score 8.5 out of 10
Enterprises
RWS Tridion Sites
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Likelihood to Recommend
8.6
(0 ratings)
9.9
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
6.3
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.2
(0 ratings)
8.5
(0 ratings)
Availability
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
8.6
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Crownpeak CMSRWS Tridion Sites
Likelihood to Recommend
Crownpeak DXM is a great solution if you are looking for a flexible platform that allows engineers to quickly develop while also making it easy for content authors to work especially in scenarios where you need multi-language support. It is also good for scenarios where you want a cloud-based solution and are looking for just one vendor to handle hosting and offer the CMS.
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SDL Tridion works well for organizations with a large website with a lot of content to continuously create and manage. The use of page templates and component presentations makes creating new pages fairly straightforward. It can be a little cumbersome when it comes to trying to "break from the norm" and build web pages that are outside of the template-driven format; however, there are ways around this to create pages that break away from the normal page-template format of the website. In this regard, SDL Tridion can be pretty flexible, allowing us to create a lot of custom functionality to keep up with constantly changing web trends.
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Pros
  • Seamless upgrades and enhancements. In true Saas fashion, you don't have to worry about what version your software is on, as you are always on the latest.
  • Highly performant. Allows you to create extremely lightweight applications that have no load time and snappy performance.
Read full review
  • Makes it easy to spin up a new site quickly
  • Allows for numerous users to work on the same site without conflicting with each other's changes
  • Allows you to unpublish changes or revert to old versions if you make a mistake
  • Allows you to time publishing actions (for example, you can set it to happen overnight)
Read full review
Cons
  • Searching for a particular asset is almost unusable, you have to know exact name of the asset you are looking for.
  • Pages with many assets or dependencies take a long time to load.
  • Set up a way to automatically migrate content - API or automation tools.
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  • If you are hoping to orbit the planet with a CMS, Tridion is built to leave the solar system. It is a very very powerful solution built for very serious enterprise businesses in hope of robust capabilities, which could be good or bad.
  • Supporting business users is a hefty lift and requires significant training and regular retraining, and support.
  • It's a niche solution that originally came out of Europe and was largely unknown in America. But today it's growing in popularity across the United States.
  • Finding capable support, and developers specializing in Tridion capabilities isn't always easy. And 8 years ago it was nearly impossible, involving finding European developer support shops in order to get the assistance needed. This is changing though and American developer firms are becoming more widely available.
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Likelihood to Renew
Because overall, it's a good product and we are familiar with it.
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I am giving this a semi-high rating because we have already got Tridion up and running and we are still in the process of moving the sites over to Tridion. It is unlikely we will be moving things to a new CMS AGAIN in the near future as the cost to get Tridion was high.
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Usability
Crownpeak DXM is a flexible easy to use CMS platform speaking to the most challenging localization scenarios. Crownpeak users have the freedom to integrate DXM platform with their existing technology at no cost. Moving from legacy systems to the Saas platform is painless and cost-effective. Extensive targeting and personalization options are something that users will benefit from.
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The editor user interface is very user friendly and in-site editing makes simple updates fast and easy. The extensibility of Tridion is a big plus and the ability to add our own options into the default Tridion interface helps us integrate with external systems. Finally, the user permissions and security system helps us deploy it within our large organization.
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Reliability and Availability
We have never encountered any issues with the availability.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
Pages load very fast on production (assuming you develop with basic SEO practices in place) due to Crownpeak's publishing architecture. The slide downside is that publishing can be a bit slow at times.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Crownpeak DXM's service and support are outstanding. We have immediate access to both the tech support team and the software engineering team. We can get a support person on the phone whenever needed, and we can schedule impromptu training sessions at any time. Best support I have ever received from a platform provider in 20 years of software and application development.
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No answers on this topic
In-Person Training
We received on-site training from Crownpeak, the trainer had touched upon every possible scenario and provided great insights about the product & ease of implementation.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
My team left training with a solid understanding of how to use the product and the developer training ended with a test to ensure the ability to properly develop was learned properly. Recently, Crownpeak has added a self-paced training option which makes it extremely flexible to on-board new developers.
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
One of the biggest benefits is obviously around lack of hardware consideration, procurement, implementation. Eliminating that process improves the speed to market out of the gate. Depending on the client size, initial sites can be up and running in just a few months, with subsequent development faster by taking advantage of templates and current structure.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Crownpeak DXM has a better total cost of ownership with a real and straightforward SaaS model for version updates. DXM has a better composable enterprise capability, allowing for easier and more effective API integrations. Crownpeak partner relationships are more open and collaborative with a real working relationship and desire to support our client implementations - this goes beyond the usual software vedor/ digital marketing services relationship and adds a lot of value to our business and our clients end product. DQM quality assurance tools integrate with DXM seamlessly and add a lot of value to QA at website deployment, multiple market rollout, and ongoing optimisation.
Read full review
Interwoven teamsites, Documentum, Adobe - teamsites and documentum are old and limited. Adobe rocks but I like where I am and Tridion does a lot of the same things. No need to reinvent the wheel or move to a lateral product.
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Scalability
In some recent projects we have delivered to our clients, we were able to roll out sites in shorter time period due the scalability of the Crownpeak's DXM solution.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Improved digital experience - allows us to build exactly what we need instead of settling for what the platform can do.
  • Reduced reliance on IT - with the whole product as SaaS in the cloud and using a web browser as the admin tool, it is completely off IT's radar.
  • Improved marketing options - we can now optimize and personalize our content instead of using one-size-fits-all.
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  • SDL is a very complex system. Creating custom components by external vendors turned out to be expensive.
  • The learning curve is very slow, so training takes a lot of time and cost.
  • The revamped corporate site looks clean, modern, and is mobile-friendly.
Read full review
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