Magnolia vs. Salesforce CMS

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Magnolia
Score 8.1 out of 10
Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
Founded in Switzerland in 1997, Magnolia is a CMS used to build composable digital experiences. Magnolia helps create fully integrated customer experiences and speeds up digital delivery of content. Magnolia boasts 480 enterprise customers, thousands of Community Edition deployments, and more than 200 certified Magnolia Partners around the world. They further state that their enterprise customers include Sanofi, Generali, the Atlassian, The New York Times, Harley Davidson, and Union…
$3,500
per month
Salesforce CMS
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Salesforce Marketing Cloud Personalization (formerly Salesforce CMS) is a hybrid CMS allowing users to author content once and deliver it anywhere, in or out of Salesforce. Users create content, define content access, and define channels so they can share content and limit access to appropriate contributors. For an experience built with Salesforce, users can choose from two of the company's “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” (WYSIWYG) tools: Experience Builder and Commerce Page Designer. If the user…N/A
Pricing
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Editions & Modules
DX Core
$3500
per month
DX Cloud
$6000
per month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Free Trial
YesNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Considered Both Products
Magnolia
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia DXP offers similar or more capability compared to the other platform, while much easier to implement. For example, Adobe Experience Manager tend to be more monolithic in nature, heavier footprint compared to Magnolia. Hence when implementing a DXP, it is much faster to …
Chose Magnolia
The Broadleaf CMS was quite basic and was not a full fledged CMS and hence we had to chose Magnolia to address the business requirement for our B2B platform
Chose Magnolia
I need to specific and say I've had experiences of these platform from previous roles, they were not considered by Good Things Foundation.

My experience is that Magnolia delivers the power of these high end platforms but is generally more accessible to get going and develop …
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia is in a league of it's own vs the other platforms I have previously used. Rather than being a turnkey solution Magnolia puts the power into the hands of your company and developers allowing you to build anything you can imagine. Being a DXP rather than a CMS Magnolia …
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia is not as costly as other enterprise grade platforms and is easier to deploy, more reliable and less resource hungry. It's often also easier to use and certainly easier to use than it's Open Source counterparts. It also manages content in a much more structured manner …
Chose Magnolia
I've used several CMSs like AEM and EpiServer, and comparatively, they all excel at different things. Magnolia is the best to develop for/against. Episerver has the best/most fluid UI in terms of content editing, and the overall admin experience AEM is just all around sucks.
Chose Magnolia
Similar to how one might choose a specific programming language to solve a specific problem, Magnolia has its place among the rest, depending on the use case. While it does not have the most pleasant user experience compared to others, its customization options are streets …
Chose Magnolia
Cost was prohibitive for SiteCore. We liked the support that Magnolia gives us in terms of being an actual Company. We love open-source, but have had problems with Umbraco in the past in terms of upgrade paths etc.
Chose Magnolia
Of all the ones we looked at that met our requirements Magnolia was clearly the best value for money and had a solid background that you could trust and that could take care of you in case of problems.
Chose Magnolia
For us, Magnolia is the best option for our needs. FirstSpirit by eSpirit is missing on the list. We are moving away from FirstSpirit as it feels outdated. Wix has better usability, but is not suitable for enterprise. WordPress I would only recommend for private projects. …
Chose Magnolia
Putting all together: capabilities, support, community and price... Magnolia is the best combination, maybe not the best on each aspect, but for sure in the combination
Chose Magnolia
I choose Magnolia in front of everyone since it is one of the content managers that best adapts to all the modifications that are required by businesses
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia gains in ease of content creation but loses in documentation and practical examples for developers.
Chose Magnolia
One of the most important points that magnolia has over other products is the possibility of extending its functionalities. Being open-source, it is possible to inspect how everything is done and replicate it to change functionalities. In this way, many features that customers …
Chose Magnolia
When developing, I find Magnolia is better in many different ways, mainly in the consistency of how to create new components and page templates.
Chose Magnolia
I use magnolia because my client asked for it in the beginning because he had a long history of using magnolia for years. I think magnolia is middle-hight rated in the stack of similar products. Maybe it's not very well-publicized and it needs better marketing techniques or …
Chose Magnolia
Good documentation and examples Online demos to mess with and test functionalities Easier to install Better knowledge about the product Ability to centralize content of the same type in apps Better performance in some scenarios Better usability: In the newest versions, …
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia is a good competitor in the DXP scenario: Reduced costs License costs are contained, what brings customers the ability to develop their business with a minor impact Open source platform It helps customers to adapt the platform to some special needs DXP …
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia has all flexible capabilities that offer the user the best cloud marketing experience and great functionalities for effective data analytics generation. Reporting through Magnolia tools is also another important aspect since it allows the production of effective …
Chose Magnolia
Pricing was the major concern for us and we found this to be our option.
Chose Magnolia
Proximus was using Magnolia when I started working.
Chose Magnolia
Used CMS: Hybris CQ5/Adobe CMS AEM
Chose Magnolia
Magnolia has an automatic, and speedy social media publication extension, which spread content to all social sites. Also, the insertion of extensions and plugins is more effective when on Magnolia against the opponents. Magnolia admits and adopts diversity, hence, it is a …
Salesforce CMS
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce CMS is by far more capable to be tailored towards the need and critical aspects based on how our org is structured and work.

Integrations are also great! Critical data is easily being synced with other tools in tech stack.
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce is magnificently more robust and functions much better when managing complex sales cycles with multiple individuals and products. With simple sales cycles and few products, Excel is a strong contender.
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce CMS stacks up as a Customer management system because it has a more user friendly snd intuitive interface. The UX is better and more modern. It can be customised and extended. There are always learning opportunities and updates for the system so it keeps on …
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce CMS is way better with both optimization and reporting both of which Sonar Scheduling lacked. Our ability to skill technician or prioritize was lacking with Sonar. The API was very delayed with Sonar so changes on the Gantt had a delay that would throw off other team …
Chose Salesforce CMS
I did not make the decision to use Salesforce. However, I am happy with its current implementation to manage our employees.
Chose Salesforce CMS
This fits into the mold with the other Salesforce services. Once you get used to the suite and the nuances of each platform, things become easy. Just read any documentation first, as jumping in will only get you so far, and the more connections with the other apps, the more …
Chose Salesforce CMS
We have only used Salesforce CMS in our organizations as we already use Salesforce CRM for sales, marketing and other purposes
Chose Salesforce CMS
Hubspot CSM is a bit easier to use, but not as strong for bigger markets like enterprise. Also, it's a bit annoying having to log into different platforms. Being able to do everything directly in Salesforce is pretty nice.
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce more so compliments these products, rather than stacks against them. We don't have any products similar to Salesforce CMS, so in lieu of that, these are the products we were using that mesh the easiest with Salesforce CMS in terms of proceeding through the …
Chose Salesforce CMS
In my opinion, Salesforce CMS is the most complex of these offerings, and probably the most complex platform of its kind. It was selected by another stakeholder - I would likely have chosen something less expensive and more intuitive to use. The robust feature set is amazing, …
Chose Salesforce CMS
Salesforce CMS is way beyond the other tools in its performamce also
Chose Salesforce CMS
This is really the first time we had a platform such as SF, so we have nothing to which to compare it.
Chose Salesforce CMS
We used the Catalyst product of Totango. It was not great as it was hard to navigate, and it did not offer any reporting capabilities at all, nor did it speed up our day-to-day tasks.
Chose Salesforce CMS
As our business heavily relies on Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud, we need a CMS that works natively with our existing Salesforce Data. Other platforms would require third-party connectors or custom API development, making integration more complex and expensive. …
Chose Salesforce CMS
Works well with others and I like the newer deployments which continue to make it even more useful and promotes efficiency and transparency.
Chose Salesforce CMS
Does everything I need in one place, so I don't have to use anything else, it integrates with everything I need as well.
Chose Salesforce CMS
I would say Zoho seemed very remedial when compares with the functionality of Salesforce CMS. Zoho might be better for those just starting out and don't need the full functionality of what Salesforce CMS is capable of. Used Zoho at a previous employment and I didn't think it …
Chose Salesforce CMS
I was uninvolved in my organization's CMS selection, but I used Freshdesk at another organization and generally prefer Salesforce CMS due to greater functionality and wider use cases. Unlike Freshdesk, Salesforce CMS is built for processes besides customer support ticketing, …
Chose Salesforce CMS
I have not researched other products. The last two companies I have worked for both used Salesforce CMS and had no intention of changing providers. I cannot think of a time where someone told me they did not like Salesforce CMS. When you have a solid solution like Salesforce …
Chose Salesforce CMS
Our company left Salesforce CMS for PipeDrive due to pricing for licenses.
Chose Salesforce CMS
Pulls data from Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, and Marketing Cloud to dynamically update content, we didn't want to use too many 3rd party tools that would expose our busines to threats
Chose Salesforce CMS
I used to use WebWave at my previous firm and felt like it was more for website creation rather than content sharing internally. I was also in a different role so I meant my needs at my last firm. My focus has changed and now Salesforce CMS is the best product for my team to …
Chose Salesforce CMS
Integration between the two is easy and superb
Chose Salesforce CMS
Integration with this tool are immensely incredible it make us efficient whenever we need to see the data of our client. It helps us to make our lives easier in terms of sending rates, follow-ups, Outbound call and more importantly constant assurance that we have our process on …
Features
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Magnolia
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
Salesforce CMS
10.0
Ratings
21% above category average
Role-based user permissions8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Magnolia
8.1
Ratings
7% above category average
Salesforce CMS
10.0
Ratings
27% above category average
API8.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language7.70 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Magnolia
8.0
Ratings
4% above category average
Salesforce CMS
10.0
Ratings
26% above category average
WYSIWYG editor8.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness8.40 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Admin section8.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Page templates8.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Library of website themes7.00 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design8.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Publishing workflow7.50 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Form generator6.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Magnolia
7.5
Ratings
2% above category average
Salesforce CMS
10.0
Ratings
31% above category average
Content taxonomy7.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
SEO support7.20 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Bulk management7.60 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions7.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
Community / comment management6.90 Ratings10.00 Ratings
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MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
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ManageWP
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Score 10.0 out of 10
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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
RWS Tridion Sites
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Enterprises
RWS Tridion Sites
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Score 9.0 out of 10
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User Ratings
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Likelihood to Recommend
8.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
8.0
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Online Training
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
MagnoliaSalesforce CMS
Likelihood to Recommend
If you need a business CMS that brings along a good amount of features and also give you the chance to develop features on your own, Magnolia would be a good choice. Even if you have not the fitting infrastructure around, Magnolia provides you different ways like SAAS oder PAAS. If you have to review your code our have any problems the team behind will helps in a short time. Without using the connectors it is not so easy to connect special functionalities like Marketing tools or optimization tools. The DAM is very slow if you have an huge amount of documents and pictures to store for your website - you have to add an external DAM.
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If you have a large customer base and a large amount of data on each of your customers, it is really strong in creating personalized content that your salespeople can use in their pitch meetings—and then setting up workflows for automated for lifecycle journey creations to automatically go out to customers.
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Pros
  • Use of YAML to define content models with code.
  • Versatility of defining actions for custom handlers.
  • Reloading classes when code is modified in a local dev environment is nice. While it doesn't seem to work when changes extend beyond the method body (i.e., adding methods), it remediates the pain of long startup times.
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  • Easy to use, just like Salesforce's other products. Many users can sit down and figure it out in no time, and with a little training become power users.
  • Fast and secure - Salesforce is a leader in the cloud world so you get consistently fast results and security that is top notch in the industry.
  • Accessible from anywhere - if you use cloud CMS already this is a no-brainer, but for those that do in-house CMS still, this is a major difference. Mobile access from anywhere on the planet without a VPN is something you just can't do without the cloud.
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Cons
  • As a developer the learning curve is long, you can start developing relatively quickly but getting to know the platform in depth takes time.
  • Having a history of modifications not only at the page level but also at the Content Apps level would be very useful.
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  • Organizations that are new to Salesforce need to be prepared for report building and other configurations. Customization is a great feature, but it can be overwhelming if not impossible for a brand new user.
  • Salesforce Trailhead is robust but can be confusing and overwhelming.
  • I'm currently comfortable with only using Salesforce CMS or any iteration on a desktop.
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Likelihood to Renew
Magnolia is an innovative CMS, for example it is possible to use the ipad to manage the contents. Magnolia’s team works hard to improve the product; the community is small but active and the support for the enterprise version is good. Magnolia’s team asks the users what they think and what they need, and the new functionalities planned for Magnolia 5.3 are very exciting for example the content personalization.
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It will be too difficult to change to a different software. We are fully integrated, and if things are not working well, it would be way worse to try to move to a different platform.
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Usability
There are a ton of small things that could make this CMS great Off the top of my head... 1) Better navigation between a component and its corresponding node in the jcr ( devs often have to flip between a page and a spot in the jcr even though there could be a button to take you from a page/component in the pages app to its location in the JCR) 2) Why does a content editor need to open the page to edit the page properties? They could just as easily edit the dialog from the tree view if they have many pages to touch, and it would save them time by not having to render the page.
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Strengths: - Intuitive for Salesforce Users – If you’re already working within the Salesforce ecosystem, the Salesforce CMS is easy to navigate, with a clean UI, drag-and-drop content management, and reusable assets for quick updates. - Seamless Integration – Since it connects natively with Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and CRM, it allows for efficient multi-channel content distribution without needing extra third-party tools. - AI-Powered Personalization – The ability to deliver dynamic content based on user profiles and engagement data is a huge plus, making content delivery more relevant and impactful. Challenges: - Learning Curve for New Users – If you're not already familiar with Salesforce, the interface can feel overwhelming, requiring training to fully leverage all features. - Limited Customization & Workflow Automation – While it works well for structured content, advanced approval workflows and deep editorial customization are limited compared to enterprise CMS platforms like Adobe Experience Manager. - Media & Design Limitations – Salesforce CMS is not as robust for managing rich media-heavy content, which can be frustrating for teams needing more flexibility in multimedia presentation.
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Reliability and Availability
No answers on this topic
Seen very least outages and it would took more time hardley not more than 10 mins that to with prior advance notice
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Performance
It's a lean and performant platform. You don't need to put reverse proxy servers in front of it to speed it up (although that does make it go even quicker) as there are various layers of caching built in to the application. While it's a little cryptic, the internal caching system is actually quite configurable and can be tuned to the right sort of content.
Often what tends to surprise many an IT manager is that you can run it on relatively modest hardware. We've often been met with "are you sure ?" but the reality is that it doesn't need a whole lot of horsepower.
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Its very quick and not facing any issus in loading if we have good internet bandwidth then it works very well and doesnt gives any issues
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Support Rating
You always get an answer based on your SLA. But you always get a solution. That's the successfactor in this case. To often i was frustrated about people in a company without even a clue what there product is about or how to solve a problem. Magnolia's Support Team does a very good job and try to help you in most of the cases
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I've never really had to contact support. It's at the point where we have people in the organization that are our specific go-to inhouse support teams for Salesforce. Again, that goes back to what I said about there being a point where just too much is added to Salesforce that you have to hire someone to be the go-to person of Salesforce. There is only so much their support team can do for you. I wouldn't expect Salesforce Support to have any sort of understanding of the weird issues I deal with!
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In-Person Training
No answers on this topic
Since I attended training from one of our senior resource in organizations I didn't face any issues
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Online Training
No answers on this topic
N/A. I wasn't present for vendor-provided training.
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Implementation Rating
No answers on this topic
I joined post the installtion so not aware much of it but as per feedback its not that hard to setup
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Alternatives Considered
Magnolia DXP offers similar or more capability compared to the other platform, while much easier to implement. For example, Adobe Experience Manager tend to be more monolithic in nature, heavier footprint compared to Magnolia. Hence when implementing a DXP, it is much faster to build using Magnolia, at a much lower TCO. The other platform like Kontent.ai and Strapi are pure headless platform and offer lesser features. What really make Magnolia different is the APAC team, who are all out to support their client in the implementation, ensuring their client maximize their platform and the project implementation is successful. This is some thing that is not experienced when using other platform(s)
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Salesforce CMS is way better with both optimization and reporting both of which Sonar Scheduling lacked. Our ability to skill technician or prioritize was lacking with Sonar. The API was very delayed with Sonar so changes on the Gantt had a delay that would throw off other team members. Sonar was cheaper but Salesforce CMS is way more capable.
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Scalability
No answers on this topic
We've never run into issues no matter how many concurrent users!
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Return on Investment
  • We have placed web content management in the hands of the organisation than retained it within the technology team.
  • We were able to quickly move to MVP and release and we are now focussed on moving the platform forward at some pace whilst not being burdened with BAU work inside the technology team as so much as self-service to trained organisational users
  • The use of the SAAS/PASS has inbuilt business resiliency as specialist work and aspects such as underlying security is done by Magnolia and we are able to focus internal effort on building out the platform.
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  • It has a smooth integration with Salesforce CMS application which can make it a positive for enhanced performance.
  • It may require extensive training for new joiners and that can become costly for the organization.
  • It also has automation features that reduce the distribution time by a significant number.
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ScreenShots

Magnolia Screenshots

Screenshot of the Magnolia App Launcher, used to switch between workspaces and manage pagesScreenshot of the customer experience. This brings together content and audiovisual digital assets to form more compelling digital experiences.Screenshot of global search that brings relevant content, no matter where it resides.Screenshot of customizing the ecommerce experience.Screenshot of Magnolia Orchestratem where users can manage and track campaignsScreenshot of the WYSIWYG page editor