XM Cloud vs Payload CMS
Compare XM Cloud and Payload CMS for your content needs. Find out what actual users are saying about each product and which one is best suited for you!
At a Glance
Quick overview of key features differences between XM Cloud and Payload CMS. Click on any feature to read more details.
| Feature | XM Cloud | Payload CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Basic Features | ||
| Hosting Option | Cloud & Self-hosted | Cloud & Self-hosted |
| Content Modeling | ||
| Blog on Subdomain | ||
| Blog on Subdirectory | ||
| Marketer Experience | ||
| Mobile-first Experience | Limited | |
| Automatic Content Linking | ||
| Automatic CTA Linking | Limited | |
| Engage with Comments | ||
| Multi-tenancy | Limited | |
| Read all reviews from marketers → | ||
| Developer Experience | ||
| Ease of Integration | Hard | Medium |
| Custom React Components | ||
| Full Text Search | ||
| Starter Kits | (4 kits) | (3 kits) |
| Read all reviews from developers → | ||
What Users Say
See what users who have used XM Cloud and Payload CMS have to say about their overall experience with the product.
XM Cloud's Key Strengths
Read what users love about XM Cloud.
Payload CMS's Key Strengths
Read what users love about Payload CMS.
XM Cloud's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with XM Cloud.
Payload CMS's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with Payload CMS.
What Marketers & Content Creators Say
Hear from the users who uses XM Cloud and Payload CMS daily about their experience with the editors.
XM Cloud's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about XM Cloud's editor.
Payload CMS's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about Payload CMS's editor.
XM Cloud's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about XM Cloud's editor.
Payload CMS's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about Payload CMS's editor.
Mobile Editing
Find out how the platforms handle the mobile-first experience for the new generation of workforce on the move.
Sitecore XM Cloud allows mobile-first editing with low-code tools, but some features may require desktop for full functionality.
Payload CMS supports mobile-first experiences, allowing content creation on mobile devices seamlessly.
"It works seamlessly on desktop and mobile (still can't believe most headless CMS admin panels aren't responsive in 2022)."Source
"Payload will give you backend superpowers... even non-technical users can independently make use of its Admin Panel to manage whatever they need to without having to know code."Source
"Users in the Admin Panel have the ability to choose between light mode and dark mode for their editing experience."Source
Automatic Content Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic linking of related content to help user discover more content without additional manual effort from the marketer. This automatically create topical clusters of content and is essential for SEO.
XM Cloud does not support automatic linking of related blog posts; linking must be done manually.
Payload CMS requires manual linking using the Relationship field; automated linking for SEO is not available.
"One of the most straightforward ways to manage related content in Payload CMS is through the Relationship field. This feature allows you to link different documents together."Source
"By leveraging these relationship types, Payload CMS enables users to build complex content architectures that cater to a wide range of applications, from e-commerce sites to blogs with related posts."Source
"The Rich Text field features a Link element which allows for users to automatically reference related documents within their rich text."Source
Automatic CTA Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic display of Call-to-Actions using AI to help users take actions that are relevant to the content they are reading.
Sitecore XM Cloud does not support automatic CTA linking directly for AI-driven context matching.
Supports custom components but lacks dedicated automatic CTA linking functionality.
"All Custom Components in Payload are React Server Components by default. This enables the use of the Local API directly on the front-end."Source
"You can design and build your own Slate elements and leaves to extend the editor with your own functionality."Source
"You can use Relationships to link to existing documents within the Rich Text field."Source
Sitecore XM Cloud does not have built-in commenting features for users to leave comments on content.
"You can add comments to projects, stages, or tasks when collaborating with other users."Source
"Sitecore XM Cloud focuses on site management, personalization, and performance, lacking user-facing commenting."Source
"In the ‘migrations’ I usually think about I’m often looking at an existing Sitecore customer trying to move to XM Cloud, but the fact is that there are a lot of options out there and Optimizely is pushing hard to pull those customers over to their SaaS CMS."Source
Payload CMS supports commenting via a dedicated plugin with features like comment approval and email alerts.
"A fully-customizable plugin for Payload CMS to create a collection for comments, reviews, or other user-submitted feedback."Source
"Implement a comment functionality where everyone can comment without logging in."Source
"The community discusses challenges and features of Payload, including the need for custom implementations."Source
Multi-tenancy
Find out if the platform supports managing multiple clients or projects within a single account. This is useful for agencies, multi-client or multi-project scenarios.
XM Cloud operates as a single-tenant instance; however, the underlying delivery environment supports multi-tenancy.
"XM Cloud runs the Experience Manager environment as a single-tenant instance. The delivery environment..."Source
Payload CMS offers multi-tenancy via a plugin that enables hierarchical tenant management, domain mapping, and isolation.
"This plugin sets up multi-tenancy for your application from within your Admin Panel. It adds a `tenant` field to all specified collections."Source
"This plugin allows multiple tenants to access different resources in the same instance of Payload CMS."Source
"Payload's Access Control facilitated a multi-tenant, "subsite"-based system."Source
What Developers Say
Hear from developers who've integrated and built on XM Cloud and Payload CMS about their experiences.
XM Cloud's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with XM Cloud.
Payload CMS's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with Payload CMS.
XM Cloud's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with XM Cloud.
Payload CMS's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with Payload CMS.
Content Modelling
Find out how developers model and manage their content with the platform with key highlights and limitations.
Sitecore XM Cloud fully supports content modeling with customizable data templates and flexible presentation components.
Payload CMS supports content modeling with various field types including relationships, arrays, and blocks.
"Payload provides a wide variety of built-in Field Types, each with its own unique properties and behaviors."Source
"Payload allows parent/child content modelling using a nested docs plugin for hierarchical content."Source
"Each Collection can have its own unique Access Control, Hooks, Admin Options, and more."Source
Custom React Components
Find out if the platform supports custom React components to go beyond the basic HTML components for content.
Sitecore XM Cloud supports custom React components through registration, allowing rich interactions ineditors.
"In XM Cloud, developers can bring their own code (BYOC) by referencing an external code base that includes components."Source
"At the time of writing, XM Cloud Components are new and do not have a full feature set. Because of this, only standard React/Next.js components should be used."Source
"You can build a component by providing Sitecore managed data to a third party API like Google Maps API."Source
Payload CMS supports custom React components through its admin panel, allowing rich interactive content.
Full Text Search
Find out if the platform supports full text search across multiple fields to help users find content quickly.
Sitecore XM Cloud supports full-text search allowing users to search content across multiple fields.
"Searches for a full-text phrase within a value. For example, searching for 'apple pie' returns items for which the value is 'We made apple pie'."Source
"Sitecore Search is a cutting-edge, AI-powered, headless content discovery platform, empowering users to craft tailored and predictive search encounters."Source
Payload CMS supports full text search through the @payloadcms/plugin-search, enabling advanced search across various fields.
Starter Kits
Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.
Sitecore XM Cloud has various starter kits including Next.js and Angular templates.
(Expand section to see a list of XM Cloud templates and starter kits.)
Payload CMS offers several starter kits, including an Ecommerce and a SvelteKit template.
(Expand section to see a list of Payload CMS templates and starter kits.)
Pricing & Plans
Compare the prices of XM Cloud and Payload CMS.
Comments
Find out if the platform supports comments from your users to improve user engagement. This is often a great way to collect feedback and user emails.