Migrating from Kentico to Umbraco: a smart choice for commercial teams

Choosing the right content management system (CMS) is a strategic business decision. If your organisation is currently using Kentico and exploring alternatives that better align with your commercial goals, usability needs and long-term costs, migrating to Umbraco could be a compelling option.

At Kayo Digital we have supported a number of clients through successful migrations from Kentico to Umbraco, helping them simplify content management and reduce ongoing operating costs. Our experience shows that many commercial teams benefit from Umbraco’s flexibility, intuitive editing environment and open approach to extensibility.

Why commercial organisations consider moving from Kentico to Umbraco

Kentico is a robust, all-in-one CMS that integrates digital marketing, personalisation and ecommerce features. However, it is often perceived as complex, with licensing and upgrade costs that can scale quickly as functionality expands. Umbraco, by contrast, is built on an open-source foundation with a simpler licensing model and a strong focus on flexibility and developer agility.

Organisations often choose to migrate to Umbraco for these reasons:

• Lower total cost of ownership — With no core licence fees and a more transparent cost structure, Umbraco can reduce ongoing expenditure. 

• Modern editorial experience — Umbraco’s back-office interface is widely regarded as intuitive, making content creation and updates easier for teams without extensive technical support. 

• Flexibility and scalability — Umbraco’s flexible architecture supports a wide range of digital experiences and can scale over time with your business needs.

• Performance and security — Migration offers an opportunity to optimise performance and apply modern security practices as part of the transition. 

What migrating from Kentico to Umbraco involves

Successful CMS migration is more than moving content; it requires careful planning and execution. Key stages include:

• Site audit and content inventory — Conduct a detailed review of all existing assets and content structures in Kentico. This ensures nothing critical is overlooked.

• Content type mapping — Plan how Kentico content types will translate into Umbraco document types and structures for a manageable editorial workflow. Staging and testing — Set up a secure staging environment to test the migration without affecting your live site. 

• Custom functionality — Identify bespoke features in Kentico and rebuild or adapt them in Umbraco to preserve essential business logic.

• SEO and redirects — Preserve search rankings by carefully migrating URLs, metadata and redirects.

• Training and documentation — Equip your editorial and development teams with training and reference materials so they can make the most of the new platform. 

• Post-migration support — Provide ongoing support to address any refinements or updates after go-live.

Kayo Digital has guided commercial organisations through these phases, helping them avoid common pitfalls and achieve a smooth transition.

Comparing Kentico and Umbraco for business needs

Whether Umbraco is the right choice depends on your organisation’s priorities. While Kentico offers an integrated set of CMS, marketing and ecommerce tools under one licence, Umbraco prioritises flexibility and simplicity with a developer-friendly platform and strong community support. 

For teams primarily focused on content agility, reduced cost and a modern editorial experience, Umbraco often proves a better fit. For those with deeply embedded marketing automation or enterprise ecommerce needs, Kentico’s built-in feature set may remain a strong contender.

Is now the right time to migrate?

Many organisations rethink their CMS strategy as part of digital transformation, platform refreshes or when legacy systems near end of support. A migration to Umbraco can deliver not just a move to a new CMS, but an opportunity to improve workflows, editorial velocity and total cost of ownership.

If your team is evaluating CMS platforms or considering a move from Kentico to Umbraco, Kayo Digital can help you assess the options and plan a migration strategy that meets your commercial objectives.