Skip to main content
Tools
23 Best Digital Experience Platforms (DXP)

The Best Digital Experience Platforms List

Here are the top 10 digital experience platforms I’d like to highlight out of the 23 I cover in this article:

  1. 1. Product Fruits — Best for collecting customer feedback to optimize DX for products
  2. 2. Contentstack — Best for modern content management system tools like SDKs, migration scripts + web framework
  3. 3. Acquia — Best for built-in monitoring and performance tools
  4. 4. Pimcore — Best for product information management, digital asset management, and digital commerce
  5. 5. MindTouch — Best multi-channel approach to handling large amounts of content
  6. 6. Rigor — Best for digital experience monitoring and optimization
  7. 7. Expresia — Best no-code DXP with agile processes and tools
  8. 8. Censhare — Best universal content management platform with print production and marketing project planning
  9. 9. Mura — Best for creating content hubs and syncing web experiences with PPC campaigns
  10. 10. Magnolia — Best open CaaS solution to connect with CMS

As digital products, services, and shopping experiences continue to rise in popularity, businesses are seeking solutions to manage the complete digital customer experience people have with their brands. Enter: digital experience platforms (DXPs): a tool to help you craft personalized experiences, manage your social media presence, monitor and map the customer journey, and more!

Keep reading to learn more about this emerging product category, read my overviews of the top 10 platforms I selected for this list, and answer any FAQs you might have on related topics.

What Are Digital Experience Platforms?

Digital experience platforms are a new type of software as a service (SaaS) tool, so there’s a lot of ambiguity around what a digital experience platform actually does. These systems can go by many names and perform a variety of functions. They’re used by digital experience managers and customer experience teams to create a holistic digital experience for your customers, prospects, and other types of users.

A DXP might be any of the following, or some combination of several:

  • Content management system (CMS)
  • Customer relationship management (CRM) software
  • Customer support software
  • Digital asset management (DAM) system
  • Marketing automation software
  • Customer data management system

Overviews Of The Best Digital Experience Platforms Software

Here’s a brief description of each digital experience platform (DXP) enterprise tool that are featured on this top 10 list:

1

Product Fruits

Best for collecting customer feedback to optimize DX for products

Product Fruits is a user onboarding software that allows businesses to manage their digital product onboarding and engagement, including surveys, feedback, and analytics. One of the standout features of Product Fruits is its intuitive survey builder, which allows you to create custom surveys to capture user feedback quickly. The platform also offers a wide range of analytics tools that help you visualize and understand the data you collect, making it easy to spot patterns and make informed decisions. Product Fruits offers integrations with several popular tools, including Google Analytics, Intercom, Segment, Heap, HubSpot, Slack, and more. This makes it easy to incorporate user feedback data into existing workflows and processes to improve your team's efficiency. Product Fruits premium plans start at $89 per month, and a free trial is available.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.7 13

14-day free trial available

From $89/month

2

Contentstack

Best for modern content management system tools like SDKs, migration scripts + web framework

Contentstack was the 2019 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for Web Content Management Systems (WCMS). Contentstack is a headless CMS with features that include advanced image management, unlimited environments, and versioning and rollback. This software is a SaaS headless CMS and keeps its features laser-focused on what it wants to excel at, rather than spreading itself too thin. Contentstack is great at modular blocks/groups and batch and scheduled publishing. Integration explanation: Third-party app integration is possible with Google Analytics, Optimizely, Ooyala, YouTube, MonkeyLearn, IMB Watson, Shopify, Marketo, Egnyte, and Brightcove. Additionally, specific web integration with an API can be integrated. The UI is a little clunky, which lost them a few points in the evaluation criteria for user experience and aesthetics. For example, certain elements seemed too large or too small in their place and drag-and-drop grids feel a bit awkward. Contentstack starts at $3500/month and has a free demo.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.8 66

Free Demo

From $3500/month

3

Acquia

Best for built-in monitoring and performance tools

Used by Warner Music Group, Acquia provides the tools to build, operate, and optimize websites, apps, and other digital experiences. Their products include Acquia Cloud, Acquia Cloud Site Factory, Acquia Lightning, Acquia DAM, Acquia Lift, Acquia Commerce, and Acquia Journey. Acquia is easy to pick up, even for non-technical users; this makes it great for groups needing to get larger teams onboard with digital content management and DX delivery. They scored well in Usability on the evaluation criteria because of all of this. Integration explanation: Acquia Dev Desktop has a full Drupal-specific stack that includes Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Also, due to its integration with Acquia Cloud, Dev Desktop is the easiest method to publish, develop, and synchronize your local Drupal websites onto the web. The cost is quite prohibitive so a major con is that this tool might not work well for smaller businesses/groups. Also, it would help if there were more options for installing custom software on the servers. Acquia starts at $215.50/month and does not have a free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.3 189

From $215.50/month

4

Pimcore

Best for product information management, digital asset management, and digital commerce

Pimcore is an enterprise open-source DXP used by over 80,000 companies and is a consolidation of PIM/MDM, DAM, CMS/UX, and eCommerce tools. Its flexible application architecture supports scaling and extension when needed, forming an agile ecosystem. Pimcore scores well in the Value for Price evaluation category due to the very low yearly cost as well as having a freemium version available for users. More features are opened up in the Enterprise Subscription, which has a higher price tag, but the freemium version will be more than enough for smaller teams. Integration explanation: Pimcore efficiently aggregates data from various internal data sources— such as CRMs, ERP software, hard drives, suppliers, external partners, and syndicators. Product data integration is facilitated through easy import and export of data between Pimcore and external systems. Pimcore is highly customizable but often needs much work right out of the box in order to meet specific needs. It’s not a plug-and-play tool and set-up might take some experimentation and time. Pimcore starts at $1.99/year and has a freemium version as well as a free trial.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.4 44

3-months reduced cost trial

Pricing upon request

5

MindTouch

Best multi-channel approach to handling large amounts of content

Based in San Diego, MindTouch was named one of the 2017 Hot 100 best privately held software companies by JMP Securities and has 43 million monthly users. MindTouch offers plenty of styles and formatting options for your content via embedding and other tools. MindTouch aces a lot of features: the WYSIWYG authoring tools are easy and intuitive to use, customizability options are robust, and it has great Enterprise features like SSL, CNAME, and white-labeling. Integration explanation: You can extend MindTouch content into other applications or systems with embeddable web widgets or a secure API. The crux of Mindtouch integrations is a set of connectors called “Touchpoints” and their open API is available for developers to further customize MindTouch content integrations. IT support or third-party intervention may be required due to advanced scripting and style requirements. This lost them a few points in Usability, as smaller teams may find this prohibitive. MindTouch offers custom quotes upon request and has a free demo.

This is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.
4.1 53

Free Demo

Pricing upon request

6

Rigor

Best for digital experience monitoring and optimization

Rigor monitors and alerts mission-critical flows optimizes website performance with actionable insights and analyzes your applications. This tool can identify performance defects impacting mobile users by emulating upstream and downstream speeds and latency with Network Throttling. Rigor does reporting, analytics, measurables, and KPI tracking very well, scoring them highly in the Features-Reporting segment of the evaluation criteria block. Once data is collected, they continue to excel in information visualization, site health metrics, and pinpointing dysfunction areas. Rigor did not have any third-party or out-of-the-box integration solutions listed on their site. One minor con is that monitoring on a single URL is limiting; the future scope of web-based content should be considered before committing under this restriction. Rigor starts at $250/month and has a free trial and demo.

Free Trial And Demo

From $250/month

7

Expresia

Best no-code DXP with agile processes and tools

As a comprehensive digital experience platform, Expresia is designed to empower organizations, agencies, and developers by breaking down barriers and building brand-defining digital products. With more than 15 years of experience in development, they offer a unified vision to assist brands of all sizes to build their ideal digital-first experience. Expresia also helps brands develop customer-centric strategies by delivering superior digital experiences for consumers in real-time. They employ an expert team of highly skilled tech-savvy professionals who can help you carry out a seamless collaboration between technical, marketing, and business teams to build out the best possible outcome. Their all-in-one SaaS digital experience platform is built to empower brands to create future-proof digital assets and attain a sustainable competitive edge. With Expresia, you can bring a consistent workflow to your development team and build a reliable and flexible digital experience with our robust technology. Expressia offers up to 100,000 API requests/month for free with unlimited users. If you need more wiggle room, pricing starts at $500/project as follows a pay-as-you-use model.

From $500/project as follows a pay-as-you-use model

8

Censhare

Best universal content management platform with print production and marketing project planning

Founded as CoWare AG in 2001, Censhare is a digital experience platform that features support for all file formats (including video and 3D), multi-level duplicate checks, automated versioning, an integrated image editor, and rule-based archiving and de-archiving. This tool has a great workflow engine with a focus on customizations and configuring different workflows. The process/workflow design flow is flexible and speeds up time-to-market. Integration explanation: InDesign integration is their strongest feature here. Additionally, The integration with censhare Web Content Management is ideal for apps that are being continuously updated in real-time. Due to the cost, they lost points in Value for Cost in the evaluation criteria segment simply because it’s hefty compared to comparable options with just-as-good feature sets. Censhare starts at $1000/month and does not have a free trial.

From $1000/month

9

Mura

Best for creating content hubs and syncing web experiences with PPC campaigns

Content management, content personalization, and content as a service with creation features for content hubs, landing pages, and apps, as well as tools to sync web experiences with email, PPC, SEM, other web channels. Mura has a strong API, allowing you to use the software as you want and leaving room for much flexibility, scalability, and integration. This was one of the strongest features of the software. Integration explanation: Mura plugins are an update-safe way to extend Mura CMS and add new functionality. Plugins are developed by the third-party themself and can be searched for using “Mura CMS plugin” as a keyword in GitHub. There is no “official” plugin list otherwise. Written in CFML and web-hosted by ColdFusion, Mura lost some Usability points per our evaluation criteria simply because these are “less common” than their alternatives. You may find difficulty gathering a community and finding contractors who work (cheaply) with these conditions. Mura offers custom quotes upon request and has a free demo.

Free Demo

Pricing upon request

10

Magnolia

Best open CaaS solution to connect with CMS

Founded in 1997, Magnolia provides DX tools to build your fully tailored digital platform, create and preview experiences for any channel, and accelerate personalization and optimization and is available in the cloud or on-premises, used in headed or headless architectures. Magnolia scored well in the integration sections of our evaluation criteria because of its extensive flexibility and connectivity. Well documented APIs, open-source software, and the free Community Edition make it very developer-friendly. Integration Explanation: Integration of other software is possible through Java API, REST, SOAP, CMIS, XML, and so on. Magnolia sports an out-of-the-box connector to commerce tools and an API-first, cloud-native e-commerce platform. The major con of this tool is that it isn’t mobile or tab friendly, which severely limits what devices it can be used on and where they are used. Magnolia offers custom quotes upon request and has a free trial as well as a Free Community Edition of the software.

Free Trial

Pricing upon request

Need Expert Help Selecting The Right Customer Experience Software?

We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!

The Best Digital Experience Platforms Summary Table

A side-by-side comparison of each tool that made my top 10 list.

Tool Free Option Price
1
Product Fruits

Best for collecting customer feedback to optimize DX for products

14-day free trial available

From $89/month Visit Website
2
Contentstack

Best for modern content management system tools like SDKs, migration scripts + web framework

Free Demo

From $3500/month Visit Website
3
Acquia

Best for built-in monitoring and performance tools

Not available

From $215.50/month Visit Website
4
Pimcore

Best for product information management, digital asset management, and digital commerce

3-months reduced cost trial

Pricing upon request Visit Website
5
MindTouch

Best multi-channel approach to handling large amounts of content

Free Demo

Pricing upon request Visit Website
6
Rigor

Best for digital experience monitoring and optimization

Free Trial And Demo

From $250/month Visit Website
7
Expresia

Best no-code DXP with agile processes and tools

Not available

From $500/project as follows a pay-as-you-use model Visit Website
8
Censhare

Best universal content management platform with print production and marketing project planning

Not available

From $1000/month Visit Website
9
Mura

Best for creating content hubs and syncing web experiences with PPC campaigns

Free Demo

Pricing upon request Visit Website
10
Magnolia

Best open CaaS solution to connect with CMS

Free Trial

Pricing upon request Visit Website
digital experience platforms

Other Tools For Digital Experience Management

Here’s a few more DX tools that didn’t make the top list.

  1. Adobe Experience Manager

    Best digital asset management (DAM) and content management system (CMS)

  2. Sitecore Experience Platform

    A multi-site and multilingual CMA platform and DX platform with data, analytics, and marketing automation capabilities.

  3. Quadient

    Design and create statements, e-correspondences, complex documents, email and SMS, forms, and mobile and web content.

  4. Liferay Digital Experience Platform

    DXP with customized workflows, digital asset management, partner and customer portals, and single sign-on.

  5. OutSystems

    A low-code platform for creating omnichannel applications with Pixel-perfect UX/UI and full support for enterprise-grade CX.

  6. Jahia

    StreamlineD DX development with A/B testing and analytics using GDPR-compliant customer data.

  7. Episerver Digital Experience Cloud

    Personalized DX development featuring content and product recommendations, product search and triggered email messages.

  8. Sitefinity

    CI/CD process, modern content editor and page management UI, dynamic rule-based forms, and scalable web sites.

  9. Coremedia

    A Content Management platform to create, preview, and optimize iconic digital brand experiences.

  10. Abacus

    Includes a mobile-friendly website, an enterprise-class CMS and an audience engagement database.

  11. Crownpeak

    Build and edit content in-line or leverage form editing, use custom models and templates, A/B testing and targeting rules with content localization.

  12. Kentico Kontent

    A content-as-a-service platform with webhooks, super-fast API, build your own elements, and organize with hierarchical taxonomies.

  13. Solodev

    A content management and customer experience platform to build websites and apps, collaborate, review code, and publish ideas.

Selection Criteria for the Best Digital Experience Platforms

What did I look for while selecting digital experience platforms for review? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:

Core Functionality

This can vary from one platform to the next, because there are a number of types of software that falls into the category of digital experience platforms. Some are focused on web content management while others facilitate multi-channel digital experience monitoring. Others still support headless ecommerce development or act as a headless CMS. I’ve made the core functionality of each software that made it onto my list clear in its overview.

Key Features

As I mentioned, these tools vary pretty widely in what they cover. But here are some of the common features I spotted in my research:

  1. Omnichannel management: The ability to post and monitor several digital channels like your social media profiles, web store, ad platforms, mobile app, and more.
  2. Workflow automation: Creating customized user experience workflows with segmentation, A/B testing, conditional logic, and other smart personalization tools.
  3. Customer database: A central repository for customer data, much like you would find in a customer relationship management (CRM) software.
  4. Content creation: Low-code or no-code tools like WYSIWYG editors and templates to speed up the creation and authoring of digital content.
  5. Digital experience analytics: Tracking tools to gain a comprehensive view of your brand’s complete digital experience and the performance of your various channels.
  6. Ecommerce management: Tools to manage your digital commerce experience, like the ability to sync inventory across sales channels or manage your digital advertising.

Usability

I look for tools that are straightforward and user-friendly. If you’re trying to build a great digital experience for your users and customers, why would you use a tool that’s not providing you with a great digital experience? I kept my eye out for features that streamline your workflows and support your business needs without a major learning curve.

Integrations

The ability to connect your DXP with your other SaaS tools and apps is very important. Especially if you’re managing the digital experience across several channels, you’ll need the right integrations in place. I looked for connectors with ecommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce and popular CRMs like Salesforce and Hubspot. I also kept an eye out for integrations with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like SAP and Oracle NetSuite.

Pricing

Because each platform has a different core functionality, pricing can vary quite a bit. The cost of the tools on this list ranges from about $90 per month up to and exceeding $3500 per month. Many providers offer custom pricing based on your specific business needs. I’ve provided pricing information for each platform in my overviews and comparison chart.

DXP Software Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some common questions people have about digital experience, digital transformation, and the software that supports both.

What Do You Think About These Digital Experience Platforms?

Have you tried out any DXM software listed above? Weigh in on your experience with these DX software tools (or others that aren’t on the list), and share your thoughts with the CX community in the comments below!

And to stay up to date on the latest in digital experience, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter.

By Hannah Clark

Hannah Clark is the Editor of The CX Lead. After serving over 12 years working in front-line customer experience for major brands, Hannah pivoted to a career in digital publishing and media production. Having gained a holistic view of the challenges and intricacies of delivering exceptional experiences, Hannah aims to help CX practitioners 'level up' their skills by amplifying the voices of today's thought leaders in the space.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.