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If your organisation is still running Kentico Xperience 13, or an older version, you are approaching a decision that goes well beyond staying on a supported platform. Vendor support for KX13 ends on 1st January 2027. Older versions are already unsupported. But the support deadline is only part of the story.
Xperience by Kentico is not a version upgrade in the traditional sense. It is a fundamentally different platform, built around native AI, agentic marketing capabilities, centralised multichannel content management, and flexible deployment options spanning fully managed SaaS and self-hosted environments. For organisations still running KX13 or older, the gap between what they have and what XbyK offers is growing with every monthly release.
For digital leaders, the question is no longer whether to migrate, but what opportunities they are missing by delaying. Organisations that invest now gain access to capabilities that improve editorial productivity, strengthen governance, increase operational resilience and provide a foundation for AI-enabled, personalised digital experiences.
At Cantarus, we’re seeing the conversation around Kentico migrations shift significantly. Organisations are moving beyond asking what the migration involves and starting to ask what the platform can do for them once they get there. The focus has shifted towards how Xperience by Kentico can support wider digital transformation through AI-assisted content operations, smarter personalisation, and a simpler, more secure technology estate.
For many organisations, the support deadline provides the catalyst, but the real value comes from what the platform now offers. The six capabilities below are the ones we believe will deliver the greatest operational and strategic value over the coming years.
For many organisations, moving from KX13 to Xperience by Kentico is more than a platform migration. It provides an opportunity to review the wider digital estate, reduce technical debt, simplify integrations, modernise editorial workflows and prepare the organisation for future digital services.
Rather than recreating an existing implementation on a new platform, many organisations use the project to improve content models, retire legacy functionality, review user journeys and establish a stronger foundation for the next five years.
In many cases, the greatest value comes not from the migration itself, but from using the project to modernise the platform and the way the organisation works with it.
| Capability | Kentico Xperience 13 | Xperience by Kentico |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor support | Ends January 2027 | Continuous (evergreen) |
| AI | None-native | AIRA + Agentic Marketing Suite |
| Content model | Web-centric | Centralised Content Hub with hybrid headless |
| Personalisation | Basic digital marketing | Customer journey analytics + AI optimisation |
| Hosting | Self-managed only | SaaS or self-hosted (Azure, AWS, private cloud) |
| Updates | Hotfix-only | Monthly refreshes + weekly hotfixes |
Xperience by Kentico includes AIRA, a native AI capability built directly into the platform. AIRA operates within the same interface and permission model that editorial teams already use, with full access to the content context in the platform.
In practice, that means AI assistance for content creation, transformation, and refinement; fast translation across languages; image focal point suggestions; and asset repurposing across channels. All of it is available without switching applications or re-entering context into a separate tool.
Organisations on KX13 or older platforms have no equivalent. Any AI capability they use sits outside the CMS, which means manual transfer of content, no awareness of the platform’s data, and no consistency of governance.
What this means for organisations
AI is not replacing editorial teams. It is removing repetitive, low-value tasks such as generating metadata, translating content, refining copy and repurposing assets across channels. This allows editors to focus on creating higher-quality content while improving consistency, governance and productivity across the organisation.
Example
A membership organisation managing content across a public website, a members-only portal and a regular email programme can use AIRA to create content once and adapt it for each channel without duplicating effort or losing consistency.
Particularly valuable for
Marketing teams, content editors, international organisations, and organisations managing content across multiple channels.
Beyond AIRA’s core capabilities, Xperience by Kentico now includes the AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite, a set of specialised AI agents that operate within the platform and act on behalf of marketing teams, rather than simply responding to prompts.
The first two agents are the Content Strategist, which audits content against brand standards, taxonomy, and audience fit to produce structured governance guidance, and the Customer Journey Optimisation Specialist, which analyses journey data and surfaces actionable recommendations for improving conversion and engagement. Further agents are being released on a regular cadence.
The practical distinction from generic AI tooling is significant. These agents work within Xperience by Kentico’s existing data and permission structures, with no context lost between the platform and the AI. Research cited by Kentico found that agentic AI embedded in workflows can reduce task completion time by 65–85%. That figure is contingent on the AI having access to relevant context, which is precisely what native integration provides and external tools cannot replicate.
What this means for organisations
Rather than asking editorial and marketing teams to use AI as a separate tool and then bring the outputs back into the CMS, agentic AI works within the platform itself. This means recommendations are grounded in your actual content, your actual data, and your actual audience behaviour, not generic outputs that need to be interpreted and manually applied.
Example
A professional body with a large content estate can use the Content Strategist agent to audit existing pages against brand guidelines and taxonomy standards, surfacing inconsistencies and governance gaps that would take weeks to identify manually.
Particularly valuable for
Smaller marketing teams managing multiple disciplines, organisations with large content estates, and teams looking to improve content governance without adding headcount.
Xperience by Kentico is a versionless, evergreen platform. New features, security patches, and performance improvements arrive via monthly refreshes and weekly hotfixes. There are no major version releases, no big-bang upgrade projects, and no periods where development work is frozen while environments are rebuilt.
Kentico Xperience 13 operates on a different model. It is now in a hotfix-only support window, with no new functionality being added. Older versions of Kentico have already passed that point entirely and receive nothing.
The compounding effect of evergreen delivery is that the platform’s capabilities, including AI, continue to expand without any action required from the client or the agency. Every new AIRA feature, every new agent in the Agentic Marketing Suite, lands in XbyK as a standard monthly release. Organisations on legacy platforms have no path to those capabilities short of migrating.
What this means for organisations
The traditional CMS upgrade cycle, where organisations invest significant time and budget every few years to move to a new version, is replaced by a model of continuous improvement. New capabilities arrive automatically, reducing the total cost of ownership and ensuring the platform never falls behind.
Example
A charity running its annual fundraising campaign can take advantage of new personalisation and journey optimisation features that were released as part of a monthly refresh, without any upgrade project or additional development cost.
Particularly valuable for
Organisations with limited development budgets, lean digital teams, and organisations that have previously experienced disruptive upgrade projects.
Xperience by Kentico is built around a centralised Content Hub from which content can be delivered across web, email, headless, and microchannel outputs. Content is created once and structured for reuse, rather than duplicated and maintained separately across channels.
The platform’s hybrid headless model resolves a tension that most CMS architectures force organisations to choose between. Traditional web-centric platforms give editorial teams page-building control, but content cannot be efficiently shared to other channels. Pure headless approaches enable delivery to any output but typically require developer involvement for content changes. XbyK does both: marketers control the editorial workflow and page builder, while the same structured content is simultaneously available via headless API for delivery to any channel.
For organisations managing multiple websites, apps, email programmes, or other digital touchpoints, the difference in governance overhead is material.
What this means for organisations
Content teams can manage all their digital channels from a single platform, reducing duplication, improving consistency, and simplifying the overall technology estate. Content created for the website can be repurposed for email, app, or headless delivery without being recreated.
Example
A membership organisation running a public website, a members-only area, a regular newsletter, and a mobile app can manage all four from a single Content Hub, ensuring that a policy update or event listing only needs to be created and approved once.
Particularly valuable for
Membership organisations, multi-brand organisations, publishers, organisations running email programmes alongside their website, and teams managing content across more than one digital channel.
Xperience by Kentico includes Customer Journey capabilities that give marketing teams visibility into how contacts move through digital touchpoints, where they drop off, and how changes to content or journey structure affect conversion.
This connects digital activity to measurable outcomes in a way that legacy platforms cannot. KX13 has digital marketing features, including personalisation and automation, but does not provide the consolidated journey-level insight that XbyK delivers natively. Organisations on older versions have even less visibility.
The AIRA Customer Journey Optimisation Specialist agent builds on this data directly, translating journey analytics into prioritised recommendations without requiring manual analysis. The insight and the action are on the same platform.
What this means for organisations
Marketing teams can see not just what content is being consumed, but how users move through the full digital experience and where they disengage. This turns analytics from a reporting exercise into an operational tool for improving engagement, conversion, and retention.
Example
A professional membership body can track the journey from a prospective member’s first website visit through to application and renewal, identifying the content and touchpoints that most reliably lead to conversion and the points where prospects disengage.
Particularly valuable for
Membership organisations, charities, professional bodies, marketing teams focused on engagement and retention, and organisations looking to connect digital activity to measurable business outcomes.
Kentico Xperience 13 entered a support-only phase at the end of 2025. New functionality and monthly refreshes stopped at that point; only security hotfixes are now being issued. From 1 January 2027, vendor support ends entirely, meaning no security updates, no hotfixes, and no active patching of any kind.
For organisations on Kentico 12 or earlier, that point has already passed. They are running unsupported software with no active patching, on technology stacks such as Web Forms and .NET Framework 4.8 that are themselves legacy.
The exposure this creates is not theoretical. An unpatched CMS handling member data, transactions, or authenticated user sessions carries real risk, and one that becomes harder to explain to trustees, data protection officers, or insurers over time.
Xperience by Kentico offers two fully supported deployment models. Organisations that choose the SaaS route benefit from managed infrastructure with ISO 27001 certification, SOC 2 Type II compliance, WAF, DDoS protection, and mandatory MFA included as standard. For organisations that need or prefer to manage their own infrastructure, XbyK can be self-hosted on Azure, AWS, other cloud providers, or private data centre environments. In either case, the platform receives the same monthly refreshes and weekly security hotfixes, ensuring it remains actively maintained and patched regardless of how it is deployed.
What this means for organisations
Remaining on a supported, actively maintained platform reduces cyber security risk, simplifies governance and compliance conversations, and avoids expensive reactive migration projects driven by unsupported software. The choice between SaaS and self-hosted deployment means organisations can select the model that best fits their existing infrastructure, compliance requirements, and operational preferences without compromising on the platform’s capabilities.
Example
A professional institute processing membership payments and storing personal data may choose the SaaS model to benefit from Kentico’s managed security certifications. A larger organisation with an established Azure estate and internal DevOps capability may prefer to self-host for greater control over its infrastructure, while still receiving the same platform updates and security patches.
Particularly valuable for
Membership organisations, charities, organisations processing payments, organisations storing personal data, regulated sectors, and organisations with specific hosting or data residency requirements.
Are we simply migrating to remain supported, or should we modernise the platform? Are our current integrations still fit for purpose? Can we reduce technical debt? Could we improve the editorial experience? Are there opportunities to introduce AI-assisted content operations? Could we simplify our technology stack by consolidating channels into a single platform? Which deployment model best suits our organisation? Are we preparing the organisation for the next five years?
The right approach to migrating depends on far more than your current version of Kentico.
Before beginning any migration, organisations should take the opportunity to assess the wider digital platform, including custom code, third-party integrations, content architecture, editorial workflows and any technical debt that has accumulated over time. Because Xperience by Kentico is a fundamentally different platform rather than a version increment, the migration is an opportunity to rethink how the CMS supports the organisation, not simply to recreate what already exists.
A migration is also the ideal opportunity to review how your CMS supports future business priorities. Could editorial workflows be simplified? Are there opportunities to introduce AI-assisted content operations? Is your content structured in a way that supports multichannel delivery, personalisation, and AI-powered search? Are there legacy integrations or packages that could be retired or replaced? And which deployment model, whether SaaS or self-hosted, best aligns with your organisation’s infrastructure and compliance requirements?
Starting this assessment early gives organisations greater flexibility around budgeting, planning and delivery, while reducing the pressure that inevitably comes as support deadlines approach.
Migrating to Xperience by Kentico is no longer simply about moving off an unsupported platform. It is an opportunity to modernise your digital estate, improve the experience for content editors, strengthen governance, introduce AI-assisted content operations and build a more resilient foundation for future digital services.
The organisations that will see the greatest return from a migration won’t necessarily be those that complete it the fastest. They’ll be those that use it as an opportunity to challenge existing ways of working, simplify their technology landscape and create better digital experiences for their audiences.
Whether you’re planning a straightforward migration from KX13 or considering a broader platform transformation, the earlier you begin planning, the more opportunity you’ll have to review your digital estate, reduce technical debt and maximise the value of your investment.
Cantarus works with membership organisations and not-for-profits on Kentico migrations, from initial scoping and content modelling through to build and ongoing managed support. We work with clients to modernise digital platforms, improve editorial experiences, simplify integrations and ensure they’re ready for the next generation of AI-enabled, personalised digital experiences.