Optimizely (Episerver) vs. Enonic

It is challenging to navigate the content management system industry. To help you consider essentials between specific contenders, we have created this presentation of Optimizely versus Enonic, so you can get a tidy overview.

Quick Optimizely Facts

Optimizely is a global software company founded in Sweden in 1994 under the name Episerver. In October 2020, Episerver acquired the digital experimentation company Optimizely and later adopted this name.

The company’s DXP (now branded around “Optimizely One”) includes CMS (PaaS and SaaS), e-commerce, campaigns/CMP, search, personalization, experimentation, and a growing set of AI capabilities under the “Opal” banner. In 2025 Optimizely began transitioning Opal features across products to a credit-based usage and billing model.

Recent CMS (SaaS) releases highlight embedded DAM, improved content editing, and other UX enhancements, while Opal acts as an AI assistant layer across Optimizely One.

Optimizely is closed source and offered in several plans. In addition to standard subscriptions, use of Opal features consumes credits (complimentary monthly credits are currently offered per instance).

The use cases of Optimizely often focus on e-commerce, global marketing, and experimentation-heavy sites. Recent releases also add AI-assisted commerce search.

Quick Enonic Facts

Enonic was founded in Norway in 2000. The company’s content platform is delivered as a ready-to-use cloud service or as software you can host in your own cloud. With Enonic you can configure content models, access content using the GraphQL API, manage landing pages, and integrate contextual preview—enabling modern websites and content experiences across multiple touchpoints.

The platform features an integrated storage and search engine (Elasticsearch-based) for storing any data, including user-generated content. The CMS interface “Content Studio” features a WYSIWYG interface, permissions/roles, version control, multi-site management, localization, advanced image editing, and an AI content operator.

Enonic follows a “best-of-breed” strategy: the core is lightweight/robust, while integrations with third-party services are both encouraged and easy.

Enonic is open-source, meaning you can try it extensively before subscribing to the cloud service or software support. It is also a universal CMS, so developers can use the headless API to distribute editorial content to any device/client, build custom APIs, extend the UI, and deploy integrations.

Enonic’s recent roadmap has emphasized “Advanced CMS features” and the “Developer journey,” including Enonic Cloud free plan, Guillotine 7 (pluggable GraphQL API), CLI improvements, Enonic XP 8, and more.

The use cases Enonic focuses on are content-rich websites, modern-stack sites, global marketing sites, and customer portals.

See also: Drupal vs. Enonic »

Optimizely Pros and Cons

Users on the review platform G2 have the following to say about Optimizely:

Optimizely Pros

“Our company uses optimizely to do site personalization and a/b testing. What I love best about optimizely is that changes can be done in real time rather than waiting for things to publish,” says Angela.

“The Optimizely Digital Experience platform lets us provide a personalized funnel for each of our customers. It also facilitates efficient collaboration across multiple teams (including designers, developers, and product managers),” says a user in computer software.

“Optimizely’s Digital Experience Platform (DXP) solves a critical customer problem... it simplifies & streamlines the creation process,” says an internal consultant in computer science.

2025 additions: Stronger AI and analytics with Opal across Optimizely One; embedded DAM in CMS (SaaS); AI-assisted commerce search & better analytics options.

Optimizely Cons

“What I dislike is that it is still hard to find pages, blocks, or assets using the edit mode search. Also, switching block or media tab in the assets panel, the CMS still unselects the current folder and the content editors has to go through all the folders again to find what she/he wanted,” says an administrator in computer software.

“The SLA for an SaaS solution is dependent on the underlying cloud platform. The other aspect of Optimizely to keep in mind is the protection against risks of malicious piosoning of served contents,” says Angus.

“The system is pretty complicated, which requires developer experience in order to customize some parts. The UI feels outdated,” says a user in computer software.

2025 additions: Opal’s credit-based usage model adds cost/usage complexity; rapid release cadence can require more change management.

Enonic Pros and Cons

G2 users have the following to say about Enonic:

Enonic Pros

“I like the flexibility of the Enonic. You can choose from several approaches on how to use the system. We, for example, take advantage of the Headless CMS, where our client part is created in Angular. The definitions of the content structures are entirely in our hands and can describe both simple and very complex data.” says Pavel.

“I like the UX which anyone with a tad of prior experience from blog systems and WordPress-like systems will recognize,” says Håvard.

“Enonic is versatile, robust and user-friendly. I love the hybrid approach, combining both headless and traditional editorial functionality. We use it for multiple sites at Gjensidige, and have successfully integrated it with our design system,” says Torstein.

2025 additions: Ongoing releases Google Cloud migration, XP 8 development, Next.js update, version history improvements, and much more.

Enonic Cons

“I would love to see an improvement in tutorials and code examples that could inspire us to take more advantage of the platform,” says an administrator in Financial Services.

“I would have liked an even bigger community, so please consider trying it out,” says Torstein.

“The documentation could be better and include more complex examples. It would also be nice if there were more apps on market.enonic.com,” says an agency in Information Technology and Services.

Comparison Between Optimizely and Enonic

Example: Publishing Content in Optimizely

Optimizely CMS provides a tree structure, visual editor, context menus, and an assets panel. Newer SaaS releases add embedded DAM and UX enhancements, while Opal brings AI-assisted help for content tasks.

See article CMS publishing in CMP.

Example: Publishing a Blog Post in Enonic

In Enonic you decide the location of a content in a logical tree structure. Once the blog post draft is created, you can navigate through fields systematically, before saving, previewing, and finally publishing:

Essential reading: What Makes Enonic awesome »

What CMS Should You Choose?

As always, what CMS you should choose depends on your context and a variety of factors. Optimizely now offers extensive AI across its suite and a deep commerce/search stack—great if you want a packaged DXP with experimentation and can accommodate the credit-based usage model for Opal features.

If your focus is on building services and content, or running things headlessly, Enonic might be the preferred choice. It integrates well with best-of-breed tools for personalization, A/B testing, SEO optimisation, and more—and remains open-source with a modern developer experience and AI capabilities. Enonic has an active release cadence and responsive security patching.

Both platforms cover customer journeys—Enonic through a flexible CMS + APIs/microservices and AI functionality, and Optimizely through an integrated DXP with experimentation and AI capabilities.

First published 29 May 2019, updated 14 November 2025.