Enterprise CMS 5-year cost worksheet
The five-year cost of an enterprise CMS is much more than the licence. Sengo's headless CMS pricing guide counts the CMS licence, front-end hosting, supporting services such as search and CDN, a one-time implementation, content migration and ongoing development.
Our guide to failed DXP implementations puts the licence at 25 to 35 percent of three-year total cost of ownership, so the other lines decide most of the budget.
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Model two scenarios over five years
Enter your own amounts for each cost line, for example staying on your current platform versus moving to a new one. Leave a line empty if it does not apply.
Canadian dollars (CAD) by default. Switching to USD changes only the symbol, not the amounts.
Licence or subscription
Per yearCMS or DXP licence, subscription plan, add-on modules, spaces, locales and environments.
Our pricing guide's 3-year TCO table lists $30K to $200K CAD a year for the CMS licence, varying by vendor and usage. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Hosting and infrastructure
Per yearFront-end hosting, cloud infrastructure and supporting services such as search, CDN, DAM and forms.
The guide lists front-end hosting at $5K to $25K CAD in year 1 and $5K to $30K CAD a year after, plus $10K to $80K CAD a year for supporting services. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Implementation build
One timeDesign, front-end and back-end build, integrations and launch. Counted once, in year 1.
The guide says to expect $50K to $300K+ CAD for enterprise headless implementations, depending on complexity. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Content migration
One timeMoving pages, assets and redirects from the current platform. Counted once, in year 1.
The guide says content migration from a legacy CMS adds $10K to $50K+ CAD, depending on content volume and structural differences. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Support and maintenance
Per yearOngoing development, upgrades, security patches, monitoring and vendor support plans.
The guide's TCO table lists ongoing development at $20K to $100K CAD in year 1 and $30K to $120K CAD a year after. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Internal team
Per yearThe share of your own staff's time spent running, editing and developing the platform.
Our Sitecore vs Adobe Experience Manager comparison counts the internal team in a real TCO model, next to licence and implementation. Source: Sitecore vs AEM comparison
Agency or partner fees
Per yearRetainers, managed services and partner support contracts outside the implementation build.
Yearly growth or renewal increase
Per yearApplied to every per-year line from year 2, for traffic growth, usage overages or renewal price increases.
The guide recommends modelling optimistic, realistic and pessimistic scenarios and negotiating overage rates and scaling thresholds. Source: Sengo pricing guide
Guide figures are in Canadian dollars (CAD), as published in our headless CMS pricing guide. The currency switch does not convert them. Vendor price lists change often, so confirm current pricing with each vendor before you budget.
Your 5-year totals
- Stay on current platform5-year total
- $0
- Move to a new platform5-year total
- $0
Difference over five years
Enter amounts in either scenario to see totals.
Yearly split
| Year | Stay on current platform | Move to a new platform |
|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | $0 | $0 |
| Year 2 | $0 | $0 |
| Year 3 | $0 | $0 |
| Year 4 | $0 | $0 |
| Year 5 | $0 | $0 |
| Total | $0 | $0 |
Share per cost line
Stay on current platform
No amounts yet.
Move to a new platform
No amounts yet.
Per-year lines use your amount in year 1 and grow by the yearly increase after that. One-time lines count in year 1. Empty fields count as zero.
Have Sengo review my numbers
Send your two scenarios to our team and we will get back to you about them. Your worksheet figures are attached automatically.
Questions about enterprise CMS costs
What makes up the total cost of ownership of an enterprise CMS?
Licensing is rarely the full picture. Total cost of ownership includes implementation, hosting, integrations, training and ongoing maintenance. With a headless CMS you also pay separately for hosting, search, personalization and analytics, so compare total stack costs, not just the CMS licence. We recommend modelling each platform over three to five years.
What licensing and implementation costs should I budget for a Sitecore-style DXP versus a headless CMS?
Sitecore typically prices on a tiered subscription tied to the modules you turn on. For most enterprise customers we audit, the platform sits in the mid-six-figure to low-seven-figure annual range, with implementation costs roughly equal to one year of licence in year one. For headless platforms, our pricing guide lists $30K to $200K CAD a year for the CMS licence and $50K to $300K+ CAD for an enterprise implementation, with hosting and supporting services on top.
How does Contentful compare to Sitecore on pricing?
Sitecore carries the highest entry cost: XM Cloud licensing starts in the six-figure range annually for enterprise agreements, and implementation costs are higher. Contentful uses usage-based pricing tied to API calls, content entries and users, and implementation tends to cost less. However, Contentful teams must budget for third-party tools such as personalization, search and analytics that Sitecore includes natively.
How do headless CMS pricing models differ between per-seat, per-space and usage-based billing?
Tiered subscription plans charge a fixed monthly or annual fee with defined usage limits, such as users and spaces (Contentful, Storyblok). Usage-based models charge per API call or bandwidth consumed (Sanity, some Contentful overages). Custom enterprise agreements negotiate volume-based pricing. Key cost drivers include the number of spaces, content locales and API call volume. Most enterprise buyers end up on custom agreements, so published pricing is a starting point rather than a final number.
How much does a CMS implementation cost?
Our pricing guide says to expect $50K to $300K+ CAD for an enterprise headless implementation, depending on complexity, and $10K to $50K+ CAD for content migration from a legacy CMS. Building a headless front end costs more than configuring a traditional CMS theme.
What ongoing support and vendor management costs should I model over five years?
Budget for ongoing development: our pricing guide lists $20K to $100K CAD in year 1 and $30K to $120K CAD a year after for new features and maintenance, because headless architectures need developer time for every new form, template or integration. On the vendor side, negotiate overage caps, included environments and multi-year terms, and plan for renewal increases.