For development teams working with Kentico, the move from Xperience 13 to Xperience by Kentico (XBK) marks a fundamental shift, not just a version upgrade, but a full platform re-architecture. While Kentico Xperience 13 is mature, robust, and widely adopted across mid-to-enterprise organisations, the new iteration is cloud-native, headless-ready, modular, and fundamentally modern.

As a Kentico partner in Australia, we’re fielding more questions from clients ready to explore what’s next, and this blog post aims to clarify what the upgrade involves, what to expect, and how to prepare.

It’s Not an In-Place Upgrade: It’s a Rebuild First and foremost, the migration from Kentico Xperience 13 to Xperience by Kentico is not an in-place upgrade. There is no upgrade utility. That’s because:

• Xperience by Kentico is built from the ground up using modern .NET Core
• It uses a completely different architecture, codebase, and data model
• Many built-in modules have been reimagined or replaced

This means a full rebuild is required. But with that comes the opportunity to modernise, clean up technical debt, and take advantage of the new platform’s performance, flexibility, and extensibility.

• Reviewing all page types, widgets, and custom modules
• Identifying external integrations (CRM, marketing automation, ERPs etc)
• Documenting business logic in custom code
• Auditing content structures, taxonomies, and workflows

From there, we recommend reimagining, not just replicating. Ask:

• Can structured content replace free-form widgets?
• Should we decouple front-end delivery?
• Can marketing automation be simplified or externalised?

Content in Xperience by Kentico is structured-first, encouraging cleaner IA (Information Architecture) and better omnichannel delivery. You’ll need to:

• Map old page types to new content types and sections
• Transform media libraries and attachments
• Rewrite content where necessary to match new models

Kentico provides SDKs and import tooling, but this phase is a chance to rethink how content is structured, managed, and consumed.

• Move to modern JS frameworks like React or Vue
• Introduce a design system or component library
• Use Kentico APIs (REST or GraphQL) to drive decoupled UIs (User Interfaces)

Alternatively, the Page Builder still exists and is improved for hybrid delivery where full headless isn’t required.

You’ll need to:

• Rebuild functionality using .NET Core and Kentico’s new extension framework
• Consider offloading certain capabilities to SaaS tools
• Leverage new Kentico-native features that eliminate the need for custom code

• Containerised deployment support
• Native CI/CD compatibility
• Built for Azure, AWS, or any cloud provider

This makes it easier to integrate with modern infrastructure, increase release velocity, and improve scalability.

• Review new licensing tiers and feature sets
• Factor in cost of rebuild alongside long-term ROI
• Consider timing: support for Xperience 13 continues until 2026, giving teams a window to plan

• Start small: Where possible, pick a low-risk microsite or brand as a proof of concept
• Engage a Kentico Partner (like Newpath) with cloud-native and decoupled experience
• Allocate budget not just for rebuild, but for discovery, design, and change management
• Set expectations: This is a platform evolution, not a version bump

It’s not just about rebuilding what you had. It’s about enabling what comes next.

If you’re considering the move, talk to us. We can help you assess your current platform, plan your migration, and reimagine your Kentico experience for the future.