From Storyblok to Magnolia

We are the Storyblok to Magnolia migration experts

Challenges with Storyblok

Key pain points

Storyblock is definitely not our first choice when it comes to headless CMS. It looks sleek, sure, but its extensive documentation makes it confusing to set up. Its modular system demands time and technical assistance, and non-technical editors often get lost trying to understand spaces, stories, and components. Pricing escalates faster than an unoptimised build, especially if you want basic features.

You’ll likely lean on third-party integrations to get simple things done, and that means more complexity, more code, and more potential breakpoints. Webhook changes have also caught teams off-guard. It they deprecated without warning. So, while Storyblok isn’t terrible, it’s not plug-and-play either.

Customisation can take effort

Storyblok can do almost anything, but sometimes the “how” involves developer time, CLI commands, or manual tweaking. Great control, just not always plug-and-play.

Some integrations need extra work

For things like CRMs or complex platforms, you’ll likely build the integration instead of installing it. Expect a bit more engineering.

Slower editing

Real-time previews are great, but large pages or heavy components can load slowly. Occasionally, the editor UI feels less intuitive than the rest of the platform.

Asset management isn’t perfect

Renaming assets, bulk editing, or cleaning libraries can take longer than expected. It is not streamlined like the rest of the system.

Permissions are fixed

Roles are predefined. For smaller teams, that’s perfectly fine. Bigger teams may want more granular access controls than Storyblok currently offers.

Pricing jumps with scale

You get a free tier, but some advanced features sit behind higher plans. It’s worth it for projects if you want to pay more; just something teams should budget for early.

Benefits of Magnolia

Key advantages

Magnolia shines if you’re the kind of organisation that genuinely needs the full DXP kitchen sink. It packs personalisation, workflows, multi-site orchestration, multilingual publishing, DAM, marketing automation hooks, and every enterprise acronym you can think of. If your teams run complex global content operations with strict governance, Magnolia’s mature permission system, stability, and long-standing enterprise reputation make it a safe, compliant option.

To be transparent, we don’t actually prefer or build with Magnolia (or any of the DXP-flavoured headless CMSs). They try to do everything, and like most jack-of-all-trades platforms, they don’t excel at the things modern teams actually need that is speed, flexibility, clean workflows, and sane pricing. We’d happily point you toward modern alternatives like Sanity that give you 10× the agility without the enterprise bloat.

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Java-based enterprise integration

Built on Java, Magnolia plugs neatly into large enterprise stacks that already rely on Java systems and legacy infrastructure. If your organisation lives and breathes JVM, Magnolia won’t fight your architecture.

Secure, scalable architecture

Magnolia’s core is engineered for high-security, high-traffic environments, with strong access control, clustering, and enterprise-grade stability. It’s built to survive heavy editorial activity and large content delivery demands.

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Real-time page templating

Editors can adjust components and layouts and immediately preview results, making large enterprise content operations faster and less error-prone.

Editable component previews

Magnolia’s component-level previewing gives editors clarity on how complex pages come together, reducing back-and-forth with developers and keeping multi-team workflows sane.

Multi-site management tools

Designed for global brands, Magnolia supports multiple sites, languages, and regional variations under one roof.

Advanced workflow automation

From multi-step approvals to compliance-driven publishing flows, Magnolia handles heavyweight governance. This is the stuff big enterprises actually need when 20 departments want access but only 2 should publish.