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Migrate from Kentico to Jekyll

Complete guide to migrating your Kentico website to Jekyll. Leave Kentico's expensive licensing limits it to enterprise budgets behind and get native github pages integration. Free migration tool included.

1-3 hours

Advanced

100% Free

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TL;DR

You can migrate from Kentico to Jekyll for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Jekyll as the destination, and download your content — posts, pages, and media — in minutes. No API keys, passwords, or CLI tools required. Difficulty: Advanced. Estimated time: 1-3 hours.

Why Teams Leave Kentico

.NET enterprise DXP with built-in marketing tools. .NET enterprises needing an all-in-one DXP with marketing automation, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.

Expensive licensing limits it to enterprise budgets

This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Kentico. Jekyll eliminates this issue entirely.

Vendor lock-in with proprietary technology stack

With Jekyll, native github pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo.

Requires .NET developers who are less common in CMS space

Modern architectures like Jekyll are designed to avoid this from the ground up.

Heavy platform — overpowered for simple content sites

After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Jekyll takes a fundamentally different approach.

What Jekyll Brings to the Table

Ruby-based SSG that powers GitHub Pages. Built with Ruby (Liquid templates), it's developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.

Native GitHub Pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo

Mature and battle-tested for blogs and documentation

Large library of themes and plugins

Simple mental model — content in Markdown, layouts in Liquid

Jekyll is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports Ruby, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.

Kentico vs Jekyll at a Glance

Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics

Metric	Kentico	Jekyll
Ease of Use	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Performance	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Flexibility	⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Cost	⭐ 1/5	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5
Scalability	⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5	⭐⭐ 2/5
Ecosystem	⭐⭐ 2/5	⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
Language	.NET / C#	Ruby (Liquid templates)
Pricing	Paid ($10K+/year)	Free (open-source)
Open Source	No	Yes

Ratings are based on publicly available data, documentation, and community consensus as of 2026. Individual experience may vary.

What Gets Migrated

A detailed breakdown of how your Kentico content maps to Jekyll

Content Types from Kentico

pages
custom page types
media
forms
emails

Technical Details

Export Method: REST API or direct database access
Source Language: .NET / C#
Destination Format: Markdown/MDX files with frontmatter, organized by content type
URL Handling: 301 redirect map generated automatically to preserve SEO equity

What may need manual attention

Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Jekyll. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.

How It Works

Migrate your content in three simple steps

Connect

Enter your Kentico site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.

Configure

Select Jekyll as destination and choose content options.

Export

Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.

Is Kentico to Jekyll the Right Move for You?

Migrating from Kentico to Jekyll makes the most sense if you're experiencing expensive licensing limits it to enterprise budgets or outgrowing Kentico's architecture. Jekyll is best for developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.

You should migrate if: your Kentico site is slow, your hosting costs are climbing, you need developer flexibility, or you want to adopt a modern JAMstack architecture.

You might want to stay if: your Kentico site benefits from integrated marketing automation, email, and a/b testing and you don't have Ruby developers on your team.

The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Kentico URL, select Jekyll, and download your content. The more important question is whether Jekyll's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to migrate from Kentico to Jekyll?

Kentico migrations are more complex due to its enterprise architecture. Expect 1-3 hours for a typical site. Simpler sites finish faster, while large sites with custom functionality may need additional configuration.

Will I lose my SEO rankings when migrating from Kentico?

No. We help you set up proper 301 redirects from your old Kentico URLs to preserve search rankings. Jekyll supports clean URL structures that maintain your existing SEO equity.

What Kentico content can be migrated to Jekyll?

Kentico content types like pages, custom page types, media, forms are all migrated to Jekyll. Content is converted to Markdown/MDX files or structured for your chosen headless CMS.

Do I need Ruby experience to migrate?

No coding experience is required for the migration itself — LeaveWP handles the export and conversion automatically. However, customizing your Jekyll site afterward will benefit from Ruby (Liquid templates) knowledge. For teams without that expertise, the generated code is well-structured and documented, making it approachable for developers of any level.

How much does it cost to host a Jekyll site after migrating from Kentico?

Jekyll sites can be deployed to Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, or any Node.js host — often on generous free tiers. Compared to Kentico's Paid ($10K+/year) pricing, static Jekyll sites can be hosted for free on Vercel or Netlify (up to generous bandwidth limits), which is significantly cheaper than running a Kentico instance.

Can I migrate Kentico custom fields and metadata to Jekyll?

Yes. Custom fields, metadata, and taxonomies from Kentico are preserved during migration. In Jekyll, these become frontmatter fields in your Markdown/MDX files, which you can extend or restructure to fit your content model.