Choosing a Sitecore partner is one of the biggest decisions in a Sitecore programme. The platform licence is only part of the cost. The partner shapes your architecture, your delivery timeline and how much value your team gets from the platform for years afterwards. With Sitecore moving customers from XP and XM Cloud to the AI-first SitecoreAI platform, the gap between partners who have delivered composable migrations and those who haven’t is wider than ever.
This guide is for digital, marketing and technology leaders who are shortlisting partners. It covers what partner tiers and certifications actually tell you, the criteria worth scoring, the questions to put in your RFP, the red flags to watch for, and how to decide between a specialist and a global systems integrator.
A note on where we stand: Remarkable is a Sitecore Platinum partner, so we’re one of the partners you might be evaluating. We’ve written this guide to be useful whoever you choose.
The right Sitecore partner has four things:
Everything else, including tier badges, awards and sales presentations, is supporting evidence.
Sitecore runs a tiered partner programme. Higher tiers such as Platinum reflect a partner’s certified headcount, delivery track record and commercial relationship with Sitecore. Partners and their tiers are listed in Sitecore’s own partner directory, which is the place to check any claim you’re given.
Score each shortlisted partner from 1 to 5 on every criterion and weight the scores to reflect your priorities. The weightings below suit a typical replatform or migration. If you’re mainly buying support and optimisation, shift weight towards the last three rows.
| Criterion | What good looks like | Suggested weight |
|---|---|---|
| Product-specific delivery | Named, certified people who have delivered the products in your roadmap within the last two years | 20% |
| Migration experience | Completed XP → XM Cloud/SitecoreAI migrations, with a repeatable approach and accelerators | 15% |
| Comparable references | Clients of a similar size, complexity and sector who will take your call | 15% |
| Sector knowledge | Understands your regulatory, content and customer-journey constraints | 10% |
| Strategy and UX | Can connect the platform to business outcomes, not just build templates | 10% |
| AI readiness and governance | A practical stance on AI content, brand safety and agentic features, with results to show | 10% |
| Support model | A named team and clear SLAs, focused on optimisation, adopting new SitecoreAI features as they’re released, and supporting your front-end and integrations. On XP, upgrades and patching too | 10% |
| Knowledge transfer | Structured training so your team can run the platform day to day | 5% |
| Commercial transparency | Clear estimates, assumptions and a change-control process | 5% |
Generic questions get generic answers. These are designed to separate partners who have done the work from those who are pitching it.
Most shortlists end up as a choice between a Sitecore specialist and a global systems integrator (SI). Neither is better by default; the right choice depends on your estate and your organisation.
Whichever route you take, apply the same scorecard. Judge the team you’ll get, not the size of the organisation behind it.
For many organisations the partner decision now comes down to the migration. Moving from XP to a composable, SaaS-based Sitecore is a re-architecture, not an upgrade: content models, front-end, personalisation and integrations all change. It also changes what you need from a partner afterwards. On SitecoreAI, Sitecore runs the platform, so there are no platform upgrades or patches for your team or partner to manage, and support shifts to optimisation, new-feature adoption, your front-end and your integrations. Prioritise partners who can show you completed migrations, a phased approach that protects your existing SEO and personalisation, and accelerators that reduce risk. Ask them to explain when staying on XP for a while longer is the right call. A good partner will give you an honest answer. For more on the options, see our Sitecore upgrade services and our guide to Sitecore costs.
Sector knowledge shortens discovery and reduces risk. Regulated industries such as financial services, insurance and healthcare need partners who understand compliance-aware content workflows, accessibility and audit trails. B2B manufacturers need partners who understand complex product data, technical documentation and distributor journeys. Ask for references in your sector, and ask what the partner learned there that applies to you.
Three is usually enough to compare approaches properly. More than five makes it hard to evaluate each one in depth. Include at least one partner whose approach differs from the others, so you test your own assumptions.
For a migration or replatform, usually yes. A paid discovery phase gives you an architecture, a roadmap and a reliable estimate. It also lets you see how a partner works before you commit to the full build.
Yes, and many organisations do. A well-documented solution, code you own and a clear handover plan make the change much easier. Ask any new partner how they approach inheriting an existing Sitecore estate.
If you’re putting together a shortlist, we’d welcome the chance to be scored against these criteria. Remarkable is a Sitecore Platinum partner with 100+ implementations delivered, more than 30 Sitecore MVP awards across our team and a seat on Sitecore’s Global Partner Advisory Council. We work across the full platform journey, from XP upgrades to SitecoreAI migrations, and our Sitecore Academy trains in-house teams to run the platform themselves.
See how we work as a Sitecore partner, or talk to our team about your shortlist.
