Drupal Experience Builder and Acquia Site Studio: Future Plans and Key Differences

Acquia has published a detailed blog post by Craig Hanna addressing common questions around the upcoming Drupal Experience Builder (XB) and how it relates to the existing Acquia Site Studio. The post clarifies that while Acquia is leading XB, it is an open-source initiative built for the wider Drupal community, aiming to evolve Drupal’s site-building capabilities beyond Layout Builder. Site Studio will continue to exist alongside XB, focusing on advanced features like design system management and brand governance, which XB does not cover.

Craig explains that Experience Builder will enable non-technical users to create full websites through a browser interface without needing extensive coding skills. It will maintain Drupal’s strengths—structured content, scalability, and access control—making it more suitable for content reuse and multi-channel management compared to proprietary tools. While Acquia plans to use XB in its new SaaS CMS offering, Site Studio and XB will remain compatible, with Site Studio evolving to offer enterprise-specific enhancements layered on top of XB's foundation.

The blog emphasises that customers need not delay current projects in anticipation of XB’s release, planned for late 2025. Site Studio remains a fully supported and actively developed product. Acquia also promises future guidance to help users decide when to use Site Studio versus adopting Experience Builder, ensuring smooth adoption based on project requirements.