CMS Vendors
Xalok
Xalok is a well-established CMS in Spanish language markets, offering editors a live preview of what their content will look like on various devices.
- While the "Xalok Go" SaaS platform caters to small news organizations, most customers will still likely require extensive engagement with the vendor's services arm to customize an implementation to their requirements.
- Parent company Hiberus offers other website and application development services
- Key customers include La Vanguardia, El Tiempo, and Corriere della Serra
Likely fit
Xalok Go could be a potential next step from WordPress for Micro-Independent News Organizations. However, any additional requirements will mean switching to the core version of Xalok with custom development. Hiberus can offer all professional services required, from development to managed services, which could prove convenient to a Mid-Sized Chain of News Organizations (such as the media arm of parent company HENNEO). However, this could prove a step too far for Small Independent News Organizations and Small Chains of News Organizations.
At a glance
Primary Customer Fit
Mid-Sized Chain of News Organizations
Secondary Fit
Micro-Independent News Organizations
Most Active Geographies
EMEA, Latin America
Official Support Hours
Choices for 8x5, 12x5, 24x7
Officially Supported Languages for User Interface
ES, EN
Third-party Language Support Available?
No
License Model
Monthly fee for use of the software, depending on tiers based on traffic, page views and users
Scope Summary
Digital first CMS with visual interface from a vendor in Spain that can see to many peripheral IT needs as well
Tech Base
PHP (Symfony), MySQL, Elastic, Redis, Node.js, Twig
Cloud Model
SaaS
Headquarters
Zaragoza, Spain
Head Count
72
What customers report
- Visual interface allows editors to work on an article as site visitors would see it
- Hiberus Media Labs can draw from a large pool of Hiberus tech resources to implement the CMS, as well as many other adjacent technology needs
- A Xalok Go demo could give the impression the product is a good fit out of the box, while in reality this may require complicated bespoke development based more on the underlying core product
- The core CMS is mostly an editorial interface, with integration or expansion needed to go beyond this
- Lacking a partner network, you will have to defer to Hiberus professional services for any customisation required
Background
- What began in 1895 as the newspaper Heraldo de Aragon has in the past decade transformed into HENNEO, a media and technology conglomerate. Technology consulting subsidiary Hiberus was created in 2012 with the addition of Comex Integración and IriTec. In 2017, Xalok merged with Hiberus' content management team to form what is now Hiberus Media Labs, with Xalok as their main product.
- Xalok's editorial interface revolves around editing within the preview, which can be switched to show different screen sizes (desktop and mobile). The company has focussed on its visual editing interface and minimizing the number of steps editors have to take outside of it. Setting the focal point for an image, for example, can be done from within the article view, without having to go into a separate DAM (Digital Asset Management) system. Editors can also add different types of content blocks, and if the content is sourced from the CMS itself, will immediately show these within the editor. The system also supports multiple languages (for instance, a Spanish and an English edition) with the option to automatically translate the first version for editors to work on.
- What the platform brings in editorial niceties, it generally lacks in other services (such as planning, paywalls, subscription services, commenting), which must be built or bolted on.
- Xalok is a PHP based system with a Node.js front-end and Twig templating (though the CMS can also be used headless). Customers must implement a custom layer on top of the core system that caters to their specific needs and integrations. This can be developed by the customer tech teams themselves, though in many cases Hiberus Media Labs will have heavy involvement in the development and daily operation of the platform. The company can be a "one stop shop" to the extent that a customer will only need to fulfil the product management role -- though it can be easy to underestimate the responsibilities this brings in deciding on implementation details. To mitigate this, Hiberus Media Labs also created the more out of the box "Xalok Go", which caters to small publications. However, if requirements exceed Xalok Go capabilities, it can then require a steep step-up to a custom Xalok implementation.
- While Hiberus Media Labs has 72 employees, its rapidly-growing parent company Hiberus employs 3,300 – a large resource pool covering multiple technology areas, which can be drawn upon for CMS implementations when needed. In fact, many Xalok customers also engage in other technology projects with Hiberus (ranging from SEO to big data projects).
- Xalok has very recently announced the "Xalok IA assistant", which promises to suggest article topics (integrated with competitive ananlytics), and aid with content creation. The goal for this is to be service independent, using ChatGPT and Gemini, or open source alternatives such as Vicuna.
Package scope (as reported by vendor)
| Core platform - i.e., bundled in product (yes/no/beta) | Add-On (yes/custom/3rd party) | |
|---|---|---|
|
Content lifecycle: author / classify / edit / approve / publish / re-purpose / archive / dispose
|
Yes
|
|
|
Basic digital / voice / media asset management
|
Yes
|
|
|
Support print publishing
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Simple social media re-publishing
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Optional modules: forms / polls / social widgets / etc
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Connector library (OOTB connectors, APIs, etc.)
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Bundled CDN (with DDOS protection)
|
Yes
|
3rd Party
|
|
User registration
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Subscription management and fulfillment - digital
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Subscription or membership
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Personalisation
|
No
|
|
|
Ad management - digital
|
Yes
|
3rd Party
|
|
Ad management - print
|
No
|
|
|
Content management
|
No
|
Custom
|
|
Research
|
Yes
|
|
|
Content management
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Video management / OVP
|
Yes
|
3rd Party
|
|
Audio management / podcasting
|
Yes
|
3rd Party
|
|
Data journalism and visualisation
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Classifieds
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Commenting / community features/
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Newsletter production and management
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
Notifications and alerts
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
A/B testing
|
No
|
Yes
|
|
SEO
|
Yes
|
|
|
Multi-title management with variable inheritance
|
No
|
Custom
|
|
Complex layout and subsite / subsection cloning
|
Yes
|
|
|
AR- / VR- enhanced services
|
No
|
3rd Party
|
|
Audience segmentation
|
No
|
|
|
Online user / partner forums
|
Yes
|
|
|
Regular user group meetings
|
No
|
|
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