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Arc Publishing vs Sailthru

Arc Publishing logo

Arc Publishing

News

The enterprise publishing platform for news organizations

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Sailthru logo

Sailthru

Email Marketing

Retail and publisher email personalisation, now one product inside the Marigold portfolio

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Arc Publishing now sold as Arc XP, and arcpublishing.com redirects there; Sailthru the product sits in a portfolio with several overlapping platforms under one owner, so roadmap investment is a portfolio decision rather than a product decision and is worth asking about in writing.
  • They diverge on capability: Arc Publishing covers Modular CMS, Sailthru covers Interest profiles.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Arc Publishing and Sailthru actually diverge.

Attributes where Arc Publishing and Sailthru differ
AttributeArc PublishingSailthru
PlatformsWeb, MobileWeb, REST API
CategoryNewsEmail Marketing
Founded2016Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Arc Publishing

  • Modular CMS
  • Content creation
  • Publishing workflow
  • Paywall management
  • Subscription billing
  • Analytics dashboard
  • API framework
  • Commerce integration

Only in Sailthru

  • Interest profiles
  • Personalisation engine
  • Prediction Manager
  • Site personalisation
  • Zephyr templating
  • Lifecycle optimiser

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Arc Publishing

  • Content management for news and digital publishersnot Sailthru
  • Subscription and paywall managementnot Sailthru
  • Video publishing alongside articlesnot Sailthru
  • Multi-site delivery for broadcast and B2B publishersnot Sailthru

Sailthru

  • A publisher sending a personalised daily newsletter assembled per reader from a content cataloguenot Arc Publishing
  • A retailer that wants email and on-site recommendations driven by the same affinity modelnot Arc Publishing
  • High-cadence sending where per-recipient content assembly matters more than journey branchingnot Arc Publishing
  • Teams that want churn and lifetime value scores available as native campaign conditions rather than imported fieldsnot Arc Publishing

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Arc Publishing

  • Now sold as Arc XP, and arcpublishing.com redirects there
  • Pricing is not published
  • Built for media companies, so the editorial workflow assumptions do not suit a general business site

Sailthru

  • The product sits in a portfolio with several overlapping platforms under one owner, so roadmap investment is a portfolio decision rather than a product decision and is worth asking about in writing.
  • Pricing counts stored profiles, so retained inactive readers keep costing money long after they stopped opening anything.
  • On-site personalisation requires a developer to implement the JavaScript and maintain the content feed, which puts the highest-value feature behind engineering time.
  • Zephyr is a proprietary templating language, so template maintenance skills are scarce compared with the Liquid syntax used by most competitors.
  • It is built for high-cadence content and retail sending, and B2B lifecycle programmes with long sales cycles sit poorly on the model.

Pricing, plan by plan

Arc Publishing

On request
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Custom CMS
    • Paywall integration
    • Advanced analytics

Sailthru

On request
  • Sailthru$undefined/year
    • Priced on stored profiles and send volume
    • Site personalisation and prediction features licensed by module
    • Annual contract through Marigold

Which should you pick?

Choose Arc Publishing if

  • You need modular cms.
  • You work on Web, Mobile.
  • You also want content creation.
Arc Publishing review

Choose Sailthru if

  • You need interest profiles.
  • You work on Web, REST API.
  • You also want personalisation engine.
Sailthru review

Questions people ask

Is Arc Publishing or Sailthru better?
Neither clearly leads. Arc Publishing starts at On request and Sailthru at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Arc Publishing or Sailthru?
Arc Publishing starts at On request and Sailthru at On request.
Does Arc Publishing or Sailthru run on more platforms?
Arc Publishing runs on Web, Mobile. Sailthru runs on Web, REST API.
What is Arc Publishing best used for?
Arc Publishing is most often used for content management for news and digital publishers, subscription and paywall management, video publishing alongside articles, multi-site delivery for broadcast and b2b publishers. Of those, content management for news and digital publishers and subscription and paywall management are not what Sailthru is typically brought in for.
What can Arc Publishing do that Sailthru cannot?
Arc Publishing covers Modular CMS, Content creation, Publishing workflow, Paywall management. Sailthru covers Interest profiles, Personalisation engine, Prediction Manager, Site personalisation.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Arc Publishing: Does Arc XP publish pricing online?

No. Arc XP does not publish pricing on their website. Interested customers are directed to schedule a chat with a local account manager or request a demo to discuss pricing.

Source
Sailthru: Who owns Sailthru now?

Marigold, formerly CM Group, which also owns Campaign Monitor, Emma, Selligent, Liveclicker and Cheetah Digital.

Arc Publishing: How do I get a pricing quote from Arc XP?

You must contact Arc XP's sales team directly. The company offers options to schedule a chat with your local account manager or submit a demo request form.

Source
Sailthru: Does that affect the roadmap?

It can. Overlapping products in one portfolio compete for investment, so ask which platform is the strategic one for your segment before signing multi-year.

Sailthru: Is it worth it just for newsletters?

For personalised daily newsletters at publisher scale it remains one of the strongest options. For simple broadcast sending it is heavily over-specified.

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