Comparison
Shakewell vs RWS: An Honest Comparison
The Short Version
Side by Side
| Topic | RWS | Shakewell |
|---|---|---|
| What you buy | Software product lines with services around them: Tridion Docs for DITA, Contenta and LiveContent for S1000D. | One team: conversion, authoring, training and coaching, web engineering, and the Content Portal for delivery. |
| Authoring platform | Sells its own: Tridion Docs, billed as the "#1 Enterprise DITA CCMS", and the Contenta S1000D CSDB. | Works in the one you already run, and helps you choose one if you have none, including tools we do not sell. |
| Content types | Separate product lines for DITA and for S1000D. | One delivery layer for the published output of S1000D, DITA, and the legacy PDFs you already have. |
| Deployment | Tridion Docs: cloud, hybrid, and on-premises options. | Hosted, in your own cloud account, or self-hosted down to air-gapped networks; the same software in each. |
| Pricing | Not published. Tridion Docs is sold through private offers on 12-, 24-, or 36-month contracts. | Scoped to the program, so you pay for the work it needs rather than for a multi-module platform. |
| AI | Tridion Agent and Tridion Connect in public preview, general availability planned for 2027; Genius offers chat over Tridion Docs content. | The Content Portal's API serves structured, permission-scoped content for grounded retrieval today; we build the assistant on your content. |
| Learning the standard | Training and certification, and professional services, alongside the software. | Instructor-led courses on your own content, then coaching through the program until your team runs it. |
RWS details are from RWS's own published material, checked 27 September 2026; sources are listed at the end of this page.
Defense and S1000D
An Alternative to Contenta and LiveContent
RWS's S1000D line is a product stack: the Contenta CSDB, which RWS describes as the easiest to use common source database, the LiveContent viewer for interactive publications, and Contenta Cloud S1000D, launched in 2024 with GPSL and described as tailored for large-scale deployments in aerospace and defense.
We come at the same programs from the work rather than the software. We author natively in S1000D and the defense standards around it, inside whichever CSDB the program runs; we convert legacy libraries; we teach the team and coach it through the program; and we deliver the output through the Content Portal. To be plain about it: if your program needs to buy a CSDB, RWS sells one and we do not. We will help you choose one, and then work in it.
DITA and Enterprise Documentation
An Alternative to Tridion Docs
Tridion Docs is RWS's DITA CCMS, which RWS bills as the number one enterprise DITA CCMS and describes as a composable platform made up of a series of modules, with Genius for delivery, and cloud, hybrid, and on-premises options. It is a serious platform, and a large one.
Our difference is engineering depth rather than another platform. The same team that models your DITA content builds the web layer around it: integrations, portals, and APIs, as full-stack software work rather than a module to license. That is what lets us fit the tools you already have instead of asking you to adopt ours.
Regulatory Publishing
Rules, Standards, and Policy Content
For rules bodies, regulators, and standards publishers moving off Word and PDF, the question is rarely which CCMS. It is how structured authoring, versioning, and delivery fit an organization whose editors are not technical writers. Our enterprise and regulatory publishing practice starts there: authoring that feels familiar, content that stays addressable after it is published, and a delivery layer your readers and systems can rely on. We scope it to the organization in front of us, not to the largest deployment a platform is designed for.
Delivery
Content Portal, LiveContent, and Genius
RWS delivers each line through its own tool: LiveContent for S1000D interactive publications, Genius as a module of Tridion Docs. The Content Portal is one delivery layer across them: it takes published output from any authoring platform, S1000D, DITA, or legacy PDF, and serves it with every version retained and superseded, access scoped by organization and role, search that respects those permissions, usage analytics, and an API ready for grounded AI. It runs hosted, in your cloud, or air-gapped on your own infrastructure.
Where RWS is stronger: LiveContent is a dedicated interactive viewer for S1000D. If your requirement is a full interactive electronic publication with S1000D-level behavior on the maintainer's screen, that is what it is built for, and the Content Portal is a delivery and distribution platform rather than an IETP.
Why Clients Choose Us
Four Reasons We Win
Cost
You pay for the work your program needs, not a platform sized for the largest deployments and sold on multi-year terms.
Speed
There is no product stack to stand up before the first publication ships. The team that converts and authors the content publishes it.
Flexibility
We work in the authoring platform you already run and deliver mixed formats through one portal, instead of asking you to adopt a product line per content type.
Engineering depth
Standards expertise and full-stack web engineering in one team: when a program needs an integration, an API, or a portal feature, we build it rather than raise a product request.
Fair Is Fair
When RWS Is the Better Choice
- You want one vendor for your authoring platform, its delivery, and translation, at global scale; translation workflows are built into Tridion Docs.
- You need to buy a packaged S1000D CSDB and a dedicated interactive viewer from a single supplier.
- Your organization standardizes on large enterprise suites and analyst-recognized vendors; RWS is named a Leader in the Forrester Wave.
Even then, the work around the platform (conversion, authoring, training, and delivery to the people who use the content) is where we help, and it does not require you to choose between us.
FAQ
Questions We Hear
Is Shakewell cheaper than RWS?
Often, in the bids where we meet, and mostly for a structural reason: you engage us for the work your program needs rather than licensing a multi-module platform on a multi-year contract. We can't publish a like-for-like figure, because RWS doesn't publish its prices either. Ask us to scope your program and compare the totals.
Can the Content Portal deliver content authored in Tridion Docs or Contenta?
Yes. The portal delivers published output rather than being tied to one authoring tool, so publications produced from a DITA CCMS or an S1000D CSDB can be delivered through it, alongside legacy PDFs, with versions, supersession, scoped access, and usage analytics.
Do we have to replace our RWS platform to work with you?
No. We author, convert, and teach inside whatever platform a program already runs. Some clients keep their authoring platform and use us for the work and the delivery; others ask us to help them evaluate a change. We will tell you which we think fits, including when that is staying where you are.
Can content move out of Tridion Docs or Contenta?
The content itself is in open standards, DITA in Tridion Docs and S1000D in Contenta, so it is portable by design. What takes work is everything around it: business rules, metadata, workflow, and links. Moving between platforms is conversion and migration work we do, and it should always start with a sample, not a promise.
Does Shakewell work in Australia?
Yes. Shakewell operates across the United States, Australia, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East; Shakewell LLC is its US entity. We work on Australian programs directly.
Sources
Where the RWS Details Come From
Checked 27 September 2026. Product names are trademarks of their owners. If anything here has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
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Weighing Us Against RWS?
Tell us about the program. We'll scope the work, show you what it costs, and tell you honestly whether we or a platform vendor is the better fit.