Leader
70Heralded Score, range 48–77
The most visible headless CMS platforms, October 2026
Most cited source
12citations
From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews
Where engines disagree most
1/4engines put it in their top three
Top three on Google AI Mode, not on Gemini, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT
Brands
| Rank | Brand | Rank change | Heralded Score All | AI | Search | Score trend | Mentioned | Recommended | By engine | Mentioned by | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | New entry | 70 , range 48–77 | 70#1 | 71#3 | 70
| 57% | 22% | | First reading | |
| 2 | | New entry | 70 , range 50–77 | 69#2 | 72#1 | 70
| 58% | 22% | | First reading | |
| 3 | | New entry | 67 , range 43–75 | 64#3 | 72#2 | 67
| 53% | 21% | | First reading | |
| 4 | | New entry | 59 , range 35–71 | 52#4 | 71#4 | 59
| 41% | 19% | | First reading | |
| 5 | | New entry | 44 , range 21–59 | 40#5 | 51#7 | 44
| 23% | 14% | | First reading | |
| 6 | | New entry | 33 , range 6–52 | 31#6 | 36#11 | 33
| 14% | 7% | | First reading | |
| 7 | | New entry | 29 , range 6–50 | 23#7 | 40#10 | 29
| 13% | 5% | | First reading | |
| 8 | | New entry | 27 , range 6–49 | 17#8 | 45#9 | 27
| 13% | 4% | | First reading | |
| 9 | | New entry | 17 , range 4–48 | 14#9 | 21#13 | 17
| 12% | 1% | | First reading | |
| 10 | | New entry | 7 , range 2–45 | 5#11 | 10#15 | 7
| 6% | 1% | None | First reading |
“=” marks brands whose score ranges overlap, so the test cannot separate them. Every brand named in at least three answers is ranked. AI and Search give each brand’s score and rank on that side alone. By engine has one dot per engine (ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode), darker the more often it names the brand.
Most cited sources
| Rank | Source | Type | Cited in | Engines | Pages cited | Brands its pages mention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Social | 11.7% | 2 of 4 | 10 | Not read |
| 2 | | Vendor site | 11.7% | 3 of 4 | 1 | 8 |
| 3 | | Vendor site | 5.0% | 2 of 4 | 6 | Not read |
| 4 | | Community | 6.7% | 2 of 4 | 6 | Not read |
| 5 | | Vendor site | 3.3% | 1 of 4 | 5 | Not read |
| 6 | | Review site | 1.7% | 1 of 4 | 5 | Not read |
| 7 | | Consultancy | 8.3% | 1 of 4 | 1 | 10 |
| 8 | | Review site | 6.7% | 1 of 4 | 1 | 10 |
| 9 | | Vendor site | 6.7% | 2 of 4 | 1 | 9 |
| 10 | | Vendor site | 6.7% | 2 of 4 | 3 | 3 |
Questions asked
| Question | Language | Most recommended |
|---|---|---|
| What is the best headless CMS for a marketing website? | English | |
| Headless content management for developer teams | English | |
| How can a company publish the same content to its website and mobile app? | English | No brand recommended |
| How do I let marketers edit content on a site built with a JavaScript framework? | English | |
| Traditional CMS vs. headless CMS for a growing company website | English | |
| Open-source vs. hosted headless CMS for startups | English | |
| Alternatives to a traditional CMS for a multi-channel website | English | No brand recommended |
| Alternatives to hard-coding content in a web app | English | |
| I'm a front-end developer building a marketing site. Which headless CMS should I use? | English | |
| I lead digital at a mid-sized company and want one content hub for our website, app and stores. | English | |
Each engine's top three
Google AI Mode
Gemini
- = 1
Sanity
- = 1
Strapi
- 3
Contentful
Google AI Overviews
- = 1
- = 1
- 3
ChatGPT
- 1
- 2
- 3
Related leaderboards
Method
Each leaderboard ranks brands on two sides. AI is how ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overviews and Google AI Mode answer the board's buyer questions. Search is Google's top 10 results for the keywords behind those questions. All combines the two, where Search is measured.
For the AI side, each month Heralded asks every engine the same buyer questions, twice each, and reads every answer. An answer counts 0 for a brand it leaves out, 50 for a brand it names and 100 for a brand it recommends, and the Heralded Score is built from those. A brand named in at least three answers gets a score and a place.