The most visible headless CMS platforms, October 2026

October 2026 · 15 questions asked in English, worldwide · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 60 answers read

Leader

Sanity

70Heralded Score, range 56–77

Most cited source

youtube.com

12citations

From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

Storyblok

1/4engines put it in their top three

Top three on Google AI Mode, not on Gemini, Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT

Brands

Search is not measured for this board yet, so it ranks on AI answers.

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
11 Decap CMS US New entry 5 , range 2–30 5#11
5
  • : score 5 · #11
8% 0% None First reading
12 Cosmic US New entry 4 , range 2–27 4#12
4
  • : score 4 · #12
7% 0% None First reading
– Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) US Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
1% 0% First reading
– Agility CMS CA Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
4% 0% None First reading
– ButterCMS US Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
2% 0% None First reading
– CloudCannon NZ Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
2% 2% None First reading
– CoreMedia DE Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
1% 0% None First reading
– DatoCMS IT Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
2% 0% First reading
– dotCMS US Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
2% 2% None First reading
– Ghost SG Unranked Too few answers Not measured
–
  • : Unranked
3% 0% 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 gives each brand’s score and rank from the engines’ answers; Search is not measured for this board yet. 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 youtube.com Social 11.7% 2 of 4 10 Not read
2 pantheon.io Vendor site 11.7% 3 of 4 1 8
3 google.com Vendor site 5.0% 2 of 4 6 Not read
4 reddit.com Community 6.7% 2 of 4 6 Not read
5 wordpress.org Vendor site 3.3% 1 of 4 5 Not read
6 getapp.com Review site 1.7% 1 of 4 5 Not read
7 progressionagency.com Consultancy 8.3% 1 of 4 1 10
8 g2.com Review site 6.7% 1 of 4 1 10
9 lemonhive.com Vendor site 6.7% 2 of 4 1 9
10 liferay.com Vendor site 6.7% 2 of 4 3 3

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
best headless cms for developers English Directus, Payload and Strapi, tied
headless cms for ecommerce websites English Contentful, Payload, Prismic, Sanity, Storyblok and Strapi, tied
how to manage content for a website and mobile app in one place English Contentful, Sanity and Strapi, tied
how to migrate from a traditional cms to a headless cms English No brand recommended
headless cms vs traditional cms for marketing teams English Contentful

Each engine's top three

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.

How the leaderboards are measured