The most visible headless CMS platforms in Europe, October 2026

October 2026 · 105 questions asked from 7 countries · ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Google AI Mode · 420 answers read

Leader

Sanity

71Heralded Score, range 58–75

Most cited source

epicode.com

2citations

From Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews

Where engines disagree most

They agree

Every engine names the same top three.

Brands

Rank Brand Rank change Heralded Score All AI Search Score trend Mentioned Recommended By engine Mentioned by Change
1 Sanity NO New entry 71 , range 58–75 72#1 70#3
71
  • : score 71 · #1
55% 25% None First reading
2 Strapi FR New entry 71 , range 67–75 70#2 72#1
71
  • : score 71 · #2
57% 24% None First reading
3 Contentful DE New entry 70 , range 63–74 69#3 71#2
70
  • : score 70 · #3
57% 21% None First reading
4 Storyblok AT New entry 53 , range 43–67 57#4 45#4
53
  • : score 53 · #4
39% 22% None First reading
5 Payload US New entry 36 , range 26–54 39#5 31#7
36
  • : score 36 · #5
20% 13% None First reading
6 Directus US New entry 32 , range 21–49 32#6 32#6
32
  • : score 32 · #6
15% 7% None First reading
7 Prismic FR New entry 28 , range 14–47 26#7 32#5
28
  • : score 28 · #7
12% 5% None First reading
8 Hygraph DE New entry 16 , range 8–41 11#8 24#9
16
  • : score 16 · #8
11% 2% None First reading
9 Contentstack US New entry 13 , range 6–32 6#9 25#8
13
  • : score 13 · #9
6% 2% None First reading
10 Magnolia CH New entry 9 , range 3–29 2#13 21#10
9
  • : score 9 · #10
3% 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 epicode.com Reference 0.5% 2 of 4 1 Not read
2 geeksforgeeks.org Reference 0.5% 1 of 4 1 Not read
3 headless-cms-integration.com Reference 0.5% 1 of 4 2 Not read
4 12factor.net Reference 0.2% 1 of 4 1 Not read
5 namastedev.com Reference 0.2% 1 of 4 1 Not read

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
Care este cel mai bun CMS headless pentru un site de marketing? Romanian Contentful, Sanity and Strapi, tied
Management de conținut headless pentru echipele de dezvoltare Romanian Contentful, Directus, Sanity, Storyblok and Strapi, tied
Cum poate o companie să publice același conținut pe site și în aplicația mobilă? Romanian No brand recommended
Cum pot să le permit specialiștilor în marketing să editeze conținutul unui site construit cu un framework JavaScript? Romanian Builder.io, Contentful, Storyblok and Strapi, tied
CMS tradițional sau CMS headless pentru site-ul unei companii în creștere? Romanian Contentful and Strapi, tied
CMS headless open-source sau găzduit pentru startupuri? Romanian Directus, Payload, Sanity and Strapi, tied
Alternative la un CMS tradițional pentru un site cu mai multe canale Romanian No brand recommended
Alternative la introducerea directă a conținutului în codul unei aplicații web Romanian No brand recommended
Sunt dezvoltator front-end și construiesc un site de marketing. Ce CMS headless ar trebui să folosesc? Romanian Sanity and Storyblok, tied
Coordonez activitatea digitală într-o companie de dimensiuni medii și vreau un singur hub de conținut pentru site, aplicație și magazine. Romanian 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