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

youtube.com

82citations

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
11 Kontent.ai CZ New entry 8 , range 3–30 3#11 16#11
8
  • : score 8 · #11
4% 1% First reading
12 DatoCMS IT New entry 5 , range 2–30 3#12 9#12
5
  • : score 5 · #12
3% 1% First reading
13 Builder.io US New entry 5 , range 2–31 5#10 5#15
5
  • : score 5 · #13
3% 1% First reading
14 Umbraco DK New entry 3 , range 1–29 2#14 5#14
3
  • : score 3 · #14
2% 0% First reading
– Agility CMS CA Unranked Too few answers Not measured 6#13
–
  • : Unranked
1% 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 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 youtube.com Social 12.4% 2 of 4 40 Not read
2 reddit.com Community 9.8% 2 of 4 30 12
3 progressionagency.com Consultancy 7.4% 1 of 4 1 9
4 dev.to Community 5.7% 3 of 4 6 10
5 webflow.com Vendor site 6.2% 3 of 4 4 8
6 cosmicjs.com Vendor site 4.8% 3 of 4 7 9
7 github.com Vendor site 1.7% 2 of 4 8 Not read
8 lemonhive.com Vendor site 4.3% 3 of 4 1 9
9 dupple.com Media 3.6% 1 of 4 1 8
10 g2.com Review site 3.6% 2 of 4 4 9

Questions asked

QuestionLanguageMost recommended
Open-source of gehost headless CMS voor startups? Dutch Payload, Sanity and Strapi, tied
Alternatieven voor een traditioneel CMS voor een website met meerdere kanalen Dutch Contentful, Directus, Sanity and Storyblok, tied
Alternatieven voor content hardcoderen in een webapp Dutch No brand recommended
Ik ben front-enddeveloper en bouw een marketingwebsite. Welk headless CMS kan ik het beste gebruiken? Dutch Sanity and Storyblok, tied
Ik geef leiding aan digital bij een middelgroot bedrijf en wil één contenthub voor onze website, app en winkels. Welke oplossing is geschikt? Dutch Storyblok
best headless cms for developers English Contentful, Directus, Payload, Sanity and Strapi, tied
headless cms for ecommerce websites English Contentful, Payload, Sanity, Storyblok and Strapi, tied
how to manage content for a website and mobile app in one place English Contentful, Sanity and Storyblok, 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 No brand recommended

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