CMS is the largest technology category in the web content management software market, which, according to The Web Content Management Software Market Forecast, 2024 To 2028, Forrester has projected to grow by 13.5% in 2026, outpacing growth for the larger software market (see Figure 2). CMS has evolved into a mature market with: A stable quantity of vendors with a few dominant leaders. Between 2023 and 2026, Forrester consistently tracked between 30 and 35 vendors in the CMS market.

Organizations Are Widely Adopting Enterprise Content Management Software This pie chart shows enterprise application software decision-makers’ plans to adopt enterprise content management software: 69% report adopting it, 11% are planning to adopt it, 17% are not adopting it, and 3% don’t know. Source: Forrester’s Enterprise Applications Software Survey, 2025.

Enterprise/back-end content and data as well as content/audience analytics are optional inputs into content authoring and experience composition. Realized business value includes customer experience touchpoints (web, mobile, email, social media, smartwatch, e-reader, print brochure, screen display, AI coworkers, and voice-activated device).

It uses the Function-First Buying Framework to look at the content management system (CMS) category.

The web content management software (WCMS) market’s growth rate will outpace the larger software market, with a 13.5% CAGR through 2028.

Forrester’s 2025 data showed that two-thirds of employees in the financial services, manufacturing, and business services sectors expected their organization to spend more on enterprise content management technology in the coming year. These verticals have document and records management obligations imposed by laws and regulations that specify how information is protected, retained, and disposed of.

Among 29 references, 12 use API experience delivery, 12 use template delivery, and five use both pure headless and template-based delivery — a hybrid approach (see Figure 7). According to Forrester’s Enterprise Applications Software Survey, 2024, 51% of enterprise application software decision-makers use or plan to use hybrid (template and headless) web content management, and 44% use or plan to use template-based web content management.

Contentstack Headless Content Management Platform OpenText. OpenText Web CMS (TeamSite) 24.4 Optimizely. Optimizely Content Orchestration Sitecore. Sitecore Experience Manager (XM Cloud) Storyblok. Webflow. Webflow Website Experience Platform WordPress VIP. Evaluation Overview We evaluated vendors against three categories: Current offering. Each vendor’s position on the vertical axis of the Forrester Wave graphic indicates the strength of its current offering. Strategy.

CMS is the largest technology category in the web content management software market, whose growth is forecasted to outpace the larger software market with a 13.5% CAGR; CMSes are projected to grow 15.2% in 2024. Additionally, in Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2024, 69% of global B2C marketing decision-makers said that they plan to increase their investment in content management technology.

AI Rearchitects The Future Of Content Creation, Management, And Consumption