AI Index / Headless CMS platforms

Best Headless CMS platforms

What AI assistants actually recommend when buyers ask about headless cms platforms — measured on a rolling 4-week window across 4 engines, published as open data.

Updated 2026-09-17 · 28 sampled answers · rolling 4-week window · methodology

Rankings are measured from sampled AI answers — never editorial, never paid. Orbator builds AI-visibility tooling; when Orbator itself appears in any category, it is measured by the same rules as everyone else.

Rolling 4-week window28 samples4 enginesmethodologydata studies

Measured by Orbatormethodology owner Henrik Tellewindow ends Sep 17, 2026

Sample: 28 AI answers · Window: Aug 20, 2026Sep 17, 2026 (4-week rolling) · trend vs prior 4 weeks (55 answers)

Samples by engine: GEMINI 7 (last run Aug 27, 2026) · CHATGPT 7 (last run Aug 27, 2026) · CLAUDE 7 (last run Aug 28, 2026) · PERPLEXITY 7 (last run Aug 27, 2026) · GROK 0 (last run Aug 3, 2026 — stalest)

How these numbers are made: sampling design · prompt provenance · what counts as a mention · what we cannot see

On the record: This ranking is frozen as a dated snapshot every day. View this category's history to see what entered and left the ranking and when, or read what the engines actually said on a given day.

What is the best headless cms platforms?

Across 28 sampled AI answers from 4 engines, Contentful is recommended most often — appearing in 67.9% of recommendations, followed by Sanity (60.7%) and Strapi (57.1%).

This is a measurement of share of voice across 4 AI engines — not an editorial pick. See the full ranking below.

How this ranking is measured

Orbator asked Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity buyer questions about headless cms platforms and sampled 28 answers between Aug 20, 2026 and Sep 17, 2026. Recommendation share counts the answers that recommended or listed a product, so a passing mention or a warning adds nothing to it. A category publishes once it holds at least 20 independently sampled answers in the window. Read the full methodology or download this ranking as CSV.

recommendedlistedneutral mentionwarned againstRecommendation share counts answers that recommend or list it — neutral mentions and warnings shown for transparency
#ProductShareTrendEngines
1

contentful.com

67.9%

95% CI 49.382.1%

19 mentions · avg pos 4.1

first pick 5.3%

GEMINI 71.4%CHATGPT 71.4%CLAUDE 71.4%PERPLEXITY 57.1%
Claim
2

sanity.io

60.7%

95% CI 42.476.4%

17 mentions · avg pos 2.1

first pick 52.9%

GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 57.1%CLAUDE 71.4%PERPLEXITY 71.4%
Claim
Pricing: Growth: $15 a month (free tier available) ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Live previews and visual editing tools ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: Web ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: Slack ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
3

strapi.io

57.1%

95% CI 39.173.5%

16 mentions · avg pos 3.1

first pick 25%

GEMINI 71.4%CHATGPT 42.9%CLAUDE 71.4%PERPLEXITY 42.9%
Claim
Pricing: Starter: $35 a month ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Content Type Builder ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: Next.js ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
4

payloadcms.com

50%

95% CI 32.667.4%

14 mentions · avg pos 3.8

first pick 14.3%

GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 57.1%CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 42.9%
Claim
Features: White Label ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: Next.js ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
5

storyblok.com

42.9%

95% CI 26.560.9%

12 mentions · avg pos 2

first pick 16.7%

GEMINI 14.3%CHATGPT 42.9%CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 57.1%
Claim
6

nextjs.org

42.9%

95% CI 26.560.9%

12 mentions · avg pos 2.5

first pick 25%

GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 42.9%CLAUDE 42.9%PERPLEXITY 42.9%
Claim
Features: Advanced Routing & Nested Layouts ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: Web ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: Cloudinary ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
7

directus.io

35.7%

95% CI 20.754.2%

10 mentions · avg pos 4.6

first pick 0%

GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 28.6%CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
8

prismic.io

25%

95% CI 12.743.4%

7 mentions · avg pos 3.2

first pick 0%

GEMINI 42.9%CLAUDE 28.6%PERPLEXITY 28.6%
Claim
Pricing: Starter: $10 a month (free tier available) ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Visual Page Builder ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: GraphQL ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: Claude ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
9

react.dev

25%

95% CI 12.743.4%

7 mentions · avg pos 3.3

first pick 14.3%

GEMINI 57.1%CHATGPT 28.6%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
Features: Components ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: iOS ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: React Router ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
10

hygraph.com

17.9%

95% CI 7.935.6%

5 mentions · avg pos 7.5

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%CHATGPT 14.3%CLAUDE 14.3%PERPLEXITY 28.6%
Claim
Pricing: Growth: $199 a month (free tier available) ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Relational content models ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: API ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
11

nodejs.org

14.3%

95% CI 5.731.5%

4 mentions · avg pos 4.8

first pick 25%

GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 14.3%
Claim
12

contentstack.com

14.3%

95% CI 5.731.5%

4 mentions · avg pos 6.3

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%CLAUDE 42.9%
Claim
13

cosmicjs.com

14.3%

95% CI 5.731.5%

4 mentions · avg pos 8.3

first pick 0%

GEMINI 28.6%CLAUDE 28.6%
Claim
14

drupal.org

14.3%

95% CI 5.731.5%

4 mentions · avg pos 8.7

first pick 0%

GEMINI 28.6%CHATGPT 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
15

keystonejs.com

10.7%

95% CI 3.727.2%

3 mentions · avg pos 4.5

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%CHATGPT 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
16

decapcms.org

10.7%

95% CI 3.727.2%

3 mentions · avg pos 4.7

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%CHATGPT 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
17

ghost.org

10.7%

95% CI 3.727.2%

3 mentions · avg pos 6.5

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%CHATGPT 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
18

wordpress.com

10.7%

95% CI 3.727.2%

3 mentions · avg pos 8.3

first pick 0%

GEMINI 28.6%CHATGPT 14.3%
Claim
Pricing: Personal: $9 a month (free tier available) ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Unlimited pages, posts, users, and visitors ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: PayPal ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
19

builder.io

7.1%

95% CI 222.6%

2 mentions · avg pos 3.5

first pick 0%

CHATGPT 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
20

netlify.com

7.1%

95% CI 222.6%

2 mentions · avg pos 5

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
Pricing: Personal: $9 a month (free tier available) ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Features: Deploy previews ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: API ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: GitLab ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
21

netlifycms.org

7.1%

95% CI 222.6%

2 mentions · avg pos 5

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
22

tina.io

7.1%

95% CI 222.6%

2 mentions · avg pos 12

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3%
Claim
23

business.adobe.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 2

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim
24

kontent.ai

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 2

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
Features: Content publishing ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Platforms: API ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: e-commerce platforms ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
25

datocms.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 3

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
26

vuejs.org

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 3

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
27

kentico.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 6

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
28

buttercms.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 7

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
29

acquia.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 8

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
30

wagtail.org

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 9

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
31

apostrophecms.org

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 10

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
32

agilitycms.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 12

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
33

umbraco.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 12

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
34

graphcms.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 13

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
35

heretto.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions · avg pos 13

first pick 0%

GEMINI 14.3%
Claim
36

aws.amazon.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim
Features: pay-as-you-go approach for pricing ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
37
Decap

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim
38

keystatic.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim
Features: Markdown & YAML/JSON based ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
Integrations: GitHub ↗ source · verified Sep 5, 2026
39

sveltia.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim
40

webiny.com

3.6%

95% CI 0.617.7%

1 mentions

first pick 0%

CLAUDE 14.3%
Claim

Reading the numbers: Share is a point estimate on 28 sampled answers, so each row also shows its 95% CI — the Wilson score interval around that share. When two products' intervals overlap, the gap between them isn't statistically meaningful at this sample size. First pick is the share of a product's recommending answers where it was named first, which separates “always mentioned” from “usually the top recommendation”. Full methodology.

Independence: Orbator customers are badged for disclosure. Customer status does not affect prompts, sampling, extraction, or ranking — see the methodology. Your product on this list? Claim it to see the prompts behind your rank and track it weekly.

Watch this category

These rankings move. Get one email a week on who AI recommends in Headless CMS platforms. No account needed.

Compare the leaders

Head-to-head pages for products ranked in Headless CMS platforms. Each one sets out sourced facts side by side, plus which product AI assistants recommend more, engine by engine.

What the engines actually said

Every number on this page is measured from sampled answers, and those answers are kept. The archive holds dated excerpts of what each engine answered, never full answers. Read the answer archive for headless cms platforms to see the excerpts by date and engine, or view the ranking history to see what entered and left this ranking and when.

Questions buyers ask about Headless CMS platforms

What is the best headless cms platforms?

Across 28 sampled AI answers from 4 engines (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026), Contentful is recommended most often for headless cms platforms, appearing in 67.9% of recommendations, followed by Sanity (60.7%). This is a measurement of what AI assistants recommend, not an editorial verdict.

What does ChatGPT recommend for headless cms platforms?

ChatGPT recommends Contentful most often for headless cms platforms. It appears as a recommendation in 71.4% of ChatGPT's sampled answers in this window (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026). Other engines answer differently. The per-engine breakdown in the ranking shows each one.

How is this measured?

Orbator samples AI answers to buyer questions across 4 engines and counts how often each product is recommended. No product pays for placement. The headless cms platforms ranking is based on 28 answers in the current 4-week window (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026). Full methodology is published at https://www.orbator.io/ai-index/methodology.

Compare the top headless cms platforms side by side

Verified facts for the most-recommended products — each sourced and dated. No editorial scoring, just the data side by side.

Sanitysanity.ioStrapistrapi.ioPayloadpayloadcms.comNext.jsnextjs.orgPrismicprismic.io
PricingGrowth: $15 a month (free tier available) ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Starter: $35 a month ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Starter: $10 a month (free tier available) ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026
FeaturesLive previews and visual editing tools ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Content Type Builder ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026White Label ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Advanced Routing & Nested Layouts ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Visual Page Builder ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026
PlatformsWeb ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Next.js ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Web ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026GraphQL ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026
IntegrationsSlack ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Next.js ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Cloudinary ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026Claude ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026

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