Feature
The Gist
- Changing DXP leadership. Optimizely surpasses Adobe as the top leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP).
- Composable DXP gains momentum. Businesses increasingly prioritize modular, AI-powered DXPs with enhanced cloud, interoperability and usability.
- Strategic integration matters. Organizations must balance flexibility, seamless integration and AI-driven orchestration for effective digital experiences.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated Jan. 29, 2025 to include new data and information.
The world of digital experience platforms (DXP) has seen a significant shift — at least in one analyst report — to start 2025.
Adobe's five-year streak as the undisputed leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (sign-in required) is over. Optimizely has earned that top spot, rising above Adobe in the quadrant's two categories — ability to execute and completeness of vision. Gartner uses seven assessment and evaluation criteria under "ability to execute" and eight under "completeness of vision" during the evaluation process.
The two digital customer experience software providers are still close in the quadrant in each category, but Optimizely, a testing and optimization software company that entered the DXP and content management software world in 2020 when Episerver acquired Optimizely, is now the leader in each category.
It's a clean sweep for what could be considered a DXP upstart that's only 5 years old in this software category. Whereas Adobe, primarily known globally for its digital media business, entered the digital experience space in 2010 with its acquisition of CMS provider Day Software.
It's a major leap for Optimizely, no doubt. Last year, it got dinged by Gartner researchers for its "overfocus" on content marketing and optimization and experimentation capabilities. It was, at the time, "diluting" its DXP product strategy.
One year later, Optimizely got high marks for its platform breadth and modularity, pricing and packaging and global momentum and growth. Adobe's brand awareness, innovation and partner support got Gartner's praise but price, a complex product portfolio and "steep" technical skillset learning curve earned spots in Gartner's "cautions" for the San Jose, Calif.-based provider.
Acquia was also named a leader. Other vendors assessed include: Contentstack, Sitecore, Magnolia, HCLSoftware, OpenText, Liferay, Progress, Kentico, CoreMedia, Builder.io, Contentful, Squiz and Pimcore. The newbies include Builder.io, Contentful, Contentstack, Pimcore and Uniform Systems.
'Breadth and Composability' Spark Optimizely's DXP Ascension
Alex Atzberger, CEO of New York City-based Optimizely, told CMSWire in an exclusive interview his company's DXP leaders ascension is a "seminal moment."
"I really think it's the breadth and composability of the solution really coming together at this point," Atzberger said. "Because it was October 2023 when we launched Optimizely One and the vision of actually one DXP. I think we are the purest definition of what a DXP actually should be. Because there are so many questions always about what's even in the DXP, and how do you define it. I think we have probably done the best job in the industry to say what's actually part of the DXP, and making each of the elements by themselves very, very good, but then also bringing them together in such a way that companies who are all in actually benefit from it."
Digital Experience Orchestration: Bridging Content, Personalization and AI
Atzberger said Optimizely brings content management, content marketing and personalization together in a cohesive way. The company's dedicated significant support to integrating these solutions, ensuring that data models work seamlessly across the platform. Developers and administrators gain access to all their deployments in a unified environment, with a single console to manage subscriptions and tools.
Optimizely's still got a ways to go proving market maturity for its SaaS CMS, according to Gartner researchers, who noted Optimizely's core SaaS CMS/DXC products were less than a year old when reviewed for the 2025 Gartner MQ for DXPs. Gartner also noted Optimizely's marketing focus makes other buyers less targeted, and its customer base favors B2C, which could rule out other use cases over time.
However, the company's CEO is confident in Optimizely DXP vision, data models and integrations backed by artificial intelligence.
"All the data, all of the Optimizely One solutions feed the AI," Atzberger said. "So it's not, oh, we have a separate tool here, a separate tool here, but the AIs don't talk to each other, the LLMs, the data doesn't talk to each other. That common data model is the key. So the data model and the orchestration of the workflow are the two things that are going to be so, so important in the future. And that's where I think our position is important, and it's also important for customers to embrace that strategy."
Related Article: AI at the Crossroads: Creativity, Ethics and Integration Challenges
Why Cloud, Interoperability and Usability Matter More Than Ever
Examining the DXP world as a whole, businesses are prioritizing cloud-based, interoperable and user-friendly solutions that seamlessly integrate multiple technologies to deliver cohesive digital experiences, according to Gartner researchers.
Shift to SaaS and Managed PaaS
The market has seen a strong preference for SaaS and managed platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings. Companies are moving away from the burdens of self-hosting and manual software updates, opting instead for cloud-based solutions that offer easier maintenance, scalability and customization without the operational overhead.
"SaaS (much more than PaaS) is being sought for due to its benefits around modernization, elasticity and consumption-based pricing," Irina Guseva, senior director analyst at Gartner, told CMSWire. "TCO is hard to properly calculate when moving from, say, self-hosted IaaS to SaaS, but usually the benefits are clearly evident, once you do the math — at least from the internal spending perspective; licensing can be a very different story."
Rise of Composable Architectures
DXPs are becoming more modular, with vendors breaking down monolithic platforms into independent, flexible components. At the same time, headless CMS providers are expanding their capabilities, integrating with broader ecosystems and their own packaged business capabilities to stay competitive.
For organizations selecting a DXP, it is critical to assess their own level of digital maturity and future aspirations before going straight to shortlisting, according to Guseva.
A problem for many organizations? The human element, whether its availability of certified resources with the right skillsets, and processes, whether it is governance, training, use adoption or content strategy, "fall through the cracks with hopes that technology on it own will solve all issues."
"You need to be internally ready to be composable," Guseva said. "Composable not only refers to the technology and architectures, but also to composable business and composable thinking."
Focus on Integration and Orchestration
Businesses are prioritizing seamless integration across various tools and platforms. By leveraging orchestration tools, they can automate workflows and create a unified experience for users, even when working across multiple technologies, according to Guseva. Enhanced UI-level integrations ensure that nontechnical users can operate within a cohesive interface while maintaining a modular backend.
These trends highlight a broader shift toward agile, interoperable DXPs that balance flexibility with ease of use, helping organizations deliver connected and personalized customer experiences.
"In a multi-experience world, many organizations struggle to seamlessly manage digital CX across multiple digital channels, which results in a disjointed experience," Guseva said. "The driver for Experience Architectures is underpinned by the need for new skillsets in using modern approaches and frameworks for front-end development, such as front-end JavaScript-based frameworks (React, Angular, etc.), micro-frontends, LCAPs, GraphQL."
Another area of need, she added, is to implement content modeling and employ generative AI to shift from web-focused, page-based monolithic content to atomic and reusable content.
"Another important element alongside content strategy is data strategy and data hygiene, as 'orchestration' requires a single source of each data type can be reused across multiple experiences/UIs/channels," Guseva said. "This avoids having such data duplicated between tools that are used by different departments, leading to silos of engagement with customers."
Dialing It Back: What Is a Digital Experience Platform?
It's always good to level-set. It's sure fun to analyze and report on moving dots from an analyst firm's quadrant.
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But why is digital customer experience important, and how does a DXP provide a supporting role in digital experience delivery? Delivering high quality customer experiences across digital channels has become a top priority for businesses.
From websites and mobile apps to kiosks, automobiles, social media and beyond, every touchpoint along the customer journey is an opportunity to engage, delight and retain customers.
This has given rise to the concept of "digital experience" — the sum total of interactions and engagements a customer has with a brand through its digital channels.
To effectively manage and optimize these experiences, businesses often turn their attention toward a digital experience platform. The DXPs have emerged as essential foundations for organizations looking to modernize their digital presence and increase operational agility.
The Truth About DXPs: It’s Still All About Content
A digital experience platform, also referred to as a digital customer experience platform and sometimes as just a CMS, is defined as an integrated set of core technologies whose purpose is to support the creation, management, delivery and optimization of tailored digital customer experiences.
At CMSWire, we often look at four facets of a platform:
- The authoring and creator experience — what it's like to model, author, edit, version and collaborate on content and experiences in the platform
- The platform's ability to deliver content and experiences — what's it like to try to deliver and optimize personalized experiences across channels
- The platform's flexibility, composability and general architecture — what's it like to host, access, scale and integrate with the platform
- The ecosystem around a vendor and platform — what it's going to be like living with and owning a platform
Historically speaking, what we now know as a digital experience platform evolved in roughly three phases:
- Early Days of the Web: Content Management Systems (CMS or Web CMS)
- Web 2.0 Days: Web Experience Management (WEM)
- Modern Day: Digital Experience Platforms
The Reality of DXP: Content Management Still Reigns
With the above said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Any experienced enterprise architect or systems integrator can tell you that while the marketers have evolved their nomenclature, many an RFP today still calls these systems "content management systems," and when teams are chatting internally, you can bet they call the system a CMS.
Additionally, while vendors love to tout the fancy features and the lofty goal of one-to-one personalization, most of DXP platform owners will smile and confirm that what they mostly do is manage content types, content relationships, content reusability, content versions and reliable content delivery.
It may shock the DXP idealists and earnest evangelists to learn how little of the published content is actually authored inside the typical digital experience platform. Many a content team prefers to work in Google Docs or an equivalent platform, then transfer the content into the DXP.
And oh, the horror ... a lot of authors still love their old fashioned MS Word docs, where tools are familiar and sessions never timeout.
As inconvenient as these facts are for those creating fabulous authoring environments and generative AI smarts, this is all unlikely to change any time soon.
Components of a Digital Experience Platform
According to the CMSWire DXP Market Guide (2025 edition out soon), core digital experience management platform capabilities include:
- APIs for administration, authoring, interoperability, decisioning and delivery
- Centralized authoring, workflow and collaboration
- Content and experience analytics
- Content indexing, metadata and search
- Content modeling and extensible content types
- Content presentation and delivery
- Content security and access control
- Content versioning and change management
- Digital asset management (DAM) and/or integration
- Digital Experience personalization
- Digital Experience testing and optimization
- Ecommerce or ecommerce integration
- Experience design (low code site or page design)
- Experience/site versioning and change management
- Forms design, integration and delivery
- Image management and editing
- Multi-lingual support and/or localization integration
- Multi-site, multi-channel, multi-device support
- CRM and digital marketing automation integration
- Platform account and access services
- Platform/back office extensibility
- Social media integration
Gartner in its January 2025 Magic Quadrant report says a digital experience platform is an integrated suite of technologies designed to create, manage, deliver, and optimize personalized digital experiences across multiple customer journey touchpoints. It orchestrates various applications through API-based integrations, enabling interactions across B2C and B2B environments.
DXPs provide essential capabilities such as multichannel content delivery via hybrid or headless approaches, ensuring a consistent and engaging digital experience. Key DXP features include composable architectures for modular deployment, cloud-based scalability via SaaS or PaaS models and integration and orchestration tools to unify applications and data sources.
They also incorporate content management, customer account services, personalization through AI, analytics for performance optimization, customer data management, search and navigation tools, and collaboration functionalities. Additionally, DXPs emphasize security, access control, and AI-driven automation, ensuring businesses can deliver context-aware, efficient and secure digital experiences at scale.
Related Article: Advancing Your Digital Experience Testing & Optimization Maturity
Do You Need a Digital Experience Platform?
Today, customer expectations are higher than ever — it's no cake walk trying to keep up with public expectations while managing internal roadmaps, diverse stakeholders, demands from the CXOs and new paradigms presented by artificial intelligence and generative AI innovations.
Customers demand seamless and personalized experiences across multiple touchpoints, and businesses must meet these expectations to stay competitive. This is where digital experience software comes in.
Key reasons why companies need a DXP include:
Centralized Content Management
A DXP provides a centralized content management system that allows businesses to create, manage and distribute content across various digital channels from a single platform. This enables consistent branding, messaging and user experiences, while also ensuring efficient content creation and updates.
Personalization Capabilities
Digital experience platform capabilities empower businesses to deliver personalized experiences (like the email below) to their customers based on their preferences, behaviors and demographics. This level of personalization enhances customer engagement, loyalty and conversions, as it tailors content and offers to individual customer needs and interests.
Omnichannel Delivery
With customers interacting with businesses through multiple channels such as websites, mobile apps, social media, email and more, it's crucial for companies to provide a seamless and consistent experience across all touchpoints. A DXP enables businesses to create and manage content for multiple channels, ensuring a seamless and unified experience for customers.
Enhanced Customer Engagement
A digital experience platform provides a wide range of tools and features to boost customer engagement, such as personalized content, interactive interfaces, social media integration and more. This helps businesses create compelling and interactive experiences that capture and retain customer attention, driving increased engagement and loyalty.
Analytics & Insights
A digital experience analytics platform offers robust analytics and reporting capabilities that allow businesses to measure and analyze the effectiveness of their digital experiences. Customer data management capabilities allow companies to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences and trends, enabling them to optimize their digital strategies and continuously improve their customer experiences.
Scalability and Flexibility
A DXP provides a scalable and flexible platform that can grow and evolve with a business's needs. It allows companies to add new functionalities, integrate with third-party tools and adapt to changing market trends and customer demands, ensuring long-term success in the digital space.
Headless CMS vs. Decoupled CMS vs. Headless DXP
Mature enterprise architects have by this time likely developed significant nomenclature calluses. Yet the term "decoupled" may ring some bells.
In the early days there were some number of "headless CMS" platforms that offered a separate, decoupled, head.
This decoupled head may have taken the form of anything from a client software library that spoke to the backend to a full delivery tier that operated separately from the content management and authoring environment. For those familiar with Sitecore, the concept of content management servers and content delivery servers may come to mind, but there were quite a few examples in the early 2000's.
What separates the modern definition of headless CMS from the legacy decouple concept is that modern headless CMS do not tend to provide a "head". Instead, the head or delivery tier tends to be custom software. The DXP or CMS vendor generally has no formal opinion on what the head should be or how it's implemented.
Today's heads are typically custom React, Vue.js or similar software applications. But, you know, sky's the limit in the headless world, kids.
Digital Experience Platforms — Passé or Très Cool?
Digital experience platforms, we'll say, are rather useful. When thoughtfully designed and well implemented they offer numerous benefits to their owners, empowering them to create content and experiences in a consistent manner via centralized work management system that is accessible to a broad range of business users.
Some stand out benefits include:
- Enhanced Customer Experience: During an April 2024 survey in the United States, approximately 48% of responding customer experience (CX) professionals said individualized customer support made a personalized customer experience; 43% of responding adult consumers agreed.
- Digital Strategy Delivery: DXPs provide businesses with data-driven insights and analytics that enable them to optimize their digital strategies.
- Streamlined Workflows: Digital experience platforms streamline internal processes by providing a centralized platform for content creation, management and distribution.
- Agile Content Management: DXPs offer robust content management capabilities that allow businesses to create, manage and distribute content across digital channels in a flexible and agile manner, allowing businesses to respond quickly to changing market dynamics, customer preferences, and business requirements.
Related Article: What's Your DXP Path? Composable or Monolith?
How to Select a Digital Experience Platform
To choose the best DXP, start by defining your business needs. Identify your business goals, digital strategy and customer experience objectives. Consider factors such as your target audience, desired features and functionalities, scalability and budget. Understanding your needs and requirements will help you evaluate different DXPs and make an informed decision.
Next, assess the available DXPs in the market. Research and compare different DXPs based on their features, functionalities, ease of use, scalability and pricing. Look for DXPs that align with your needs and offer a comprehensive solution for creating and managing digital experiences. Consider the vendor's reputation, customer reviews and case studies to gauge their track record and customer satisfaction.
Also consider the implementation and support aspects of the DXP. Evaluate the ease of implementation, training and support options offered by the vendor, and the availability of documentation and resources. Consider the vendor's expertise, experience and customer support services to ensure a smooth implementation and ongoing support for your DXP.
Popular digital experience platform examples featured in CMSWire's 2025 DXP Market Guide (paid research) include:
- Acquia
- Adobe
- Brightspot
- Contentful
- Contentstack
- CoreMedia
- Crownpeak
- HCL
- Ibexa
- Liferay
- Magnolia
- Optimizely
- Progress
- Sitecore
- Squiz
- Uniform
- Zesty.io
Related Article: 8 Things to Know About Composable DXP
Digital Experience Platforms Myths vs. Reality
So what are the actual outcomes when implementing and managing DXPs? Guseva in 2019 put together a myth vs. reality comparison when asked to dispel certain myths around DXPs:
| DXP Is (Reality) | DXP Is Not (Myths) |
| Central technological foundation to be built upon and to support the entire, continuous customer life cycle across all digital channels | Not just a mashing together of new or existing technologies. Not just a bucket of products. |
| Multichannel delivery via APIs of digital interactions across all touchpoints, including IoT, AR/VR, digital assistants and kiosks | Not just a website channel. Or a responsive/mobile web. Or mobile app |
| A unified and integrated platform on which an employee experience (among other experiences) can be deployed | Not a stand-alone intranet package |
| It’s a platform where business and IT with various skills and responsibilities work together toward the common goal of customer experience improvement. | Not an IT system, not a marketing system. It is, however, a way to manage experiences and that management is far from just a task for the IT organization |
| DXP is built for change and can be easily changed as a response to changes in demand | Not a monolithic system that doesn’t undergo constant evolution, optimization and refinement |
The Digital Experience Platform Market — Hot or Not?
How hot is the DXP market?
According to Statista, experts predict global digital experience platform revenue to hit $15.8 billion by 2025, a projected growth of $2.95 billion from 2023.
Marketers’ desire to adopt digital platforms for marketing strategies will drive the demand for DXPs, according to researchers. The B2C application segment of DXPs dominated the market as consumer brands strive to use technologies to provide relevant, personalized and consistent content and products.
While many companies analyze customer data and experiences with the help of a pre-integrated technology stack and DXPs, integration and business process issues arise for DXPs during implementation. Further, there is a reluctance in the deployment of updates. These factors, according to researchers, are projected to hinder market growth. Researchers also see a lack of a skilled workforce for operating DXP solutions as an obstruction to market growth.
Related Article: The Benefits — and Challenges — of Composable Digital Experience Platforms
The Future of the Digital Experience Platform
By 2026, at least 70% of organizations will be mandated to acquire composable DXP technology, as opposed to monolithic DXP suites, compared to 50% in 2023, according to Gartner. By 2027, 40% of organizations will fail to deliver impactful digital CX due to a lack of AI-driven intelligent content coordination and content operations strategy, according to Gartner.
Digital experience platforms don’t come cheap. Gartner found that 85% of effort and cost in a DXP program will be spent on integrations with internal and external systems, including the DXP’s own, built-in capabilities.
A digital experience platform can be a powerful tool for businesses to create and manage engaging digital experiences for their customers. By providing a unified and seamless experience across various digital touchpoints, DXPs enable businesses to deliver personalized, relevant and consistent experiences that drive customer engagement, loyalty and business growth.
When selecting a DXP for your business, it's important to carefully assess your business needs, research and compare available options and consider implementation and support aspects to make an informed decision. With the right DXP in place, your business can leverage the power of digital experiences to achieve business success.
Core Questions Around the Future of DXPs
Editor's note: Here are two critical questions about the evolving DXP market:
Who is the leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms?
Optimizely has overtaken Adobe as the top leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms (DXP). The shift reflects Optimizely’s strengths in composability, AI-driven orchestration and flexible pricing, whereas Adobe faced challenges related to product complexity and cost.
How does the shift to composable DXPs impact enterprise digital strategies?
The move to composable DXPs enables businesses to build more flexible, scalable and AI-powered digital experiences. By integrating modular architectures, enterprises can enhance customer engagement, streamline workflows and adapt to evolving digital trends more effectively.
