Vote your heart out! Pick the winners for the 14th Annual CMS Critic Awards

No doubt about it: 2025 was a BIG year of change for CMS. Agentic AI raged across the digital experience stack, and context was front and center. Platforms transformed before our eyes, but one thing remained the same: the passion and creativity of practitioners. 

Every day, marketers, editors, and developers rely on the tools they love to get the job done. And, as every year, we take the opportunity to celebrate the continued innovation and hard-fought loyalty of CMS and DX vendors in supporting their customers, partners, and communities. 

With that in mind… You nominated some amazing platforms for our 14th Annual CMS Critic Awards!

Once again, your participation was off the charts. We had some big names make the grade, but a few challengers stirred things up. We had loads of individual suggestions across all of our categories – from CMS to DXP, e-Commerce to CDP – and now YOU get to pick the winners from the top five contenders! 

Now's your chance: You have until February 27th, 2026 to cast your vote! So get out there and share the news! Activate your communities and bring the rain. Most of all, have fun celebrating the incredible contributions coming from all corners of our industry. 

Keep reading for the nominee list, or start picking your winners at www.cmscritic.com/vote 

The Nominees

Raise the curtains….

Best Free CMS

• Joomla 
• Statamic 
• TYPO3 
• Umbraco 
• Wagtail 

Best Enterprise CMS

• Joomla 
• Sitecore 
• Storyblok 
• TYPO3 
• Umbraco 

Best Headless CMS

• Contentstack 
• Sitecore 
• Statamic 
• Storyblok 
• Umbraco 

Best Open Source CMS

• Joomla 
• Statamic 
• TYPO3 
• Umbraco 
• Wagtail 

Best Flat File CMS

• 11ty 
• Grav 
• Hugo 
• Kirby 
• Statamic 

Best Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

• Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) 
• Alfresco 
• Box 
• Microsoft SharePoint 
• OpenText 

Best Digital Experience Platform (DXP)

• Contentstack 
• Kentico 
• Optimizely 
• Sitecore 
• Umbraco  

Best Website Builder

• SP Page Builder 
• uSkinned 
• Webflow 
• Wix 
• YOOtheme 

Best Content Marketing Platform (CMP)

• Contentstack 
• HubSpot 
• Optimizely 
• Sitecore 
• Umbraco 

Best Digital Asset Management (DAM) System

• Cloudinary 
• Contentstack 
• Optimizely 
• Sitecore 
• Umbraco 

Best Product Information Management (PIM) System

• Akeneo 
• DynamicWeb 
• Optimizely 
• Pimcore 
• Struct 

Best Customer Data Platform (CDP)

• Contentstack 
• Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Optimizely 
• Segment 
• Sitecore 

Best e-Commerce Solution

• HikaShop 
• Shopify 
• Sitecore 
• Umbraco 
• VirtueMart 

Best Development/Hosting Platform

• Azure 
• e-Base 
• Laravel Forge 
• Netlify 
• Vercel 

Best AI Solution

• Contentstack
• Optimizely 
• Sitecore
• Storyblok
• Umbraco

Ready to vote your heart out? 

It's you voice, your choice! Tell us which platforms you really love – and who should take home the prize. Remember, you have until February 27th to get your votes in!

Do it today at www.cmscritic.com/vote 

Upcoming Events

JoomlaDay USA 2026

April 29 - May 2, 2026 – Delray Beach, Florida

Be part of the Joomla community in one of the most iconic cities in the world! JoomlaDay USA 2026 is coming to Delray Beach, and you can join us for a dynamic event packed with insights, workshops, and networking opportunities. Learn from top Joomla experts and developers offering valuable insights and real-world solutions. Participate in interactive workshops and sessions and enhance your skills in Joomla management, development, design, and more. And connect with fellow Joomla enthusiasts, developers, and professionals from across the world. Book your seats today.

CMS Summit 26

May 12-13, 2026 – Frankfurt, Germany

The best conferences create space for honest, experience-based conversations. Not sales pitches. Not hype. Just thoughtful exchanges between people who spend their days designing, building, running, and evolving digital experiences. CMS Summit brings together people who share real stories from their work and platforms and who are interested in learning from each other on how to make things better. Over two days in Frankfurt, you can expect practitioner-led talks grounded in experience, conversations about trade-offs, constraints, and decisions, and time to compare notes with peers facing similar challenges. Space is limited for this exclusive event, so book your seats today.

Umbraco Codegarden 2026

June 10–11, 2026 – Copenhagen, DK

Join us in Copenhagen (or online) for the biggest Umbraco conference in the world – two full days of learning, genuine conversations, and the kind of inspiration that brings business leaders, developers, and digital creators together. Codegarden 2026 is packed with both business and tech content, from deep-dive workshops and advanced sessions to real-world case studies and strategy talks. You’ll leave with ideas, strategies, and knowledge you can put into practice immediately. Book your tickets today.

Open Source CMS 26

October 20–21, 2026 – Utrecht, Netherlands

Join us for the first annual edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to making open source CMS better. This event is already being called the “missing gathering place” for the open source CMS community – an international conference with confirmed participants from Europe and North America. Be part of a friendly mix of digital leaders from notable open source CMS projects, agencies, even a few industry analysts who get together to learn, network, and talk about what really matters when it comes to creating better open source CMS projects right now and for the foreseeable future. Book your tickets today.