What you need to know

• Salesforce and Tealium have topped Gartner’s 2025 CDP Magic Quadrant, as Adobe slips out of the leadership tier, now deemed a Visionary. Treasure Data drops too. Sitecore is still missing in action, while SAP and others fall off the map.
• Marketing’s no longer in charge – CDPs are now enterprise tech, driven by IT, data and CX teams.
• And utilisation is problematic, with less than a quarter of marketers reporting high CDP usage.
• Composable architecture and AI are non-negotiable, says Gartner. Zero-copy data sharing, integration flexibility and real-time orchestration are now critical for CDP relevance.
• Salesforce leads with deep AI and enterprise data orchestration, but only if buyers commit to its full stack – and beware of consumption-based pricing complexity.
• Tealium wins points for privacy, consent and transparent pricing, with real-time zero-party data capture. But setup is slow and personalisation still requires external tools.
• Oracle and Treasure Data push pro-code, AI-enabled platforms aimed at IT-led teams – but lack marketer-friendly tools and retail media integration.
• Adobe, mParticle, Twilio Segment and others fall short on enterprise integration. Gartner says they're strong technically, but struggle to convince outside marketing.
• The new CDP battlefield is enterprise-wide data unification, not campaign execution – and the winners will be those that serve multiple functions across the org, not just marketing.

Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) may be enterprise tech, but marketing is no longer in the driver's seat, according to the analysis contained in Gartner's second CDP Magic Quadrant report. Indeed, according to the analysts, "The majority of buying groups for the technology predominantly consist of IT roles."

Per Gartner; "As CDPs evolve beyond martech into strategic enterprise investments, buyers must assess cost-to-value for cross-functional stakeholders."

There is also a big question mark over utilisation: "Despite the strategic importance of CDPs, their utilisation by business users remains low, with only 22 per cent of marketers reporting high utilisation. Instead, marketers often rely on other solutions, such as personalisation engines, account-based marketing platforms, marketing automation platforms and multichannel marketing hubs, to carry out their tasks. CDPs are serving as enabling technologies rather than primary tools for marketing operation."

Leaderboard

Only Salesforce and Tealium occupy the treasured leadership quadrant for CDPs this year. Adobe (just) and Treasure Data have slipped out. Sitecore is still missing in action, while a clutch of vendors, including SAP, Leadspace, Blueshift, and Dun and Bradsheet, have dropped out altogether. Adobe is identified as a visionary and Oracle as a challenger.

That’s the key takeaway from Gartner’s 2025 Magic Quadrant for Customer Data Platforms – and it’s a shakeup. Salesforce and Tealium lead the pack, but even the leaders are under pressure to prove value across the entire enterprise. Once the darling of the marketing suite, the CDP has grown up, been handed a corporate credit card, and is now sitting in cross-functional boardroom meetings. And it’s got a lot to prove.

In terms of the trends, the report is consistent with Mi3 Australia's analysis of the local market, although the relative market share of the vendors differs considerably.

The rise of composable architectures, zero-copy data sharing, and AI-powered decisioning are changing the shape of the CDP market – and expectations around ROI. And with the chief data and analytics officers, CIOs and CMOs all pulling at the same data strings, the CDP is fast becoming the battleground for enterprise data unification, activation and orchestration.

Salesforce and Tealium lead, but not without baggage

Salesforce Data Cloud delivers a significant platform advantage, according to the Gartner report. It’s seen as the data brain linking sales, service, marketing and more. Deep AI integration with Einstein and Agentforce offers real-time orchestration, while its Data Cloud One positions it as a fabric for the entire enterprise, the report stated.

But there's a catch. If you're not all-in on the Salesforce stack, things can get clunky. Integration outside the Salesforce ecosystem is limited, and forecasting total cost is a minefield thanks to consumption-based pricing. Real-time personalisation is here, but buyers should ask for references, say the analysts.

Tealium, meanwhile has nailed privacy and consent orchestration - a big tick for regulated industries - and boasts clear pricing in a market where cost models are increasingly opaque. Its 'Moments IQ' feature is built for real-time zero-party data capture, Gartner said, and its data governance game is strong.

But Tealium is not for the impatient. It takes time to implement and needs technical depth to pull off personalisation – because much of that still needs to happen outside its stack.

Two new laws of CDP gravity

Gartner’s analysts are blunt: If your CDP can’t plug neatly into a composable architecture and it isn’t AI-enabled, your days are numbered.

On composability, the analysts noted these architectures: "... reduce storage and operational costs by offering modularity and connection to data ecosystems. The shift toward composable architectures is reshaping enterprise technology strategies."

On AI meanwhile, the report said, "AI enablement scales data automation and enables business process automation. The
integration of AI and machine learning capabilities within CDPs is becoming a key differentiator."

Leaders like Salesforce and Tealium tick both boxes, but challengers like Oracle and Treasure Data are pushing hard with zero-copy integrations and AI-powered journey building.

Oracle’s Unity CDP is all about integrating front and back office – sales, service, finance – to deliver unified commercial experiences. But gaps remain in retail media integrations and real-time sharing with Snowflake and Azure.

Treasure Data (which is largely absent from the Australian market as best Mi3 can tell) brings pro-code power for IT-led teams, but marketers might find themselves waiting for dev time to get things done. It’s a CDP for data engineers, not creative marketers.

Adobe sits as a Visionary, with a product roadmap deeply intertwined with its Creative Cloud and Firefly AI. Great for enterprises in the Adobe ecosystem – but for everyone else, integration is painful, and the cost can blow out fast.

ActionIQ, once a promising niche player, is now part of Uniphore. It’s big on data warehouse integrations and proofs of concept, but its future is uncertain, with product focus drifting into AI assistant territory.

Amperity shines in identity resolution and media use cases, but there is a question mark over confidence after three CEOs in two years.

Twilio Segment, mParticle and Redpoint all have strong technical chops, but often fail to convince business users outside of marketing, according to the analysts.

In a composable, AI-automated future, the report suggests CDPs must deliver against enterprise outcomes, not just marketing KPIs. And that means integration, governance and real-time orchestration are now table stakes.