Report:
Magic Quadrant for Contract Life Cycle Management
How does Gartner define the Contract Life Cycle Management market in 2025?
Gartner defines contract life cycle management (CLM) market as a solution that proactively manages contracts from initiation through negotiation, execution, compliance and renewal. In this context, a contract is any agreement or contractual document containing rights and obligations that affect an organization now or in the future (e.g., a nondisclosure agreement). CLM solutions allow organizations to create, negotiate and store contracts in a centralized repository. Using these solutions helps mitigate organizational risk by enabling regulatory and policy compliance, providing governance over what is signed and with whom, and role-based access to terms and obligations with third parties. CLM solutions drive visibility, consistency and efficiency in the contracting process across an enterprise. Use cases are primarily aligned to parts of the process, such as presignature and postsignature. Different departments often prioritize a certain use case based on their involvement in the contracting process.
Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Contract Life Cycle Management in 2025
- Publication Date: 10-Nov-2025
- Document ID: G00823642
- Coverage: Global
- Authors: Kaitlynn Sommers, Kerrie McDonald, Lynne Phelan
- Core Purpose: Organizations are pursuing cross-functional CLM strategies, leading to new investment or replacement of current CLM solutions that don't meet their enterprise requirements. Procurement technology leaders can use this research to understand the vendor landscape and select a suitable CLM vendor.
Strategic Planning Assumptions
No strategic planning assumptions provided.
How was the Contract Life Cycle Management market evolved in 2025?
- The CLM market proactively manages contracts from initiation through negotiation, execution, compliance and renewal
- Organizations are pursuing cross-functional CLM strategies leading to new investments or replacements
- CLM solutions enable centralized contract creation, negotiation and storage
- Use cases are primarily aligned to presignature and postsignature processes
- Different departments prioritize use cases based on their involvement in contracting
- Generative AI use cases are emerging as practical solutions within CLM platforms
- Agentic AI systems are beginning to perform simple, low-risk automated tasks
- Contract risk and compliance is a key focus area for organizations
- The market is dense with increasing consolidation activity
- Application administration, user experience and flexibility are essential for adoption
- Organizations range from beginning CLM journeys to replacing legacy systems
What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?
- Request a contract
- Create a contract
- Manage the negotiation and approval workflow
- Store contracts
- Search contracts
- Report on contracts (e.g., metadata, obligation and compliance management)
- Update or renew a contract
What are the common features of top products in the Contract Life Cycle Management space?
- Automate contract data extraction (e.g., to support digitization of legacy and third-party-generated agreements)
- Conduct advanced analysis (e.g., automated contract review and risk scoring)
- Summarize agreements or retrieve contract data through the use of chatbots
- Automate contract clause suggestions and redlines
- Electronic signature
Scope Exclusions
- Solutions exclusively focused on e-signature without full CLM capabilities
- Solutions that cannot be purchased standalone (must be bundled with other applications)
- Solutions that only support specific contract types (not all types: supplier, customer, employment)
- Solutions that do not support all user types (sales, legal, procurement)
- Solutions that cannot manage all phases of the contract life cycle
- Vendors with fewer than 200 live CLM customers
- Vendors with less than 15% of customers having annual revenue of $1 billion or greater
- Vendors with less than $12 million in CLM software revenue or fewer than 40 new customer logos in 2024
Inclusion Criteria
Vendors must, among other requirements:
- At least 200 CLM customers live on a single CLM solution as of 1 May 2025
- 15% of current customers with an annual revenue of $1 billion or greater
- More than $12 million in revenue exclusively from CLM software (excluding professional services) in 2024, and a minimum of 40 new customer logos in 2024
- A CLM product available for purchase on a stand-alone basis, separately from other applications
- A solution positioned for customer use for all types of contracts — for example, supplier, customer and employment contracts
- A solution user base that includes sales, legal and procurement users
- CLM customers that are able to use the product to manage all phases of the contract life cycle (including request, authoring, redlining, approval workflows, e-signature, repository and native reporting for ongoing compliance monitoring)
Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting
- Product or Service - High
- Overall Viability - Medium
- Sales Execution/Pricing - Medium
- Market Responsiveness/Record - NotRated
- Marketing Execution - Medium
- Customer Experience - High
- Operations - Medium
Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting
- Market Understanding - High
- Marketing Strategy - NotRated
- Sales Strategy - Low
- Offering (Product) Strategy - Medium
- Business Model - NotRated
- Vertical/Industry Strategy - Low
- Innovation - High
- Geographic Strategy - Medium
FAQs
Q: What does this research cover?
A: This research evaluates 17 vendors in the Contract Life Cycle Management market based on their Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. It covers vendors' product capabilities, customer experience, innovation strategies, market understanding, geographic reach, and vertical/industry strategies. The Magic Quadrant includes detailed vendor strengths and cautions, evaluation criteria, inclusion requirements, and market context including AI advancements and cross-functional CLM adoption trends.
Q: Who should use this research?
A: This research should be used by procurement technology leaders, IT executives, legal operations teams, and business stakeholders who are evaluating, selecting, or replacing CLM solutions. It helps organizations understand the vendor landscape, assess vendor capabilities against their requirements, and make informed decisions about CLM investments. The research is particularly valuable for enterprises pursuing cross-functional CLM strategies or looking to replace legacy systems that don't meet enterprise requirements.
Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?
A: To be included in this Magic Quadrant, CLM solutions must enable users to: (1) Request a contract, (2) Create a contract, (3) Manage the negotiation and approval workflow, (4) Store contracts, (5) Search contracts, (6) Report on contracts including metadata, obligation and compliance management, and (7) Update or renew a contract. These capabilities must support all phases of the contract life cycle from initiation through renewal.
Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?
A:
- Insufficient customer base (fewer than 200 CLM customers live on a single solution)
- Limited enterprise presence (less than 15% of customers with $1B+ annual revenue)
- Insufficient revenue or growth (less than $12M in CLM software revenue or fewer than 40 new customer logos in 2024)
- Product not available standalone (must be purchased with other applications)
- Limited contract type support (does not support supplier, customer, and employment contracts)
- Limited user base (does not include sales, legal, and procurement users)
- Incomplete life cycle management (cannot manage all phases from request through renewal)
- Missing mandatory features (does not support all required capabilities for contract management)
Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?
A: Ability to Execute focuses on a vendor's current performance and operational capabilities - including product quality, financial viability, sales effectiveness, customer satisfaction, and operational infrastructure. It measures how well vendors deliver on their promises today. Completeness of Vision assesses a vendor's strategic direction and future potential - including market understanding, innovation strategy, product roadmap, geographic and vertical strategies, and long-term market positioning. It evaluates how well vendors understand market evolution and can anticipate future needs.
Reference
- Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Contract Life Cycle Management, 10-Nov-2025, ID G00823642
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