The Power 500 Software Companies of 2023

The Software Report has compiled a list of the 500 most important software companies for 2023. Beginning in 2017, each year we have published feature articles on the software industry’s best companies and most accomplished executives based on our own extensive research. It is only fitting that we now focus on the most influential companies that are most relevant to how businesses and individuals work, play, and interact with the rest of the world.

The Power 500 Software Companies is a dynamic list which will be adjusted from time to time as new companies emerge as category leaders and as others decline or are acquired. Ultimately, the list will represent the top competitors in each category, such as business processes, human capital management, marketing, collaboration and development, data management and analytics, cybersecurity, and customer management, among others.

Awardees were selected based on product excellence, organizational strength, company growth, investor backing, and management team caliber, among other attributes. We also paid close attention to user ratings.

Please join us in recognizing the achievements of The Power 500 Software Companies of 2023.

Key Events in the Last Year

The software market did well when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and in fact, many companies overhired during the boom, leading to an oversaturation in their employee base. More recently, large entities including Oracle, Malwarebytes, Unity Software, and Microsoft all announced significant layoffs in an effort to cut costs in 2022.

But many positive milestones occurred throughout the year as well. For example, Broadcom’s deal to purchase VMware for $61 billion was a giant step forward in multi cloud offerings and a conversion of software and hardware. In addition, this year Adobe, best known for its creative suite, announced new AR and VR tools to expand into the metaverse of 3D experiences and e-commerce platforms.

2022 was also the year cloud data platforms Snowflake and Databricks made big names for themselves. Snowflake, for example, reported quarterly sales up 83% to $497 million, and Databricks surpassed $1 billion in annual revenue, bringing its value to $38 billion.

As we move into 2023, the software sector remains strong and its resiliency will ensure its durability well into the future. As remote working continues to grow, so will the way employees communicate and collaborate, ushering in a new set of platform innovations. Along with the great migration of data from internal infrastructure to the cloud, the use of SaaS products shows no sign of slowing down. We estimate the global SaaS market to exceed $200 billion in 2023.

Below we provide a brief summary on the major categories included and at the end of this article, we include a link to the complete rankings. If you would like to nominate or submit a review of a software company for the Power 500, please do so through our nominations page.

Software Categories

Business Processes

The business process category includes a fairly broad array of solutions and comprises about 10% of the Power 500 list. In the past year, the large majority of the platforms in this category experienced revenue growth, and some even set industry records. Ranking highest in its category, B2B company ServiceNow reported 29% year-over-year revenue growth in the third quarter, and AEC software product provider Autodesk expanded into the video gaming world via a partnership with Epic Games.

Category leaders include: ServiceNow, Motive, IFS, Odoo, Autodesk, Procore, DocuSign, Unit 4

Cloud Management

Challenging Amazon for cloud management, Snowflake set a record in the software market a few years ago with its IPO in 2019. Sideswiping inflation with the growing demand for flexible, cloud-based data systems, Box, Ramco, and SoftwareONE joined Snowflake in expanding their market offerings in the past year.

Category leaders include: Snowflake, Box, SoftwareONE, Ramco, Kareo, Cockroach Labs, OwnBackup

Collaboration and Development

Collaboration software has rapidly gained popularity with the rise of remote working from around the globe. Businesses rely on collaboration solutions to ensure employee connectedness, improve alignment, increase engagement, consolidate data and reduce turnover. Notably, category leader Atlassian now generates approximately $3 billion in annual revenue.

Category leaders include: Atlassian, Iris Software, Diligent, Aris Global, 8x8, Hexagon PPM, Ansys

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

While Salesforce has been considered the industry incumbent with more than 20% of the CRM market in 2021, recent events have indicated some weakness in their acquisition strategy and execution. Meanwhile, CRM contenders are making strides bringing to market more advanced and more user friendly customer relationship solutions. In some cases, they are leveraging artificial intelligence, or making CRMs more mobile friendly, or further personalizing the experience.

Category leaders include: EAB, Teamwork, Q4, Omie, monday.com, Contentsquare, ServiceTitan, FullStory

Cybersecurity

With the rapid growth of cyber crime and the evolving complexity of online threats, both existing and new cybersecurity companies have been growing quickly. Some of the segments that comprise cybersecurity include network security, cloud security, endpoint security, mobile security, IoT security, application security, and zero trust, among others.

Category leaders include: Hashicorp, CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Acronis, Bugcrowd, Entrust, Tanium, Rubrik

Data Management & Analytics

This year’s awardees cover a wide range of solutions spanning data governance, cloud analytics, database management, AI/machine learning, and more. Through unique products and platforms, software continues to evolve the way businesses manage, interact with and leverage their data. We are seeing the rising significance of graph databases alongside the evolution of document databases, among other database management systems.

Category leaders include: Celonis, Confluent, The Trade Desk, LexisNexis, Elastic, Samsara

E-commerce

E-commerce continues to rapidly encroach on the retail market, and this software segment has had to continually evolve and innovate to keep up with changing shopping trends. Shopify, No. 9 in the award rankings, teamed up with big players such as Google and Walmart in the past few years, solidifying the growing strength of software platforms that can rival the giant Amazon.

Category leaders include: Shopify, PROS Holdings, RELEX Solutions, OSF Digital, bigcommerce, EverCommerce, Squarespace

Finance & Accounting

Accounting systems, payment gateways, and insurance are just a few of the segments that make up the expansive finance and accounting software category. Companies such as Coupa and Avalara have emerged as category leaders over the years. From expense management to tax solutions to workflow automation, these solutions are applicable to seemingly every business.

Category leaders include: Coupa, Avalara, ION Group, Chargebee, Restaurant365, CloudPay, Docupace

HR Processes

Quality in talent acquisition and management has never been more important as the job market looks to stabilize in a post-pandemic economy. Human resource departments have continued to rely on platforms for nearly the entire human capital management process from recruiting, to hiring, to firing, to benefits, and beyond. And now with remote working on the rise, we are seeing new innovations in HR.

Category leaders include: Workday, Gusto, Workiva, Paylocity, Paycom, Majesco, Andela

IT Management

IT management enables a technology department to monitor and manage its company’s use of software and other technology resources, secure data, enforce technology compliance, and overall optimize systems efficiency. Category leader Kaseya strengthened its market position with its $6.2 billion takeover of cybersecurity and data backup company Datto earlier this year.

Category leaders include: Kaseya, CloudFlare, GitLab, Aptean, Phreesia, Harris Computer, Boomi

LMS (Learning Management System)

The education software market is largely driven by schools seeking to streamline administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation, and the delivery of educational courses. Primary, secondary, college, graduate, and post-graduate comprise the formal education system, but learning extends far beyond this. Individuals and corporations can seek out training programs and materials for any topic imaginable.

Category leaders include: Udacity, isaac, Go1, Skyward, Lightspeed Systems, 360Learning

Marketing

Each business creates its own marketing strategy and decides which solutions suit it best. The avenues can be many including social media, email, SMS, influencer, content, multi-level, affiliate, and digital, among others. It comes as no surprise that the comprehensive marketing solution favorite, Hubspot, ranked high among the awardees in this category. Another contender, Insider, is used by thousands of businesses by helping them take a holistic view of their data, interpret their users’ behavior, and anticipate their next steps.

Category leaders include: HubSpot, Insider, impact.com, AppsFlyer, Hootsuite, Comscore, SEMrush

Publishing

The publishing software category includes desktop publishing, subscription software, workflow, ad management, and app monetization, among other segments. The most notable player in the space, Adobe intensified its rivalry with publishing software company Canva by acquiring Figma for $20 billion earlier this year. Though Canva still has a lot to prove in order to catch up with the publishing giant, the Australian startup has already attracted more than 75 million users.

Category leaders include: Adobe, Canva, Picsart, WP Engine

Going Forward

The continued rise of digital transformation in combination with new technology introductions, such as AI, are driving the evolution and growth of the software industry. Moving into 2023, companies across the globe will continue to seek out software solutions that support key business areas such as human resources, sales, marketing, data management, and security, to name just a few. In addition, investors in both the public and private markets are eager to back those software companies that will catapult us into the next era of operational efficiency. And with a growing emphasis on remote and hybrid work environments, we’re still in the early innings of pervasive business adoption of cloud-based infrastructures, strategies, and solutions.

Please join us in recognizing the achievements of The Power 500 Software Companies of 2023.