Magic Quadrant vs Wave vs MarketScape: What Differs
The Gartner Magic Quadrant, the Forrester Wave, and the IDC MarketScape are three vendor evaluations that use different axes, categories, and rules. The Magic Quadrant plots Ability to Execute against Completeness of Vision and sorts vendors into four quadrants. The Wave scores Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence and ranks vendors in four tiers. The MarketScape plots Capabilities against Strategies, with bubble size showing market share.
How do the three evaluations compare?
The table compares the three on the facts the firms publish about their own methods. Axis details come from Gartner's, Forrester's, and IDC's own descriptions.
The Magic Quadrant evaluates vendors on up to 15 weighted criteria in two groups. Gartner says Ability to Execute covers products and services, overall viability, sales execution and pricing, market responsiveness, marketing execution, customer experience, and operations. Completeness of Vision covers market understanding, marketing strategy, sales strategy, offering strategy, business model, vertical or industry strategy, innovation, and geographic strategy.
Gartner defines the four quadrants this way. Leaders provide mature offerings and show the vision to stay ahead as requirements change. Challengers have a strong Ability to Execute but may lack a plan to keep their value proposition strong for new customers. Visionaries align with Gartner's view of how the market will evolve, but their ability to deliver is less proven. Niche Players do well in a segment of the market or have a limited ability to innovate beyond it.
Only the most relevant vendors are evaluated. Others may appear as Notable Vendors without being placed on the chart, and Gartner says exclusion does not mean a vendor is not viable. Gartner's published Magic Quadrant FAQ says that being a Gartner client does not affect inclusion or positioning, and that Magic Quadrants are typically updated annually. For how to prepare, see How to Win the Gartner Magic Quadrant.
How does the Forrester Wave work?
The Forrester Wave scores vendors on three groups of criteria: Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence. The chart plots Current Offering on the vertical axis and Strategy on the horizontal axis, and bubble size reflects market presence. Vendors fall into four tiers: Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, and Challengers.
Forrester describes the Wave as an open methodology. It exposes vendor scores, attributes, and criteria weightings in an interactive spreadsheet, and clients can change the weightings to see how rankings shift. Forrester has also stated that it does not charge vendors to participate in a Wave. Vendors can license a published Wave to use it in marketing, and that cost is separate. For how to prepare, see How to Win the Forrester Wave.
How does the IDC MarketScape work?
The IDC MarketScape assesses a specific offering from a vendor against inclusion criteria, using a balanced view of the vendor's strategies and capabilities. IDC describes it as plotting Capabilities and Strategies, with each vendor's market share shown as bubble size. Segments are Leaders, Major Players, Contenders, and Participants, and IDC says the divisions between segments shift with the weighting between the two axes.
IDC's reports describe the Capabilities axis as how well a vendor's current offering and go-to-market match customer needs, and the Strategies axis as how well its future plans match what customers will need in three to five years. IDC's market-share data makes the bubble sizing a distinctive feature. Some reports are available to IDC clients and for standalone purchase.
Which evaluation should a vendor pursue first?
A vendor should start with the evaluation its buyers use, not the one with the most prestige. These are EPR's recommendations, not firm rules.
Pursue the Magic Quadrant first when enterprise IT and CIO buyers decide the purchase, since Gartner is the default for that audience.
Pursue the Wave first when marketing, customer experience, or B2B sales operations buyers decide, since Forrester is stronger with those buyers.
Pursue the MarketScape first in hardware, telecom, mobility, or regional markets where IDC's market data and local coverage carry weight.
Pursue more than one when the category is contested and buyers consult several sources.
Check each firm's published inclusion criteria and research calendar before committing budget. For what a program costs, see How Much Does Analyst Relations Cost?
Do AI engines treat the three evaluations differently?
In EPR's testing, engines return Magic Quadrant results most consistently, followed by the Wave, and the MarketScape less often. EPR's hypothesis is that a four-position chart with named vendors is easy for a language model to extract. That is EPR's reading of its own index data, not a documented engine behavior. See the EPR Analyst Visibility Index 2026 for the underlying scores.
Sources and notes
Methodology details come from Gartner's published Magic Quadrant FAQ, Forrester's published descriptions of the Wave, and IDC's published MarketScape description and sample reports. EPR has not verified IDC's inclusion pricing. Performance of AI engines on each evaluation comes from EPR's own index.
The decision for a vendor is to pick the evaluation that its target buyers read, and to read that firm's inclusion criteria before it spends on a briefing program.
The Magic Quadrant plots Ability to Execute against Completeness of Vision and sorts vendors into Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players. The Forrester Wave scores Current Offering, Strategy, and Market Presence and ranks vendors as Leaders, Strong Performers, Contenders, or Challengers.
What is the IDC MarketScape?
The IDC MarketScape is IDC's vendor assessment, which plots Capabilities against Strategies, shows market share as bubble size, and groups vendors into Leaders, Major Players, Contenders, and Participants.
Can a vendor pay to be included?
Gartner says that being a Gartner client does not affect inclusion or positioning, and Forrester has stated that it does not charge vendors to participate in a Wave. Vendors can pay separately to license or reprint a published report for marketing. Check each firm's current terms.
Which one carries the most weight with buyers?
It depends on the buyer and category. The Magic Quadrant is widely used in enterprise IT buying, the Wave in marketing and customer experience buying, and the MarketScape in markets where IDC's market data and regional coverage matter. EPR has not measured buyer preference directly.
How often are they updated?
Gartner says Magic Quadrants are typically updated annually, though frequency varies with market dynamics. Update schedules for Waves and MarketScapes vary by category and report, so check each firm's published research calendar.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
