Custom Software Development Services

This Magic Quadrant evaluates service providers (full-spectrum and pure-play) on their ability to build innovative digital products leveraging design, AI, and expertise in other technologies. Sourcing, procurement, and vendor management leaders can use this research to identify and select potential service providers.

Market Definition

Gartner defines custom software development (CSD) services as the professional services engaged by organizations to design, build, modernize or iterate custom applications and software products to meet their unique business needs. CSD services entail gathering business requirements and coding applications from inception, building applications on a platform as a service (PaaS), or assembling applications from existing web services or other reusable pieces of code. Services marketed as “software product engineering” or “digital product development” likely fall under the CSD services category as defined by Gartner. These solutions are typically not available as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products and require custom development.

Sourcing, procurement and vendor management leaders can leverage CSD services through one of the following use cases:

Unique user experience: This use case focuses on software designed to provide a unique user experience to the buying organization’s employees and clients. It encompasses dynamic websites, personalized content and promotions, smartphone and tablet applications, and voice and text interactions. This use case is common in consumer-facing industries such as retail, financial services and entertainment.

Unique operational processes: This use case highlights software that operates or automates business processes unique to the buyer organization. These processes enhance operational efficiencies by streamlining routine business activities and boosting productivity through the elimination of human and systematic errors. Examples include enabling payment processing providers to handle millions of transactions daily and offering operational support systems for telecommunications providers to manage new customer provisioning and network management. This use case often necessitates expertise in industry-specific verticals and their regulatory environments.

Unique products: This use case focuses on introducing new products or services with distinctive features that drive revenue growth and open new market channels for CSD buyers. Increasingly, AI and GenAI are central to this innovation, enabling hyper personalized experiences, intelligent automation and data-driven business models. Successful delivery requires deep market and competitive understanding, coupled with specialization in technologies like Industrial IoT, AR/VR, AI/ML, GenAI and embedded systems. These engagements demand rapid prototyping, experimentation, hypothesis-driven development and close client collaboration to shape product implementation roadmaps. Typical examples include AI-powered infotainment systems in automotive and GenAI-driven digital platforms in media, entertainment and gaming sectors.

Report 2025

Here is a summary of the vendors featured in the Gartner magic quadrant 2025 report.
For the full analysis and detailed insights, you can read the report here and view the magic quadrant graphic here.

Market Status	Market Vendor
Leader	Deloitte
Leader	Accenture
Leader	IBM
Leader	Capgemini
Leader	Infosys
Leader	Cognizant
Leader	HCLTech
Leader	EPAM
Visionary	Thoughtworks
Niche Player	GlobalLogic
Niche Player	SoftServe
Niche Player	Coforge
Niche Player	Endava
Niche Player	Virtusa
Challenger	Tata Consultancy Services
Challenger	NTT DATA
Challenger	Wipro
Challenger	Globant
Challenger	Softtek
Challenger	Persistent Systems

Report 2024

Here is a summary of the vendors featured in the Gartner magic quadrant 2024 report.
For the full analysis and detailed insights, you can read the report here and view the magic quadrant graphic here.

Market Status	Market Vendor
Leader	Deloitte
Leader	Accenture
Leader	TCS
Leader	IBM
Leader	HCLTech
Leader	EPAM
Visionary	Thoughtworks
Niche Player	Persistent
Niche Player	DXC Technology
Niche Player	Endava
Niche Player	Softtek
Niche Player	Hexaware
Niche Player	Virtusa
Niche Player	Encora
Challenger	Infosys
Challenger	Cognizant
Challenger	Globant
Challenger	NTT DATA
Challenger	SoftServe
Challenger	Wipro