In this article
We've spent years embedding AI across the full governance, risk and compliance lifecycle, so we're excited to share that Diligent has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Governance, Risk, and Compliance Platforms, Q2 2026 report.
We received the highest score possible in the Platform Use of AI and AI Agents criterion, which we believe reflects our leadership in embedding intelligence across the GRC lifecycle. We also received the highest score possible in the criteria of Risk Identification, Risk Intelligence, Risk Quantification, Audit Management, Compliance Management and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). In our view, these results validate our market-leading ability to connect risk and assurance activities, strengthen oversight, and support more informed decision-making.
Even more significant: this marks our recognition as a Leader in 7 major GRC analyst evaluations, making us one of the only GRC providers recognized as a Leader by all five major independent analyst firms covering our space — Forrester, Gartner, IDC, Verdantix and Chartis.
As governance and compliance challenges climb up the list of priorities in most organizations, more vendors are entering the GRC software market. The Forrester Wave™: Governance, Risk, And Compliance Platforms, Q2 2026 evaluates vendors based on their current offering, strategy and customer feedback — giving organizations an independent, expert analysis of how the most significant vendors stack up.
This evaluation comes at a critical time. As more organizations turn to AI to keep pace with growing complexity in GRC, many remain constrained by legacy, fragmented environments. Recent Diligent Institute research shows only 19% of organizations have fully integrated systems, while 65% remain partially integrated. Diligent's platform helps close this gap by bringing governance, risk, audit, and compliance into a single view, supported by AI to surface risk earlier and guide decisions.
Forrester gave our Diligent One Platform the highest scores possible across key criteria, including:
We've been investing heavily in embedding AI across the full GRC lifecycle — unifying corporate governance with cross-domain capabilities on a single platform, including enterprise risk management, cyber and third-party risk, audit and compliance. In our view, this is what sets Diligent apart.
The Forrester report notes:
"Diligent's vision differentiates by showing how AI-enabled and continuous GRC will transform the board's relationship with risk."
"Diligent's audit and compliance modules use AI to tackle core customer challenges, and its risk quantification and scenario modeling intuitively guide users through setup to results."
We believe these results build on our momentum in applying AI across governance, risk, compliance, and audit. Solutions such as AI Risk Essentials, AuditAI, ACL AI, GovernAI, and Third-Party Risk Intel help organizations surface risks earlier, prioritize action and embed AI into day-to-day workflows across the GRC lifecycle.
"AI is here and the driver of our accelerated growth. AI is fundamentally changing how organizations govern, manage risk and ensure compliance," said Brian Stafford, CEO of Diligent. "For us, this recognition as a Leader from Forrester validates our strategy of embedding AI at the core of the Diligent One Platform, giving customers faster insights, earlier risk detection, and the confidence to act when it matters most."
Diligent has been consistently recognized as a Leader across major GRC benchmarks, underscoring its strength across the market. In 2025, Diligent became one of the only GRC companies recognized as a Leader by all five major independent analyst firms. Now, with this latest Forrester Wave recognition, that record extends to seven Leader recognitions across those same five firms.
Nearly every organization is under pressure to enhance their GRC reporting capabilities while bringing costs down. The Forrester Wave™ is one of the industry's most complete and detailed analyses, using a transparent methodology composed of vendor surveys, product demos, and customer reference calls to compare top players in the market.
You can read through a complimentary excerpt of the report here.
Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. This report is part of a broader collection of Forrester resources, including interactive models, frameworks, tools, data, and access to analyst guidance.
For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here.
