List of the largest software companies

Many lists exist that provide an overview of large software companies, often called "independent software vendors" ("ISVs"), in the world. The lists differ by methodology of composition and consequently show substantial differences in both the listed companies and the ranking of those companies.

Forbes Global 2000
The Forbes Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world by Forbes magazine, based on a mix of four metrics: sales, profit, assets and market value. The Forbes list for software companies includes only pure play (or nearly pure play) software companies and excludes manufacturers, consumer electronics companies, conglomerates, IT consulting firms, and computer services companies even if they have large software divisions.

The top 50 companies in terms of market capitalization in the 2023 Forbes list for the "Software & Programming" industry are listed in the following table (ranked by market capitalization):