How to Choose an Adobe Partner and Check Every Claim

Knowing how to choose an Adobe partner comes down to one habit: verify before you trust. Check the firm's level and specializations in Adobe's own Partner Directory. Confirm the certifications of the people who'll actually do the work. Then test its awards, case studies, scoping and support against your own project.

This guide explains what Adobe's partner levels mean in 2026 and how to check each claim yourself. It ends with a checklist you can use in your next vendor review.

What does an Adobe partner level tell you?

A partner level tells you how much proven Adobe work a firm has shown Adobe. It doesn't tell you how good the firm will be on your project. Adobe now runs the Adobe Digital Experience Partner Program, launched for 2026 to combine its earlier partner programs. Its levels are Community, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

You'll still see the older name, the Adobe Solution Partner Program, on partner websites. That program had Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels. So a firm calling itself an "Adobe Gold Solution Partner" is using the earlier program's name.

For services firms, which Adobe calls the solution track, Adobe publishes these requirements:

Keep two things in mind. The numbers are company-wide, so those certifications may sit with people who'll never touch your project. And a level says nothing about your specific product. That's where specializations come in.

What is an Adobe specialization, and why does it matter?

A specialization is Adobe's product-level stamp. It shows proven expertise in one Adobe application, such as Adobe Target or Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Sites. For a buyer, it's often a more useful signal than the overall level.

To earn one, a partner needs a set number of Adobe Certified Expert or Master certifications in that product. It also needs three customers who'll speak on its behalf and high customer satisfaction scores. Adobe emails those customers a short survey.

Specializations aren't permanent. A partner must submit at least two customer references a year to keep one. Each also expires every two years unless renewed.

Specializations are earned by region, too. A partner specialized in all four of Adobe's regions is called globally specialized.

Adobe offers specializations in products including Analytics, Customer Journey Analytics, Real-Time Customer Data Platform (Real-Time CDP) and Target. Others cover Campaign, Journey Optimizer, Marketo Engage, Commerce, Workfront, and AEM Sites, Assets and Forms. Match them to your stack.

An Analytics specialization doesn't make a firm right for an AEM migration. For AEM-specific tests, see our guide to choosing an AEM implementation partner.

How do you check a partner in the Adobe Partner Directory?

Adobe's Partner Directory is the official, public place to check a partner's level, specializations and Adobe awards. The page is titled Adobe Solution Partner Directory. You reach it from the "Find a partner" link on Adobe's partner site. Only paying partners at Silver level and above get a listing.

• Search for "Adobe Partner Directory" and open Adobe's Find a Partner page.
• Stay on the Solution Partners tab. Technology partners, who build integrations, sit on a separate tab.
• Type the firm's name. Try its full legal name too, since listings don't always use the brand name.
• Narrow results with filters for location, applications, industries, partner level, specializations and partner awards.
• Open the full profile. Note the level, any "Specialized" ribbon, the partner awards and the products listed.

Read the profile with care. The partner writes its own description and service list. Its level, Specialized ribbon and Adobe badges reflect what Adobe has approved. Adobe also shows the customer deployments the partner has submitted over the last two years.

Don't read the order of results as a quality ranking. Adobe sorts solution partners by number of specializations first. Then come employees with active certifications, customer deployments, Active Co-Sell status and level. That order favours large firms, so a smaller one that fits you better may sit further down.

Can't find a firm that says it's an Adobe partner? Ask for the exact name it's listed under. Community members don't get a listing, so a missing profile can mean the firm isn't at a paid level.

Who will do the work, and are they certified?

The people on your project matter more than the logo on the proposal. Ask for the named consultants, their roles, their Adobe certifications and how much of their time you'll get.

Adobe certifies individuals at three levels:

• Adobe Certified Professional: for people with less than a year of experience, often on simpler projects.
• Adobe Certified Expert: for people with about 1 to 3 years of experience who handle complex projects on their own.
• Adobe Certified Master: for architects with about 3 to 5 years of experience who lead complex projects.

Certifications last two years, so check they're current. Each certified person gets a digital badge. Clicking it opens an Adobe credential page that confirms who holds it and shows if it has lapsed. Ask for these links.

A certificate of completion from a training course isn't a certification. It doesn't count toward Adobe's requirements either, so don't let it pad a CV.

Then interview the team, not just the sales lead. Ask the proposed architect to talk through a project like yours. Ask who configures the product, who writes the code and whether any work goes to subcontractors. Put the named people and their time in the contract, with a say for you if anyone is swapped.

How should you judge awards and recognitions?

Awards help when you can trace them to the organiser and they're recent. Treat any award you can't check as marketing copy. There are two kinds to look at.

Adobe partner awards come from Adobe itself. Adobe announces winners every year, with global and regional categories. In 2026 it called them the Adobe CXO Partner Awards.

You can check these in the Partner Directory. It has a Partner Awards filter, and award entries appear on partner profiles.

Industry awards come from publishers and trade bodies. They often reward one campaign or project for one client. That can be more relevant to you than a company-wide prize.

To check any award:

• Find the organiser's own winners list, not just the partner's press release.
• Note the year. An old award says less about the team you'll get today.
• Note the category and region. A country award isn't a global one.
• Ask which client and which people it was for, and whether they're still involved.

What makes an Adobe case study worth trusting?

A good case study matches your products, your industry and your scale, and it shows a measured result. Partners pick their best stories, so treat case studies as claims to test.

Look for:

• The same Adobe products, ideally on the same deployment model, such as AEM as a Cloud Service.
• A similar industry, with similar rules on data and consent.
• A similar scale: sites, markets, data volume or team size.
• Outcomes with a baseline and a time frame, not "improved engagement".
• A clear split between what the partner did and what the client's team did.

Then ask for two or three references you can call, from projects like yours. Ask what went wrong and how the partner handled it. You'll learn more from that answer than from any slide.

Adobe does something similar. When a partner submits a customer deployment, Adobe sends the client contact a short survey about the work.

What else should you check before you sign?

Look at how the partner will deliver, support and price the work. These decide whether a strong team on paper becomes a strong project.

Delivery model and support hours

Ask if you're buying a fixed project, a dedicated team or an ongoing managed service. Check where the team sits and which working hours overlap with yours. For live platforms, get support hours, response times by severity and the escalation path in writing.

Our view of what good Marketo managed support looks like applies to most Adobe products. So does our comparison of a support partner versus Adobe's own support.

Honest scoping and pricing

Prices for partner services vary a lot, so focus on what drives the cost. The main drivers are the number of products, integrations, markets and environments. Data migration, custom code and team seniority add to it.

A good proposal lists its assumptions and explains how changes are handled. On complex work, a short paid discovery phase before a fixed quote is a good sign. If you're buying several products at once, read why Experience Cloud programs need one accountable team.

Red flags

• A partner level or specialization you can't find in Adobe's directory.
• A senior team in the pitch and unnamed "resources" in the contract.
• Case studies with no client, no products and no numbers.
• A fixed price for complex work before anyone has seen your setup.
• No references you can call.
• Pressure to sign before you've met the delivery team.

How does DWAO measure up?

We hold ourselves to the same checklist. DWAO is an Adobe Gold Partner, and you can confirm it yourself. Adobe's Partner Directory lists us under our full name, Digital Web Analytics and Optimization, at the Gold Partner level.

Our awards and recognitions page lists Adobe India Digital Partner of the Year and the Adobe Strategic Partner Award. It also lists a Silver in BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) at the ET Brand Equity MarTech Awards 2024. That one was for HDFC Bank's Xpressway. Our Adobe-certified consultants cover Analytics, AEM, Real-Time CDP, Target, Campaign and Journey Optimizer.

Our delivery teams work from the USA, India, the UK, the UAE and Thailand. You get named consultants and meet the team before signing. You can see who runs the firm on our leadership page. Our case studies range from an AEM migration for ZS Associates to Adobe Campaign work for Tata AIA.

Your Adobe partner checklist and next steps

When you choose an Adobe partner, use this checklist on each firm on your shortlist. Two or three partners is usually enough to compare properly.

Run the directory check before the first sales call, so you know what to probe. Send every shortlisted partner the same brief and questions, so the answers compare. Then make the team interview and reference calls part of the final round.

If you'd like to test DWAO this way, talk to our Adobe team and meet the people who'd do the work.