
Can I share data from this report? 2. Limitation of LiabilitySlashDataTM, believes the statements contained in this publication to be based upon 1. License GrantThis report is licensed undertheCreative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives Licence 4.0 (International). Put simply, subject to the terms and conditions of thislicense, you are free to: information that we consider reliable, but we do not represent that it is accurate orcomplete and it should not be relied upon as such. Opinions expressed are currentopinions as of the date appearing in this publication only and the information,including the opinions contained herein, are subject to change without notice. Use ofthis publication by any third party for whatever purpose should not and does notabsolve such third party from using due diligence in verifying the publication’scontents.SlashDataTMdisclaims all implied warranties, including, without limitation,warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Share—You can reproduce the report or incorporate parts of the report into one ormore documents or publications, for commercial and non-commercial purposes. Under the following conditions: Attribution—You must give appropriate credit toSlashDataTM, and to theContinuous Delivery Foundation as sponsors of this report, and indicate if changeswere made. In that case, you may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any waythat suggests thatSlashDataTMendorses you or your use. SlashDataTM, its affiliates, and representatives shall have no liability for any direct,incidental, special, or consequential damages or lost profits, if any, suffered by anythird party as a result of decisions made, or not made, or actions taken, or not taken,based on this publication. NoDerivatives—you cannot remix or transform the content of the report. You maynot distribute modified content. The analyst of the developer economy | formerly known asVisionMobileSlashData© Copyright 2026 | Some rights reserved KEY INSIGHTS INTRODUCTION WORKFLOW AUTOMATION APPLICATION DELIVERY SECURITY AND COMPLIANCEMANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY TABLE OF CONTENTS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS •The most common approach to internal platforms amongrespondents was having multiple teams collaborativelyhandle platform capabilities (41%).➜•When managing AI workflows, most organizations are usinga hybrid platform approach (35%).➜•Organizations with a dedicated internal platformdevelopment team were the most likely to be extendingtheir current platform to handle AI workflows over a hybridapproach or a dedicated separate AI workflow platform.➜ •Helm, Backstage, andkroare the three technologies placedin the ‘adopt’ position of the application delivery technologyradar.➜•For workflow automation technologies, GitHub Actions,Armada,Buildpacks, Jenkins, andArgoCDwere placed inthe ‘adopt’ position.➜•Keycloak, Open Policy Agent (OPA) and cert-managerarethe three technologies placed in the ‘adopt’ position of thesecurity and compliance management technology radar.➜ In Q1 2026, more than 400 professional developers usingtechnologies associated with cloud native development wereasked about their experience and opinions with regard toplatform engineering tools for workflow automation, applicationdelivery, and security and compliance management. Thetechnologies shown to developers were selected by CNCF andCNCF’s End User Community for relevance and importance. Thedevelopers surveyed originate from around the world and have alarge range of specialties and areas of focus. A more granularbreakdown of the respondents is included in the Methodologysection. The products or tools respondents were familiar with, those thatthey were either currently or previously using, were rated ontheir usefulness and maturity, and respondents indicating howlikely they were to recommend that technology to otherdevelopers. Within the context of this report, usefulness wasdefined as how well a given technology meets projectrequirements, and maturity was related to its stability andreliability. The recommendation scale was converted into a netpromoter score (NPS) for use during the analysis. Note:These radar positions do not necessarily correlate with the CNCFmaturity model (Sandbox, Incubating, and Graduated), whichcorresponds to the Innovators, Early Adopters, and Early Majority tiersfrom Geoffrey A. Moore’s classic Crossing the Chasm: Marketing andSelling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers. Based on the usage, usefulness, and maturity ratings, and howlikely respondents were to recommend a given technology, wecategorized the technologies into three groups: adopt, trial, andassess. 'Adopt' technologies are considered reliable choices bydevelopers and applicable for most use cases. 'Trial' technologiesare worth exploring to see if they meet your specific needs, and'assess' technologies require careful assessment for theirrelevance, applicability, and performance for specific projectneeds. This research provides insights int