AI is Changing Everything... Including the SD Times 100

In the last year, we’ve seen AI cause a seismic shift in software development and delivery. Artificial intelligence is generating code faster than ever seen

Meanwhile, AI also has caused a seismic shift in the SD Times 100. For 2026, we’ve ejected a few legacy categories that seem less important in the era of AI, and we’ve renamed others to more closely align with the tooling organizations are requiring to implement AI safely and successfully. For instance, the “value stream management” category isn’t being talked about as much, and AI seems to be on the verge of consuming DevOps practices, according to some pundits. Among the new categories are Intelligence-Augmented Development, and Autonomous Ops and Observability, as well as Platform Engineering & Developer Experience.

Further, in order to help our readers better understand this tooling evolution, we’ve created the SD Times Tools Landscape for AI, which lists companies by category so they’re easier to find and measure against each other. Along with that, we’ve created My Stack and Solution Blueprints, which help you piece together an AI tools stack that most closely aligns with your needs to solve the problems you face. You can find the landscape here . Try it out. Put together the pieces you need to implement the AI stack you need for success in this new era.

For 2026, we’ve listed the companies that have proven to be innovators and leaders in their respective categories. We hope you find that this and the new landscape can help you navigate successfully through the AI frontier.