Cloud Developer Survey 2026: Tracking Adoption and Maturity in Hardware Developers
A recent survey of more than 400 professional engineers worldwide assessed their experience with field engineering tools across three key domains: workflow automation, application delivery, and security and compliance management..
The featured technologies were selected by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and its end-user community based on relevance and importance to the cloud landscape.. The report measures the tools at helpexplained how the technology meets the needs of the project, too maturityrelated to its stability and reliability. Based on these measurements, the use, and the possibilities of recommendation, the technology is divided into three groups: Accept it, The testagain Check it out. ‘Adopt’ technologies are considered reliable for most use cases, ‘Trial’ tools are worth exploring for specific needs, and ‘Explore’ technologies require careful testing before use..
This research provides an important barometer for identifying which field developer tools are gaining momentum among professional developers and helps identify emerging patterns in technology adoption..
TTechnology Radar Highlights
This report highlights a few key technologies that are set to be adopted by cloud-native teams. Upon submission of applications, Helm, Backstage, and kro they are placed in the ‘discovery’ zone on the technology radar. For workflow automation, five major technology groups made the ‘adopt’ list: GitHub Actions, Armada, Buildpacks, Jenkins, and ArgoCD. Finally, the security and compliance regulatory radar is identifying Keycloak, Open Policy Agent (OPA), and cert manager as ‘adopt’ technology.Workflow Automation: Maturity Recommendations and Philosophy
The workflow automation section presents a multi-dimensional picture of reliability and developer experience. The Armada received very high maturity ratings, with 96% of average developers providing a 4 or 5 star rating. However, both GitHub Actions and a veteran’s tool Jenkins saw a high proportion of 5-star ratings (45% and 47%, respectively). While Armada is considered the most reliable and stable technology, GitHub Actions and Jenkins—which have a very large user base with high uptime—exceed the expectations of a large portion of their users.. This high near-universal rating of the Armada can suggest a choice for users whose needs are well aligned with its features, yet it firmly defends its position as an ‘adopt’ technology..
According to recommendations, GitHub Actions you are the clear leader, with 91% of developers recommending you, and more than half (53%) are ‘highly likely’ to recommend you, indicating a highly satisfied developer audience driven by strong support and maturity scores.. In contrast, Jenkins it shows the opposite force: old tools may seem less attractive. Despite the ratings of high maturity and widespread use, its usability result is not so impressive, which suggests that developers can focus on their weaknesses or gaps compared to other new methods.. This new tool favorite is also reflected in the high recommendation score of Cross planehigh in maturity but low in use. This shows that the developers support the proactive development philosophy of using Kubernetes APIs to manage everything, recommending an approach rather than just the current capabilities of the tool..Application Delivery and Supply Chain Security Maturity
Upon submission of applications, Helm maintains a strong leading position in maturity ratings (94% 4- or 5-star ratings, 49% 5-star). Notably, Helm is also the most widely adopted technology among application delivery tools (34%), ensuring that its maturity is recognized by all developer audiences.. A relatively new tool, kroreceived the second highest maturity rating. Its strong performance, comprised primarily of 4-star reviews (56%), suggests that developers view it as reliable and stable—perhaps due to its connection to the Kubernetes project—but withhold 5-star ratings until it has more time to stabilize.. kro also has the highest proportion of possible recommendations from those who are familiar with it, at 91%. This high level of recommendation seems to continue to reflect a user base that is very optimistic and excited about its future.
For security and compatibility management, certificate manager leads to maturity with 87% of average developers giving it a 4 or 5 star rating. This success points to its implementation method that works effectively as part of a critical infrastructure but is invisible once it is set up. However, key tools for supply chain integrity are showing widespread skepticism. in toto rates that end in maturity (55% 4- or 5-stars) but do not receive negative ratings, instead they have a large proportion of 3-star ratings (45%). This suggests a possible ‘cognitive neutrality’ arising from the intensive pipeline integration required, leading engineers to feel they do not have sufficient knowledge to assess its stability.. Sigstorewhich provides the infrastructure for tools like toto, also experienced a similarly low growth rate. Taken together, this shows that the use of tools in this important security area may still be waiting to prove itself on a scale in engineering practice..
The report noted that Bank-Vaults is the technology that receives the highest proportion of recommendations in this category from those who are familiar with them, and 98% are likely or very likely to show. BankVaults high recommendation rate likely reflects a captive audience among HashiCorp Vault users, whose recommendations are almost automatic, given how it simplifies complex integrations. Keycloak also sees a very high recommendation rate, 95%, among those who are familiar with it. Keycloak has the largest number of users among responsive developers and is the most established tool, especially for business solutions, for identity management and access management both outside and inside Kubernetes environments. Given its wide adoption and ubiquitous use, developers see many reasons to recommend it to others.
Platform Identity and AI Workflow Challenge
The survey also provided information on the organizational structures of internal forums. The most common method reported is that multiple teams jointly manage platform capabilities (41%).. When it comes to managing the emerging challenge of AI workflows, many organizations are using hybrid platform approach (35%).
However, deployment of platform responsibilities creates a big difference in AI adoption strategy. In organizations where multiple teams manage the platform, an integrated approach is more common (46%), possibly because unified platform ownership is lacking.. In contrast, engineers working in organizations have a field team build custom internal platforms only group more likely to extend its current platform to support AI workflows (28% over hybrid 25%). These teams, with full control over their internal environment, are best placed to integrate AI capabilities directly. They are also less likely to create a separate dedicated AI platform (11%), suggesting that fragmentation is not compatible with the advantages of a custom, integrated system.. Organizations that primarily choose third-party tools or allow individual team choice show an almost even distribution across dedicated, hybrid, and vendor platforms.. This suggests that both groups are driven by specific developer requests for skills, rather than a broader platform integration philosophy..
The survey was developed by SlashData, an AI analyst firm with 20 years of experience tracking software technology trends, with support from the Continuous Delivery Foundation.
