Report · data as of 2026-10-01
State of Dev Tools 2026
What 9,409 developer tools submitted to DevHunt since January 2024 say about where dev tools are going. All numbers come from DevHunt's own launch data.
Key findings
- AI agents went from 1% of new dev tools in 2024 to 9.8% in 2026, about 10x.
- None of the tools launched on DevHunt in 2024 were MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools; in 2026 they are 5.4% of all new launches.
- AI coding tools (assistants, coding agents, AI code review) grew from 0.3% to 2.7% of launches.
- "AI" overall stayed at about a quarter of launches (24.4% → 25.6%), while agents, MCP and AI coding tools grew several times over.
- Boilerplates fell from 4.3% to 0.9% of launches, and UI libraries from 2.2% to 0.8%.
- CLI tools more than doubled (1.7% → 3.4%) and security tools nearly doubled (1.6% → 2.9%).
- 51.3% of 2026 launches are free, 36.9% subscriptions and 11.8% one-time purchases.
- 22.2% of 2026 launches link a GitHub repository, up from 11.5% in 2025.
- The median #1 tool of the week had 21.5 upvotes in 2026 (34 in 2024).
Share of new launches by category
% of tools submitted that year
A tool can be in several categories. 2026 covers January to September.
| Category | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2026 bar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI | 24.4% | 24.8% | 25.6% | |
| AI Agents | 1% | 3.4% | 9.8% | |
| Marketing | 8.5% | 7.4% | 6.8% | |
| Open Source | 9.2% | 4.7% | 6.5% | |
| MCP | 0% | 1% | 5.4% | |
| SEO | 4.1% | 4.3% | 5.3% | |
| Code | 6.4% | 3.2% | 4.9% | |
| Design | 6.7% | 5.3% | 4.8% | |
| API | 6.5% | 2.8% | 4.7% | |
| DevOps | 4.5% | 2.9% | 4.6% | |
| Image | 3.5% | 5.2% | 4.6% | |
| Video | 2.2% | 4% | 4.6% | |
| Analytics | 3.8% | 2.7% | 3.7% | |
| CLI | 1.7% | 1.4% | 3.4% | |
| NoCode | 6.2% | 3.1% | 3% | |
| Security | 1.6% | 1.7% | 2.9% | |
| AI Coding | 0.3% | 0.9% | 2.7% | |
| Monitoring | 2.9% | 1.7% | 2.7% | |
| Content Writing | 3% | 2.7% | 1.9% | |
| Boilerplate | 4.3% | 1.2% | 0.9% | |
| UI Library | 2.2% | 1% | 0.8% |
Tools submitted per quarter
| 2024 Q1 | 401 | |
| 2024 Q2 | 517 | |
| 2024 Q3 | 709 | |
| 2024 Q4 | 515 | |
| 2025 Q1 | 609 | |
| 2025 Q2 | 1,141 | |
| 2025 Q3 | 1,047 | |
| 2025 Q4 | 1,118 | |
| 2026 Q1 | 1,459 | |
| 2026 Q2 | 696 | |
| 2026 Q3 | 1,155 |
Pricing and open source
% of tools submitted
| Year | Submitted | Free | Subscription | One-time | Links GitHub |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2,142 | 53% | 33% | 14% | 16.6% |
| 2025 | 3,915 | 45.3% | 39.7% | 15% | 11.5% |
| 2026* | 3,352 | 51.3% | 36.9% | 11.8% | 22.2% |
* January to September 2026.
Upvotes behind the weekly #1
How many upvotes the tool that won its launch week had. Useful to plan a launch.
| Year | Weeks | Median | Lowest | Highest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 53 | 34 | 11 | 339 |
| 2025 | 52 | 13.5 | 3 | 331 |
| 2026* | 38 | 21.5 | 4 | 76 |
Methodology
- Source: every tool submitted to DevHunt from January 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026 (9,409 tools), counted by submission date. Removed and moderation-blocked tools are excluded.
- Categories come from makers and DevHunt's classifier. Newer categories (AI Agents, MCP, AI Coding) were back-filled onto older tools, so their earlier years are counted the same way.
- Pricing is the model the maker picked: free, subscription or one-time. "Links GitHub" means the listing includes a repository URL.
- Weekly winners are the most upvoted tool of each launch week; votes need a GitHub or Google sign-in.
- DevHunt skews toward indie makers and developer tools, so this describes launches on DevHunt, not the whole market.
Cite this report
DevHunt, "State of Dev Tools 2026", October 2026, https://devhunt.org/reports/state-of-dev-tools-2026
Free to quote with a link. Explore the live numbers on DevHunt stats and the best tools of each month.