Malt Tech Trends 2026
Deep-dive Low-Code
Negative market share shifts for PHP -33% or Javascript -15% show how much companies changed their tech strategies over the past year, and freelancers are moving in the same direction, favoring Python (+19) and Typescript (+20%) to established technologies.
Workflow automation tools have exploded in demand with n8n, Make and Zapier leading the charge
The explosion of workflow automations tools with n8n leading the charge
In 2024, AI gave these tools their second act as they democratized LLM usage to non-experts. The past year has confirmed this trend with a +1390% in n8n projects on the platform. This explosive growth shows how much n8n has gone from a niche tool to a mainstream automation and integration platform in just one year, making it one of the fastest-growing technology categories on Malt and genAI integration remaining its main driver.
Website creation and CMS market are now challenged by AI-powered creation tools
WordPress remains the most popular tool but its demand has significantly declined (-11%), and its market share among the freelancer community is also shrinking by over 30%, while Webflow usage is growing rapidly (+39%). However, despite this growth, the volume of WordPress projects still vastly outweighs Webflow projects, with 16 times more being posted on Malt.
With the rise of vibe-coding and AI-powered creation tools, this market is challenged.
The n8n automation expert
Expertise split
Top 5 skills in supply
Explore Low-Code experts on Malt
Market expert
The real cost of custom middleware isn't the code. It's the cognitive load it creates for every engineer who inherits it. n8n externalizes that complexity, which means your senior engineers spend less time deciphering past decisions and more time making better ones. For a CTO, that's not a tooling choice. It's a team health decision.
The 2026 tech trends deep-dives
Key insights
How Europe’s top independent talents are shaping the tech landscape.
Key insights
How Europe’s top independent talents are shaping the tech landscape.
Our research is based on 2,5 million searches on the Malt platform across our community of 1 million freelancers, including 250,000 tech freelancers, and +90,000 companies.
Cloud & Infra
It is now AI-driven cloud evolution, with AI workloads cost exploding.
Cloud & Infra
From migration to AI-driven cost and architecture
Organizations are now architecting specifically for AI workloads rather than general-purpose migration. Generative AI on Cloud demand rose +96%, while LLM-specific infrastructure projects increased by +154%.AI workloads have also driven FinOps from a peripheral exercise into a core engineering mandate, with +72% in dedicated projects.
Data platform
The data landscape is moving from analytics usage to operational focus.
Data platform
Balancing between consolidation and innovation
The 'best-of-breed' era in Business Intelligence is ending. Organizations are stopping the multi-tool headache and consolidating around ecosystems like never before. Power BI now commands over one-third of all demand— 3.5 times its nearest competitor. Meanwhile, Tableau demand has decreased by 46%. It’s a massive shift toward Microsoft's integrated stack
Cybersecurity
With AI penetration, security is at the core of any tech project.
Cybersecurity
A convergence crisis, driven by AI, is reshaping the GRC landscape
The significant growth in GRC demand — +31% ISO-27001, +229% ISO 7816, coupled with slower growth in the number of freelancers, has led to strong market tension and a scarcity of talent in the cybersecurity domain.
Adding to this, the rise of AI is forcing a rapid evolution of both the discipline and the required profiles.
AI
Agentic maturity is the most significant signal in our 2026 data.
AI
The rise of agentic systems marks the shift from "AI that answers questions" to "AI that completes tasks." Autonomous systems now reason through workflows, use tools, and execute actions independently across multiple steps.