Executive Summary
About This Constellation ShortList
2025 was the year where AI continued its transformation fo all aspects of software devlopment, one key focus area remains code generation and with that developers have been affected on how to write, review and organize code. With the progress in 2025, we have seen a major step forward towards ASO (see below), with more to come in 2026. 2026 will see increased focus on the managing of software agents, more focused on the whole SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) – effectively transforming the role of a developer from code writer, over editor to manager of coding machines (powered by AI).
As a result “developer velocity” is up in 2025 and more will happen in 2026 with more tools and techniques utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to increase developer productivity. The expectation is that AI powered IDEs will increase developer productivity by 4-10x. GenAI helps to go beyond the pure developer function on the SDLC with genAI understanding test protocols, software deficits and autonomously is able to fix and the put them even into a code repository for deployment.
These new, emerging capabilities are vital to making developers more productive and are evolving quickly—from early starts of code line completion over larger constructs on code review, to code asset discovery, all the way to complete code completion. As such, these innovations are a key step for enterprises to move to automated software operations (ASO), which includes ultimately the autonomous creation of software by software.
For more on the concept of ASO, see: Holger Mueller, “The Future of DevOps Is Automated Software Operations,” Constellation Research, June 21, 2019. https://www.constellationr.com/research/ future-devops-automated-software-operations
Threshold Criteria
Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:
The ability to generate working code
- More than five AI/ML-powered code productivity capabilities bult in the IDE
- A roadmap of how AI/ML will further improve the developer experience
- Capabilities adjacen to coding – either ‘left’ to requirements or ‘right’ to QA, documentation and training etc.
- Autonomous capabilities available / coming in 2026 and beyond
- Support of a variety of LLM models for code generation
- Tangible results and examples of how these features increase developer velocity
- Support of popular programming languages
- Easy uptake and education on new features
- Over 100K developers using the new AI capabilities
- Over 200K developers have access to the AI capabilities
The Constellation ShortList
Constellation evaluates more than 30 solutions categorized in this market. The Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.
- AMAZON Q DEVELOPER
- CURSOR
- GITHUB COPILOT
- GOOGLE ANTIGRAVITY & GEMINI CODE ASSIST
- JETBRAINS AI ASSISTANT
- MICROSOFT GITHUB COPILOT
- REPLIT
- TABNINE
- WINDSURF (BY CODELIUM)
Frequency of Evaluation
Each Constellation ShortList is updated at least once per year. Updates may occur after six months if deemed necessary.
Evaluation Services
Constellation clients can work with the analyst and the research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.