Adoption Index: January 2026
AI is now the primary driver of shadow IT adoption
Updated October 7, 2026 · Changelog
#1Zoom holds the top spot
+5ChatGPT, the biggest climberSource: Torii Research, anonymized and aggregated usage data. Published January 2, 2026. Summary figures computed from the 30 apps in this report.
What kinds of apps
Every edition, by theme →Share of the 30 apps in this edition, by theme. Each app has one theme, assigned by Torii Research from what the product does; AI marks the AI themes. Select a theme to filter the list below. How themes work.
Top of the index
Ranked by org-level adoption. Rank change compares with the previous published edition.
All 30 apps
Operations
Zoom
Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging into one…
About Zoom
Zoom unifies cloud video conferencing, simple online meetings, and group messaging into one easy-to-use platform. Its solution offers the best video, audio and screen-sharing experience across Windows PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Zoom Rooms conference room system, and H.323/SIP room systems.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Slack
Slack is a cloud-based team collaboration tool. Slack brings all your communication together in…
About Slack
Slack is a cloud-based team collaboration tool. Slack brings all your communication together in one place. It's real-time messaging, archiving and search for modern teams.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Project Management
Atlassian
Atlassian is an enterprise software company that develops products for software developers,…
About Atlassian
Atlassian is an enterprise software company that develops products for software developers, project managers, and content management. It is best known for its issue tracking application, Jira, and its team collaboration and wiki product, Confluence.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Productivity
ChatGPT
ChatGPT helps you get answers, find inspiration and be more productive. It is free to use and…
About ChatGPT
ChatGPT helps you get answers, find inspiration and be more productive. It is free to use and easy to try. Just ask and ChatGPT can help with writing, learning, brainstorming and more.
Theme: AI assistants · AI-native
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
IT & Security
Google Workspace (G Suite)
Google Workspace's (formerly G Suite) secure collaboration and productivity apps for businesses…
About Google Workspace (G Suite)
Google Workspace's (formerly G Suite) secure collaboration and productivity apps for businesses of all sizes. Includes Gmail, Drive, Meet and more.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Microsoft 365
Microsoft office 365 is a group of software and services subscriptions that provides…
About Microsoft 365
Microsoft office 365 is a group of software and services subscriptions that provides productivity software and related services to subscribers. Office 365 offers plans providing e-mail and social networking services through hosted versions of Exchange Server, Skype for Business Server, SharePoint and Office Online, integration with Yammer, as well as access to the Microsoft Office software.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Developer Tools
GitHub
GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service. It offers all of the distributed version…
About GitHub
GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service. It offers all of the distributed version control and source code management (SCM) functionality of Git as well as adding its own features. It provides access control and several collaboration features such as bug tracking, feature requests, task management, and wikis for every project.
Theme: Developer and data tools
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Design
Figma
Figma is an online tool created specifically for interface design. Built entirely in the…
About Figma
Figma is an online tool created specifically for interface design. Built entirely in the browser, Figma enables the entire team’s design process to happen in one online tool.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
IT & Security
Google Chrome
Google Chrome, offered by Google, is a widely used web browser known for its speed, simplicity,…
About Google Chrome
Google Chrome, offered by Google, is a widely used web browser known for its speed, simplicity, and efficiency. It supports many extensions, providing customizable user experiences, and is designed for secure browsing with features like automatic updates and phishing protection.
Theme: Browsers and search
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Productivity
OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that conducts research and implements machine…
About OpenAI
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that conducts research and implements machine learning, known for creating powerful models like GPT-3 and GPT-4, which generate human-like text and are used in various applications.
Theme: AI assistants · AI-native
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Design
Adobe
Adobe helps customers create highly compelling content, deliver it across diverse media and…
About Adobe
Adobe helps customers create highly compelling content, deliver it across diverse media and devices, and then optimize it through systematic targeting and measurement. Adobe offers complete spectrum of capabilities, providing a critical competitive edge in today's ever-changing media landscape.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Productivity
Claude AI
Claude is a next-generation AI assistant capable of a wide variety of conversational and…
About Claude AI
Claude is a next-generation AI assistant capable of a wide variety of conversational and text-processing tasks while maintaining a high degree of reliability and predictability.
Theme: AI assistants · AI-native
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Sales & Marketing
Salesforce
Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides a…
About Salesforce
Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform that provides a comprehensive suite of tools for sales, customer service, marketing automation, analytics, and application development. It helps businesses streamline processes, improve customer interactions, and drive growth.
Theme: Sales, marketing, and CX
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
IT & Security
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is the chat-based workspace in Office 365 that integrates all the people,…
About Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is the chat-based workspace in Office 365 that integrates all the people, content, and tools your team needs to be more engaged and effective
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Project Management
Jira
JIRA is a proprietary issue tracking tool developed by Atlassian. It is used for bug tracking,…
About Jira
JIRA is a proprietary issue tracking tool developed by Atlassian. It is used for bug tracking, issue tracking, and project management.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Design
Canva
Canva makes graphic design amazingly simple for everyone, by bringing together a drag-and-drop…
About Canva
Canva makes graphic design amazingly simple for everyone, by bringing together a drag-and-drop design tool with a library of more than 1 million stock photographs, graphic elements and fonts. Users can also choose from hundreds of professional templates to create social media graphics, presentations, flyers, posters, invitations and so much more.
Theme: Design and video
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Developer Tools
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, database…
About Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a secure cloud services platform, offering compute power, database storage, content delivery and other functionality to help businesses scale and grow. It offers reliable, scalable, and inexpensive cloud computing services.
Theme: Developer and data tools
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
OneDrive
OneDrive is a Microsoft web-based file hosting and sharing software.
About OneDrive
OneDrive is a Microsoft web-based file hosting and sharing software.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Developer Tools
Postman
Postman is the complete toolchain for API developers. Postman makes working with APIs faster…
About Postman
Postman is the complete toolchain for API developers. Postman makes working with APIs faster and easier by supporting developers at every stage of their workflow, and is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux and Chrome users
Theme: Developer and data tools
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet software program, data visualization and analysis tool.
About Microsoft Excel
Spreadsheet software program, data visualization and analysis tool.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Productivity
Microsoft Outlook
Outlook’s email and calendar tools help you communicate, stay on top of what matters, and get…
About Microsoft Outlook
Outlook’s email and calendar tools help you communicate, stay on top of what matters, and get things done.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Microsoft PowerPoint
Creating slideshow presentations.
About Microsoft PowerPoint
Creating slideshow presentations.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Project Management
Notion
Notion is a document editor that lets you nest pages inside each other, like an infinite…
About Notion
Notion is a document editor that lets you nest pages inside each other, like an infinite knowledge base. Notion is a new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It's a unified and collaborative workspace for you and your team.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Microsoft Word
Word processing and document creation.
About Microsoft Word
Word processing and document creation.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Sales & Marketing
LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via…
About LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a business and employment-oriented social networking service that operates via websites. It is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs.
Theme: Sales, marketing, and CX
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
DocuSign
DocuSign provides electronic signature technology and Digital Transaction Management services…
About DocuSign
DocuSign provides electronic signature technology and Digital Transaction Management services for facilitating electronic exchanges of contracts and signed documents. DocuSign’s features include authentication services, user identity management and workflow automation.
Theme: Ops, HR, and finance
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Operations
Loom
Loom is a video communication platform helping individuals and teams unlock the power of video…
About Loom
Loom is a video communication platform helping individuals and teams unlock the power of video in the workplace.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, GDPR
Productivity
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a comprehensive document management solution belonging to the software…
About Adobe Acrobat
Adobe Acrobat is a comprehensive document management solution belonging to the software industry, offering a robust platform for creating, editing, and securely sharing PDFs, thereby enhancing collaboration and streamlining workflows across various sectors.
Theme: Personal productivity
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Developer Tools
Docker Hub
Docker Hub is a cloud-based registry service which allows you to link to code repositories,…
About Docker Hub
Docker Hub is a cloud-based registry service which allows you to link to code repositories, build your images and test them, stores manually pushed images, and links to Docker Cloud so you can deploy images to your hosts.
Theme: Developer and data tools
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Productivity
Miro
Team collaboration tool for distributed teams.
About Miro
Team collaboration tool for distributed teams.
Theme: Work suites and collaboration
Vendor claims: SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR
Source: Torii Research, anonymized and aggregated usage data. Published January 2, 2026. Summary figures computed from the 30 apps in this report.
What the data says
This report indicates a massive influx of AI-native tools, with tags like `LLM`, `Artificial Intelligence`, and `AI Development` becoming dominant. `OpenAI` saw the most explosive growth with an unprecedented 33 spot jump to rank 10, likely fueled by new releases. This platform-side surge, alongside `ChatGPT (+4)` moving into the top 5 for the first time, confirms a broad employee search for greater productivity leverage.
The data
Show the full data table (30 rows)
| Rank | App | Category | Theme | AI-native | Rank change | Shadow IT index | SOC 2 claimed | ISO 27001 claimed | GDPR claimed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zoom | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | Same | 18 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | Slack | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | +1 | 16 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | Atlassian | Project Management | Work suites and collaboration | No | +1 | 25 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 4 | ChatGPT | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | +5 | 32 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | Google Workspace (G Suite) | IT & Security | Work suites and collaboration | No | -3 | 20 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 6 | Microsoft 365 | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | -1 | 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 7 | GitHub | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | -1 | 11 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8 | Figma | Design | Design and video | No | -1 | 23 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9 | Google Chrome | IT & Security | Browsers and search | No | -1 | 39 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10 | OpenAI | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | New | 36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 11 | Adobe | Design | Design and video | No | -1 | 23 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 12 | Claude AI | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | +3 | 46 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 13 | Salesforce | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | -2 | 5 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 14 | Microsoft Teams | IT & Security | Work suites and collaboration | No | -1 | 29 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 15 | Jira | Project Management | Work suites and collaboration | No | +1 | 9 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 16 | Canva | Design | Design and video | No | -4 | 45 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 17 | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | Same | 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 18 | OneDrive | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | -4 | 37 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 19 | Postman | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | Same | 39 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 20 | Microsoft Excel | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | Same | 18 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 21 | Microsoft Outlook | Productivity | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 25 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 22 | Microsoft PowerPoint | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 14 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 23 | Notion | Project Management | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 43 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 24 | Microsoft Word | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 18 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 25 | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | New | 30 | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 26 | DocuSign | Operations | Ops, HR, and finance | No | New | 9 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 27 | Loom | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 45 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 28 | Adobe Acrobat | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | New | 37 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 29 | Docker Hub | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | -11 | 36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 30 | Miro | Productivity | Work suites and collaboration | No | New | 36 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Free to quote with attribution to Torii Research and a link to this page. A plain-text version is at adoption-index-january-2026.md.
How to read this index
- Rank
- Position by org-level adoption in this edition.
- Rank change
- Places gained or lost versus the previous published edition. New marks an app that was not in that edition.
- Shadow IT index
- How often the app is left unsanctioned, 0 to 100. Context for how governed each staple is.
Definitions in the glossary; formulas and limitations on the Methodology page.
Changelog
- CorrectionRecalculated rank changes against December 2025.
- UpdateMoved from toriiresearch.com; title standardized.
