# Shadow IT Index: July 2025

Published July 1, 2025 by Torii Research (Torii). Updated October 7, 2026. Canonical URL: https://www.toriihq.com/research/reports/shadow-it-index-july-2025

Every app in the first Shadow IT Index scores the maximum of 100, so this edition ranks them by viral score.

## What the data says

Semantic Scholar, an AI tool for academic research, leads with a viral score of 8.0, ahead of Datawrapper, Eraser, Hunter, and TranscribeToText.AI, all at 6.1.

Productivity (3) and Developer Tools (2) are the only categories with more than one app, including Obsidian at #6 and CodeSandbox at #10.

Vendor compliance claims are thin: 3 of the 10 apps claim SOC 2, 3 claim ISO 27001, and 7 claim GDPR. Only Halp claims all three.

This Shadow IT Index offers a real-time view into how unsanctioned applications are spreading across modern SaaS stacks. The findings of this report are based on real-time usage data from the period of June 1 to 30, drawn from diverse organizations. This dataset uniquely captures actual adoption patterns, showing which tools employees are embracing outside official IT approval.

## At a glance

- Top 3: Semantic Scholar (#1), Datawrapper (#2), Eraser (#3).
- Highest Shadow IT scores: 10 apps score 100: Semantic Scholar, Datawrapper, Eraser, Hunter, TranscribeToText.AI, and 5 more.

## What kinds of apps

AI-native apps: 30% (3 of the 10 apps). Share of this edition's apps by theme (one theme per app; definitions at https://www.toriihq.com/research/themes):

- Work suites and collaboration: 30% (3 apps: Eraser, Halp, ClickShare)
- Developer and data tools: 20% (2 apps: Datawrapper, CodeSandbox)
- AI assistants: 10% (1 app: Semantic Scholar)
- AI coding and building: 10% (1 app: Firecrawl)
- AI notes and voice: 10% (1 app: TranscribeToText.AI)
- Personal productivity: 10% (1 app: Obsidian)
- Sales, marketing, and CX: 10% (1 app: Hunter)

## Rankings

Ranked by Shadow IT index, then viral score.

| Rank | App | Category | Theme | AI-native | Shadow IT index | Viral score | SOC 2 claimed | ISO 27001 claimed | GDPR claimed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semantic Scholar | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | 100 | 8 | No | No | No |
| 2 | Datawrapper | Analytics & BI | Developer and data tools | No | 100 | 6.1 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | Eraser | Project Management | Work suites and collaboration | No | 100 | 6.1 | No | No | No |
| 4 | Hunter | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 100 | 6.1 | No | No | Yes |
| 5 | TranscribeToText.AI | Productivity | AI notes and voice | Yes | 100 | 6.1 | No | No | Yes |
| 6 | Obsidian | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 100 | 5.7 | No | No | No |
| 7 | Firecrawl | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | 100 | 5.3 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 8 | Halp | IT & Security | Work suites and collaboration | No | 100 | 5.3 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 9 | ClickShare | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | 100 | 4.9 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 10 | CodeSandbox | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 100 | 4.9 | Yes | No | Yes |

## Bottom line

Shadow IT adoption in June highlighted a balance between niche tools like Eraser and Hunter, and broader-use platforms like Obsidian and Datawrapper. Organizations should strengthen visibility into unsanctioned usage, ensuring app discovery, inventory, and controls support both productivity and security.

## Method

Anonymized, aggregated usage data from companies across industries and sizes, reported as percentages, ranks, and scores. No single organization is identifiable. Methodology: https://www.toriihq.com/research/methodology

## Changelog

- 2026-10-07, Correction: Rewrote the takeaways from this edition's data. The original takeaways were raw analysis notes (evidence lines and statistics) rather than readable findings.
- 2026-10-07, Clarification: Standardized the data source description. Torii Research describes its data as anonymized, aggregated usage data, reported as percentages, ranks, and scores.
- 2026-10-07, Update: Moved from toriiresearch.com; title standardized. Torii Research now lives on toriihq.com. It was first published as "Shadow IT Index Report: July 2025" at toriiresearch.com/reports/shadow-it-index-report-july-2025.

## How to cite

Torii Research. (2025, July 1). Shadow IT Index: July 2025 [Data set]. Torii. https://www.toriihq.com/research/reports/shadow-it-index-july-2025

Data: https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/shadow-it-index-july-2025.csv and https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/shadow-it-index-july-2025.json