# Shadow IT Index: March 2026

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

OpenAI Codex leads March's shadow IT by a wide margin, as AI tools take the top two spots.

## What the data says

OpenAI Codex (33% adoption) tops the index by a wide margin, more than double the next app, ChatBox AI (16% adoption). Both are AI tools, and AI Platform is the most common tag in the list, on 8 apps.

Productivity (13) and Developer Tools (10) are the largest categories, followed by Sales & Marketing (8) and Human Resource (6). Developer tools such as Travis CI and DX Insights each reach 9% adoption.

Shadow risk runs high across the list: the median Shadow IT index is 78.5, 9 of the 50 apps score 90 or higher, and SEOGets and Opal reach the maximum of 100.

## At a glance

- Top 3: OpenAI Codex (33% adoption), ChatBox AI (16% adoption), Avenue (15% adoption).
- Highest Shadow IT scores: SEOGets (100), Opal (100), Continue.dev (94).
- Biggest moves since last edition: Genspark, down 16 to #23; Netlify, down 15 to #29; Kimi, down 14 to #16.

## What kinds of apps

AI-native apps: 28% (14 of the 50 apps). Share of this edition's apps by theme (one theme per app; definitions at https://www.toriihq.com/research/themes):

- Developer and data tools: 20% (10 apps: Travis CI, DX Insights, Airplane.dev, ARInsights, 21st.dev, Fern, Powerdrill, Netlify, Microsoft Graph, tweakcn)
- Sales, marketing, and CX: 16% (8 apps: MNTN, Crystal, Buffer, Arena, SEOGets, Rocketreach, Feedly, Opal)
- Ops, HR, and finance: 12% (6 apps: Avenue, Sterling, SHI, Fountain, Cornerstone OnDemand, SignNow)
- Personal productivity: 10% (5 apps: Pocket, Harvest, Doodle, Notion Mail, Thunderbird)
- Work suites and collaboration: 8% (4 apps: Workplace, Butter.us, Lucid, GoTo)
- AI coding and building: 6% (3 apps: OpenAI Codex, Continue.dev, MiniMax.io)
- AI content and media: 6% (3 apps: Pencil, Imagine art, Higgsfield)
- Personal and consumer apps: 6% (3 apps: Pinterest, Quizlet, Scribd)
- AI assistants: 4% (2 apps: ChatBox AI, Kimi)
- AI agents: 4% (2 apps: Clara, Genspark)
- Design and video: 4% (2 apps: Clipchamp, Picsart)
- AI notes and voice: 2% (1 app: Fellow)
- Browsers and search: 2% (1 app: Vivaldi)

## Rankings

Ranked by adoption.

| Rank | App | Category | Theme | AI-native | Adoption (%) | Shadow IT index | SOC 2 claimed | ISO 27001 claimed | GDPR claimed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI Codex | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | 33 | 89 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | ChatBox AI | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | 16 | 83 | No | No | No |
| 3 | Avenue | Operations | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 15 | 91 | No | No | No |
| 4 | MNTN | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 14 | 78 | No | No | Yes |
| 5 | Travis CI | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 9 | 69 | No | No | Yes |
| 6 | DX Insights | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 9 | 69 | Yes | No | No |
| 7 | Workplace | IT & Security | Work suites and collaboration | No | 9 | 71 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 8 | Sterling | Human Resource | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 8 | 75 | Yes | No | No |
| 9 | Airplane.dev | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 7 | 82 | No | No | No |
| 10 | ARInsights | Analytics & BI | Developer and data tools | No | 7 | 81 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 11 | Crystal | Human Resource | Sales, marketing, and CX | Yes | 6 | 72 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 12 | SHI | Operations | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 6 | 68 | No | No | No |
| 13 | Fountain | Human Resource | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 6 | 77 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 14 | Pocket | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 6 | 74 | No | No | No |
| 15 | Clara | Productivity | AI agents | Yes | 5 | 77 | No | No | No |
| 16 | Kimi | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | 5 | 86 | No | No | No |
| 17 | 21st.dev | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 5 | 84 | No | No | No |
| 18 | Continue.dev | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | 5 | 94 | No | No | No |
| 19 | Butter.us | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | 5 | 76 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 20 | Harvest | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 5 | 65 | No | No | No |
| 21 | Pencil | Sales & Marketing | AI content and media | Yes | 4 | 85 | No | No | Yes |
| 22 | Buffer | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 4 | 69 | No | No | Yes |
| 23 | Genspark | Productivity | AI agents | Yes | 4 | 82 | No | No | No |
| 24 | Lucid | Productivity | Work suites and collaboration | No | 4 | 62 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 25 | Fern | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 4 | 78 | No | No | No |
| 26 | Arena | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 4 | 78 | No | No | No |
| 27 | Doodle | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 4 | 73 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 28 | Powerdrill | Analytics & BI | Developer and data tools | Yes | 4 | 81 | No | Yes | No |
| 29 | Netlify | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 4 | 68 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 30 | Cornerstone OnDemand | Human Resource | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 4 | 72 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 31 | Clipchamp | Productivity | Design and video | No | 4 | 76 | No | No | No |
| 32 | SEOGets | Analytics & BI | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 3 | 100 | No | No | No |
| 33 | Pinterest | Sales & Marketing | Personal and consumer apps | No | 3 | 81 | No | No | Yes |
| 34 | Rocketreach | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 3 | 79 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 35 | Microsoft Graph | Developer Tools | Developer and data tools | No | 3 | 73 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 36 | Notion Mail | Productivity | Personal productivity | Yes | 3 | 74 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 37 | tweakcn | Design | Developer and data tools | No | 3 | 85 | No | No | No |
| 38 | GoTo | Operations | Work suites and collaboration | No | 3 | 70 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 39 | Feedly | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 3 | 64 | No | Yes | Yes |
| 40 | Thunderbird | Productivity | Personal productivity | No | 3 | 78 | No | No | Yes |
| 41 | Opal | Sales & Marketing | Sales, marketing, and CX | No | 4 | 100 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 42 | Quizlet | Human Resource | Personal and consumer apps | No | 4 | 93 | No | No | No |
| 43 | MiniMax.io | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | 4 | 93 | No | No | Yes |
| 44 | Scribd | Human Resource | Personal and consumer apps | No | 4 | 93 | No | No | No |
| 45 | Fellow | Productivity | AI notes and voice | Yes | 4 | 93 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 46 | Picsart | Design | Design and video | No | 4 | 93 | No | No | No |
| 47 | SignNow | Operations | Ops, HR, and finance | No | 4 | 87 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 48 | Vivaldi | Productivity | Browsers and search | No | 4 | 87 | No | No | Yes |
| 49 | Imagine art | Design | AI content and media | Yes | 4 | 87 | No | No | Yes |
| 50 | Higgsfield | Design | AI content and media | Yes | 4 | 81 | No | No | Yes |

## 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 text repeated the February 2026 edition, so its apps and figures did not match the table on this page.
- 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: March 26" at toriiresearch.com/reports/shadow-it-index-report-march-26.

## How to cite

Torii Research. (2026, March 1). Shadow IT Index: March 2026 [Data set]. Torii. https://www.toriihq.com/research/reports/shadow-it-index-march-2026

Data: https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/shadow-it-index-march-2026.csv and https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/shadow-it-index-march-2026.json