2026 Observability Predictions - Part 1

The Holiday Season means it is time for APMdigest's annual list of predictions, covering Observability and other IT performance topics. Industry experts — from analysts and consultants to the top vendors — offer thoughtful, insightful, and often controversial predictions on how Observability, AIOps, APM and related technologies will evolve and impact business in 2026.

APMdigest covers a variety of related technologies related to IT performance, and this year's predictions series offers an equally broad scope of topics. In addition to Observability and APM, the related technologies covered include AIOps, OpenTelemetry, DEX and User Experience Management, NetOps and more.

Some of these predictions may come true in the next 12 months, while others may be just as valid but take several years to be realized. Still others may be wishful thinking or unbased fears. But taken collectively, this list of predictions offers a timely and detailed snapshot of what the IT industry and the Observability market is thinking about and planning, expecting and hoping for 2026.

The predictions will be posted over the next two weeks, with separate lists of predictions for NetOps, Cloud, DataOps and AI to follow after the holidays. Meanwhile, DEVOPSdigest is posting a series of DevOps and development predictions for 2026.

A forecast by the top minds in Observability today, including Mezmo CEO, Tucker Callaway's prediction on Agent-First Observability:

"The next wave of observability, or Observability 3.0, will be an AI-first experience, shifting the primary interface from complex dashboards to agent-driven analysis embedded directly within tools and workflows. Investigation and analysis will become the default for these agents, which will be supplied with data optimized for LLMs. This new paradigm is fueled by the continuous supply of optimized and refined streams of data." - Tucker Callaway

Read the full article to see predictions from other leaders in the space.

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