As the Q1 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the software development industry, including GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB) and its peers.

As legendary VC investor Marc Andreessen says, "Software is eating the world", and it touches virtually every industry. That drives increasing demand for tools helping software developers do their jobs, whether it be monitoring critical cloud infrastructure, integrating audio and video functionality, or ensuring smooth content streaming.

The 12 software development stocks we track reported a strong Q1. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 2.9% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 1.4% above.

Luckily, software development stocks have performed well with share prices up 18.5% on average since the latest earnings results.

GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB)

With its all-remote workforce pioneering a new approach to software development, GitLab (NASDAQ: GTLB) provides a single-application DevSecOps platform that helps development, operations, and security teams collaborate to build, secure, and deploy software faster.

GitLab reported revenues of $264.2 million, up 23.1% year on year. This print exceeded analysts’ expectations by 3.9%. Despite the top-line beat, it was still a slower quarter for the company with EPS guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly and a significant miss of analysts’ billings estimates.

“The agentic era is creating structural tailwinds for GitLab, and Q1 showed it clearly with accelerating platform activity and promising traction from GitLab Duo Agent Platform,” said Bill Staples, GitLab chief executive officer.

The market seems disappointed with the results as the stock is down 16.7% since reporting and currently trades at $26.50.

Is now the time to buy GitLab? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Best Q1: Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG)

Named after a database the founders had to painstakingly look after at their previous company, Datadog (NASDAQ: DDOG) provides a software platform that helps organizations monitor and secure their cloud applications, infrastructure, and services.

Datadog reported revenues of $1.01 billion, up 32.2% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 4.9%. The business had an exceptional quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ annual recurring revenue estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates.

Datadog pulled off the biggest analyst estimate beat, highest guidance raise, and highest full-year guidance raise among its peers. The company added 240 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 4,550. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 55% since reporting. It currently trades at $222.73.

Is now the time to buy Datadog? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Slowest Q1: Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM)

With a massive distributed network spanning 4,100+ points of presence in nearly 130 countries, Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) provides a global distributed cloud platform that helps businesses deliver, secure, and optimize their digital experiences online.

Akamai reported revenues of $1.07 billion, up 5.8% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a softer quarter as it posted EPS guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations and full-year EPS guidance slightly missing analysts’ expectations.

Akamai delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest guidance update in the group. Interestingly, the stock is up 7.1% since the results and currently trades at $124.99.

Read our full analysis of Akamai’s results here.

JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG)

Named after the amphibian that continuously evolves from egg to tadpole to adult, JFrog (NASDAQ: FROG) provides a platform that helps organizations securely create, store, manage, and distribute software packages across any system.

JFrog reported revenues of $154 million, up 25.8% year on year. This number beat analysts’ expectations by 4.4%. It was a very strong quarter as it also recorded an impressive beat of analysts’ billings estimates and EPS guidance for next quarter exceeding analysts’ expectations.

The company added 57 enterprise customers paying more than $100,000 annually to reach a total of 1,225. The stock is up 47.5% since reporting and currently trades at $84.13.

Read our full, actionable report on JFrog here, it’s free.

F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV)

Originally named after the F5 tornado, the most powerful on the meteorological scale, F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides security and delivery solutions that protect applications across cloud, data center, and edge environments for large organizations.

F5 reported revenues of $811.7 million, up 11% year on year. This result surpassed analysts’ expectations by 3.7%. Overall, it was an exceptional quarter as it also put up a solid beat of analysts’ billings estimates and full-year EPS guidance exceeding analysts’ expectations.

The stock is up 25.4% since reporting and currently trades at $381.06.

Read our full, actionable report on F5 here, it’s free.

Market Update

Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand-wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?

These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.

Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 6 Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.