Understand where enterprise budgets are flowing. Our analysis of 50,000+ companies reveals the fastest-growing AI categories and emerging investment patterns in 2026.
"LLM API costs have dropped 60% while usage volumes increased 8x, creating a net spending surge that shows no signs of slowing."DataLens Research, June 2026
Language model API spending now accounts for 42% of all AI budgets, up from 28% last year.
+14pp YoYAutonomous agent tooling grew 310% as companies deploy multi-step reasoning pipelines.
+310% YoYCustom model fine-tuning peaked in Q1 and is now declining as foundation models improve.
Trend Shift| Category | Avg. Monthly Spend | YoY Growth | Companies Using | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LLM APIs | $34,200 | +89% | 41,200 | Accelerating |
| Agent Frameworks | $18,600 | +310% | 28,900 | Emerging |
| Vector DBs | $12,400 | +45% | 33,100 | Growing |
| Fine-tuning | $9,800 | −8% | 14,600 | Declining |
| AI Infrastructure | $6,100 | +22% | 38,700 | Stable |