Tech Radar Q4 2026

Our quarterly opinion on the technologies we ship, trial, evaluate, and avoid. Updated each quarter. Used to keep our homepage stack and our service pages honest.

Published: 2026-04-27 · Last reviewed: 2026-04-27

Publication cadence

Tech Radar is a recurring authority asset, not a one-off page. Each edition records what moved, what stayed, and what I would or would not recommend to a client this quarter.

Next planned review: Q1 2027

  • · Adopt means I would use it on new client work today.
  • · Trial means the tool is useful, but the edge cases are still being watched.
  • · Assess means the idea is worth a small internal or R&D bet before client budget is committed.
  • · Hold means I avoid it for new builds, even when legacy maintenance still exists.

Adopt

Languages and Frameworks

Astro 5+

Default for content-heavy headless front. Zero-JS islands win on Core Web Vitals.

Languages and Frameworks

Next.js 15 (App Router + RSC)

Default for application-heavy headless front. Stable RSC after 18 months in production.

Platforms

Cloudflare Workers + Pages

EU jurisdiction, predictable cost, lowest TTFB across our European traffic.

Tools

TypeScript everywhere

Non-negotiable in 2026 senior teams.

Techniques

WCAG 2.2 AA from day one

Cheaper to build accessible than to retrofit.

Tools

Anthropic Model Context Protocol (MCP)

We ship MCP servers in production for WooCommerce catalogues and editorial workflows. Default integration layer for AI agents in 2026.

Techniques

NIS2 + DORA compliance baseline for WordPress

EU agencies serving regulated clients need an evidence trail by default in 2026. Annex II controls, ICT third-party register, incident reporting baked into ops.

Techniques

AVIF as the default image format

Replaces WebP in 2026. Better compression at the same visual quality, supported across modern browsers, AI-friendly to serve.

Trial

Languages and Frameworks

Anthropic Claude API for content ops

Production-ready for editorial automation. Still calibrating cost ceilings.

Platforms

Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)

Our own. Betting on agentic web standardisation in 2026-2027.

Tools

Spolszczony plugin

Solves polonization for plugin authors at scale. Open-sourcing in Q3 2026.

Platforms

OpenNext for Cloudflare

Path to running Next.js on Cloudflare Pages without Vercel lock-in. Cost and EU jurisdiction win, edge cases still being tracked.

Techniques

Headless WooCommerce on Astro

Zero-JS islands plus WooCommerce REST or UCP makes commerce front ends fast without rebuilding the whole stack. Watching cart and checkout edge cases.

Assess

Techniques

TYPO3 to WordPress migrations

DACH demand exists. Build a real reference before scaling.

Platforms

Cloudflare AI Workers

Promising for low-latency AI features at the edge. Pricing model still maturing.

Hold

Tools

Visual page builders (Elementor, Divi) for performance-critical sites

We rebuild instead.

Languages and Frameworks

jQuery in new builds

There is no excuse in 2026.

Techniques

PHP monolith for new e-commerce

WooCommerce monolith for SMB is fine. New e-commerce builds go composable.

Platforms

Vercel for production headless WordPress

Cost ceiling and US jurisdiction make it unsuitable as the default for European headless WordPress in 2026. Cloudflare wins on both.