After years of budget scrutiny, stack consolidation, and cautious AI experimentation, marketing technology is entering a new phase. According to Stensul’s newly released 2026 MarTech Outlook, next year will mark both a budget rebound and a structural turning point in how organizations deploy AI.

The headline finding is hard to miss: 79% of organizations expect their MarTech budgets to increase in 2026. But the more consequential shift is where that money is going—and how marketing teams plan to use it.

Rather than treating AI as an add-on or experimental layer, companies are increasingly positioning it as a core MarTech investment, alongside workflow modernization and internal capability building. In short, AI is moving from pilot projects to production infrastructure.

From Experimentation to Execution

For the past two years, AI in marketing has largely lived in proofs of concept, vendor demos, and isolated productivity gains. Stensul’s research suggests that era is ending.

“AI has moved beyond experimentation and into the center of the MarTech roadmap,” said Rachel Meranus, Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer at Stensul. “What stands out in this research is that companies aren’t just investing in tools—they’re investing in the training and workflows required to make AI work day-to-day.”

That distinction matters. Many early AI deployments failed to scale not because the technology was lacking, but because teams lacked the processes, skills, and governance to integrate AI into real campaigns. The 2026 outlook suggests marketers have learned that lesson.

Budgets Are Back—but With New Rules

The return of MarTech budget growth doesn’t signal a return to unchecked spending. Instead, investment decisions are becoming more pragmatic and outcome-driven.

Key findings from the report include:

• 79% of organizations expect MarTech budget increases in 2026

• AI-powered tools rank as the top planned MarTech investment

• 57% plan to invest in AI reskilling for internal teams

• 31% expect to reduce spending on external agencies for campaign execution

The takeaway: growth is back, but it’s being channeled toward capability, not excess.

The Quiet Shift Away From Agency Dependence

One of the more telling signals in the research is the move away from outsourced campaign execution. Nearly a third of respondents plan to reduce agency spend in this area, reflecting a broader operating-model shift already underway in many marketing organizations.

Rather than relying on agencies for speed or scale, teams are betting that AI-enabled in-house execution can deliver both—at lower cost and with greater control.

This doesn’t mean agencies are disappearing. Instead, their role is narrowing toward strategy, specialized expertise, and transformation support, while day-to-day execution increasingly lives inside the organization.

AI is the catalyst here. With the right workflows and training, internal teams can now execute tasks that once required external support—email production, personalization, testing, optimization—faster and more consistently.

Enablement Becomes the New Differentiator

What separates leaders from laggards in 2026 won’t be access to AI tools—most organizations will have those. The differentiator will be enablement.

Stensul’s data shows that companies are prioritizing:

• Training teams to use AI responsibly and effectively

• Redesigning workflows to embed AI into daily execution

• Reducing friction between strategy, production, and launch

This focus reflects a maturing view of MarTech. Tools alone don’t create advantage; operational fluency does.

Organizations that fail to reskill their teams risk ending up with powerful platforms that deliver marginal returns. Those that invest in people and process alongside technology are positioning themselves to move faster, test more, and adapt continuously.

AI as Infrastructure, Not a Feature

Another implication of the research is how marketers now conceptualize AI. Rather than viewing it as a discrete category—like email or analytics—AI is increasingly treated as horizontal infrastructure that touches every part of the stack.

That has downstream effects on vendor selection, integration strategy, and governance. It also raises the bar for MarTech leaders, who now need to think less like tool buyers and more like system architects.

In that sense, 2026 may be remembered as the year MarTech stopped being about accumulation and started being about orchestration.

What This Means for MarTech Vendors

For MarTech providers, the findings come with both opportunity and warning.

On one hand, rising budgets and AI-first priorities create tailwinds. On the other, buyers are becoming more discerning. Vendors that sell AI without clear enablement paths—or that add AI features without workflow integration—may struggle to justify spend.

The winners will be platforms that help teams execute better, not just experiment faster.

About the Research

The Stensul 2026 MarTech Outlook is based on a quantitative survey of 321 economic buyers of marketing technology solutions, with respondents in the U.S. (n=269) and U.K. (n=52). The study examines budget expectations, investment priorities, AI adoption plans, and shifts in execution models heading into 2026.

The full report is available at Stensul’s website.

The Bottom Line

After years of recalibration, MarTech is entering a more disciplined—but more ambitious—growth phase. Budgets are rising, but expectations are rising faster. AI is no longer a side project, and in-house teams are reclaiming execution with the help of smarter workflows and better training.

If 2024 was about AI curiosity and 2025 was about AI caution, 2026 looks set to be the year AI actually gets to work.

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