Dun & Bradstreet today published its 2026 Dunstech ranking, the annual list of the best high-tech and startup companies to work for in Israel, for the 12th year in a row. The ranking, considered one of the key benchmarks of the Israeli tech job market, covers 90 companies this year in three main rankings: large tech companies, startups with more than 100 employees and smaller startups. Unlike rankings based only on online reviews, Dun & Bradstreet combines satisfaction surveys of thousands of employees with data submitted by HR departments and in-depth organizational research, examining pay, benefits, promotion opportunities, culture and how employees are treated.
Nvidia Israel stays at the top of the large tech company ranking for the third year running. The chip giant, which has built one of its largest R&D centers outside the US in Israel, partly through the acquisitions of Mellanox and Run:ai, benefits from the huge AI boom, continuous hiring and compensation considered among the highest in the industry, including shares whose value has soared in recent years. According to Walla, Island, the Israeli cybersecurity company that developed a secure enterprise browser, is second, followed by Microsoft's Israel R&D center in third and Palo Alto Networks in fourth.
Among the companies posting notable gains is AppsFlyer, the Herzliya-based mobile marketing measurement company, which rose to 10th place from 12th last year. Imperva, the veteran data and application security company, listed this year as Thales Cyber Security Products-Imperva after its acquisition by French defense giant Thales, also climbed to 20th from 22nd. Imperva's rise is especially interesting, since companies acquired by large corporations often lose some of their appeal to employees after the deal.
WSC Sports, which develops AI that automatically produces sports highlights and short videos for leagues, teams and broadcasters worldwide, is ranked 14th this year. The Israeli company, whose customers include some of the world's biggest sports leagues, is a clear example of a company that built its product around AI before it became a trend, and it keeps a high standing with employees even in a year when it went through a reorganization.
The dramatic fall of the year belongs to monday.com, which dropped 32 places, from third last year to 35th. The drop follows the company's layoff of about 20% of its staff in July as part of a shift to an AI-based work platform. Taboola and Natural Intelligence also fell, to 30th and 32nd. The ranking shows that layoffs hurt not only those who leave but also the sense of security, commitment and trust of those who stay.
In the ranking of startups with more than 100 employees, Navina, which develops AI that helps doctors analyze a patient's medical record, rose from fourth last year to first, pushing NoTraffic, last year's leader, to second. According to reports, Viz.ai, Fetcherr and Sweet Security entered the top five for the first time this year, all AI-based companies. Another first this year is a separate ranking of the companies leading in adopting and embedding AI in employees' daily work.
Yael Belgrai Cohen, head of high-tech at Dun & Bradstreet, who leads the ranking, stresses the importance of human capital. "The growth of Israeli high-tech depends on the ability to develop the next generation of employees and managers here," she said. In previous years Belgrai Cohen explained that the ranking relies not only on questionnaires submitted by companies but also on questionnaires filled out by employees themselves, so it reflects the real experience of working at a company rather than only what the company presents outwardly.
The overall picture reflects the split Israeli tech has gone through in the past year. Chip, infrastructure and AI companies, led by Nvidia, are growing, hiring and offering employees security and high pay, while software companies forced to lay off because of AI and the strong shekel are paying a price in their reputation as employers too. For anyone looking for a tech job in 2026, the ranking is an important compass: it shows not only where pay is good, but where employees feel they have a future. The full list is on the Dun's 100 site.
