Georgia’s ICT workforce and 2026 earnings
Geostat’s information-and-communication series records GEL 7.6 billion of turnover and about 53,600 people employed in 2025. For the second quarter of 2026, it reports approximately 53,000 people employed and average monthly remuneration of GEL 4,463.9. The classification includes more than software development, so these are sector benchmarks, rather than a count of programmers or their average salary. [1]
| Indicator | 2025 | Second quarter 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | GEL 7.6 billion | GEL 2.3 billion |
| People employed | 53,600 | 53,000 |
| Average monthly remuneration | GEL 4,097.1 | GEL 4,463.9 |
The annual and quarterly columns cover different reporting periods. The remuneration measure is especially useful for correcting older descriptions of Georgia as a uniformly cheap source of technical labour. A development business competes for experienced engineers, team leaders and product staff; the broader Georgian wage average is a poor substitute for those occupations.
International software companies in Tbilisi
EPAM maintains a dedicated Georgia careers presence, with local recruitment connected to its international software-engineering business. [2] Its presence places Georgian employers within an international market for engineering talent. For recruiters, training providers and professional-service firms, the development company itself is a local business customer even when its software users are overseas.
Lineate provides a second documented example. Enterprise Georgia’s November 2022 announcement identifies the American software company as the first beneficiary of its FDI grant, following the establishment of a Georgian regional office that year. The release describes investment and employment commitments. Those commitments belong to the 2022 agreement; they should not be repeated as a current headcount or proof that a new applicant will receive the same support. [3]
These examples describe a different market from selling software licences to Georgian customers. An export delivery team may earn most of its revenue abroad while spending locally on people, offices, recruitment and professional services. For a Georgian supplier, that creates customers for specialist support even when the end user of the software is elsewhere. For a prospective employer, it means that local hiring conditions are influenced by international projects as well as domestic demand.
GITA’s 2026 startup accelerator
GITA’s Innovative Startup Acceleration Program began in January 2026. Its published programme names Plug and Play, Startupbootcamp, 500 Global and Founder Institute. The one-year cycle comprises a two-month opening phase, four months of product development and six months of further support. GITA describes grants of GEL 50,000 and GEL 150,000 at the later stages. The page was marked booking closed when reviewed; the programme’s existence is not an open invitation or an automatic grant entitlement. [4]
A startup selling its own product has a different commercial profile from a software contractor billing a customer’s project. Product revenue can take longer to arrive, while expenditure continues on engineering, customer acquisition and support. The Georgian programme addresses several of these stages: product development, commercial preparation and access to international markets. This gives founders a named local institution and programme to follow when planning a new product business.
Software for Georgian banks, retailers and hotels
The local business context is visible across the rest of the Georgian economy. Banks and payment providers connect merchants with digital payments; retailers operate stock, sales and customer systems; logistics businesses handle consignments and warehouse information. These relationships make integration, data migration and maintenance commercially different from selling a standalone application.
For example, a retail system may have to exchange product records with a distributor, reconcile online orders with physical stock and pass payment information to an acquiring bank. A hotel system has another combination of reservations, distribution channels and guest communication. The Georgian commercial research therefore follows the customer’s industry: the products already in use, the local integration partner and the work involved in replacing or connecting them.
AI, cybersecurity and connected devices
The Georgian Development Fund explicitly includes AI, cybersecurity, blockchain and the Internet of Things among its technology interests. [5] These are investment priorities. The public ICT series is broader, so a separate market-size estimate for each would require additional evidence about actual purchases and providers.
There is nevertheless a practical distinction for buyers. A company developing an AI product needs access to the relevant data and a customer willing to use the result. A cybersecurity provider may instead sell ongoing monitoring, incident response or work tied to a customer’s compliance requirements. Those activities can sit within one technology sector while attracting different staff, contracts and purchasers. The useful market information is the identity of those buyers and their actual requirements, not a large number borrowed from the global technology industry.
IT tax status and employment in 2026
Article 23 of the Georgian Tax Code provides for International Company status, with specified tax treatment for qualifying companies. Status is granted, rather than acquired merely by registering an IT company or invoicing a foreign client. The permitted activity and the company’s circumstances matter. [6] Our investor reference separates this regime from free industrial zones, grants and ordinary operating costs.
The market-entry reference also explains the 2026 labour-migration framework. Older promotional statements that foreign staff never need work authorisation no longer describe the full legal position. These legal questions sit alongside the commercial questions of who buys the work, where the team is based and which skills are available.
Our market research service can investigate Georgian technology customers, delivery partners and competitors. Contact our Tbilisi team with the service or product and the type of customer you want to reach.