Inside the 2026 QA Budget: Real Strategies from QA Leaders

Budgets are tight and expectations are higher than ever. Join top QA leaders for a practical, no-fluff conversation about how teams are planning and protecting QA investment for 2026. We’ll cover real tradeoffs, measurable ROI, tool decisions, and staffing strategies you can use to build a defensible, business-aligned QA budget.

Why attend

• Learn how leading QA organizations balance innovation (AI & automation) with operational stability.
• See the KPIs and financial arguments that actually move executive support.
• Get concrete answers to “where would you cut 20%?” and “what to stop buying in 2026.”
• Walk away with sample talking points you can adapt for your stakeholders.

Featured panelists

• Joel Montvelisky, PractiTest, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
• Brent Dilk, Laivly, Director, Software Quality Assurance
• Joanna Negler, Equus Software, Senior Quality Assurance Manager 

Who should attend

• QA leaders and managers planning 2026 budgets
• Engineering leaders and product managers who sign off on QA spend
• DevOps and SRE leads interested in quality investment tradeoffs
• Anyone responsible for QA tooling, hiring, or ROI measurement

What you’ll get

• Practical frameworks to defend QA spend to execs
• A short checklist for assembling a business-aligned QA budget request
• Recording of the panel highlights and sample KPIs