Data · February 2026
Software businesses in New Zealand
This page shows how many businesses Stats NZ counts in two software industries: J542 Software Publishing and M700 Computer System Design and Related Services. The figures come from Stats NZ's business demography statistics and are shown exactly as published, by regional council for February 2026 and nationally for each year from 2000 to 2026. The two industries are kept separate, and each figure is labelled as geographic units or enterprises.
Source: Stats NZ and licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Release: New Zealand business demography statistics: At February 2026 (released 30 October 2026). Reference period February 2026 (provisional).
Data extracted 3 November 2026.
February 2026 (provisional): national totals
- J542 Software Publishing
- 744geographic units, February 2026 (Total NZ row of the regional table)
- M700 Computer System Design and Related Services
- 13,512geographic units, February 2026 (Total NZ row of the regional table)
Geographic units by region, February 2026
Regions are listed in Stats NZ's order. Select a column heading to sort; the Total NZ row stays at the bottom. "Not published" means Stats NZ has no row for that region.
| Northland Region | 9 |
|---|---|
| Auckland Region | 396 |
| Waikato Region | 30 |
| Bay of Plenty Region | 30 |
| Gisborne Region | 0 |
| Hawke's Bay Region | 9 |
| Taranaki Region | 6 |
| Manawatu-Whanganui Region | 12 |
| Wellington Region | 117 |
| Tasman Region | 6 |
| Nelson Region | 15 |
| Marlborough Region | 3 |
| West Coast Region | Not published |
| Canterbury Region | 75 |
| Otago Region | 30 |
| Southland Region | 3 |
| Area Outside Region | Not published |
| Total NZ | 744 |
| Northland Region | 201 |
|---|---|
| Auckland Region | 6,405 |
| Waikato Region | 666 |
| Bay of Plenty Region | 474 |
| Gisborne Region | 36 |
| Hawke's Bay Region | 210 |
| Taranaki Region | 156 |
| Manawatu-Whanganui Region | 234 |
| Wellington Region | 3,156 |
| Tasman Region | 90 |
| Nelson Region | 117 |
| Marlborough Region | 51 |
| West Coast Region | 27 |
| Canterbury Region | 1,266 |
| Otago Region | 378 |
| Southland Region | 51 |
| Area Outside Region | Not published |
| Total NZ | 13,512 |
National trend, 2000–2026
Geographic units and enterprises are different measures, so they're shown in separate charts.
Geographic units by year
National geographic units, at February of each year. Each panel has its own scale.
J542 Software Publishing
M700 Computer System Design and Related Services
Show the figures as a table
| Year | J542 Software Publishing (geographic units) | M700 Computer System Design and Related Services (geographic units) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 12 | 6,207 |
| 2001 | 9 | 6,240 |
| 2002 | 9 | 6,387 |
| 2003 | 15 | 6,672 |
| 2004 | 33 | 7,398 |
| 2005 | 42 | 7,902 |
| 2006 | 39 | 8,559 |
| 2007 | 36 | 9,093 |
| 2008 | 30 | 9,411 |
| 2009 | 39 | 9,555 |
| 2010 | 51 | 9,246 |
| 2011 | 66 | 9,606 |
| 2012 | 90 | 9,915 |
| 2013 | 99 | 10,140 |
| 2014 | 117 | 10,551 |
| 2015 | 129 | 11,136 |
| 2016 | 177 | 11,349 |
| 2017 | 219 | 11,892 |
| 2018 | 267 | 12,150 |
| 2019 | 327 | 12,606 |
| 2020 | 369 | 12,957 |
| 2021 | 441 | 12,882 |
| 2022 | 564 | 14,040 |
| 2023 | 609 | 14,718 |
| 2024 | 654 | 14,394 |
| 2025 | 699 | 13,749 |
| 2026 | 744 | 13,512 |
Download the data (CSV): national_geographic_units_2000_2026.csv
Enterprises by year
National enterprises, at February of each year. Each panel has its own scale.
J542 Software Publishing
M700 Computer System Design and Related Services
Show the figures as a table
| Year | J542 Software Publishing (enterprises) | M700 Computer System Design and Related Services (enterprises) |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 12 | 6,117 |
| 2001 | 9 | 6,120 |
| 2002 | 9 | 6,276 |
| 2003 | 18 | 6,561 |
| 2004 | 33 | 7,272 |
| 2005 | 42 | 7,761 |
| 2006 | 42 | 8,403 |
| 2007 | 36 | 8,937 |
| 2008 | 27 | 9,240 |
| 2009 | 39 | 9,396 |
| 2010 | 54 | 9,096 |
| 2011 | 69 | 9,456 |
| 2012 | 90 | 9,753 |
| 2013 | 99 | 9,972 |
| 2014 | 114 | 10,374 |
| 2015 | 129 | 10,950 |
| 2016 | 180 | 11,145 |
| 2017 | 219 | 11,658 |
| 2018 | 267 | 11,898 |
| 2019 | 327 | 12,333 |
| 2020 | 369 | 12,687 |
| 2021 | 438 | 12,609 |
| 2022 | 564 | 13,761 |
| 2023 | 606 | 14,439 |
| 2024 | 651 | 14,097 |
| 2025 | 696 | 13,437 |
| 2026 | 744 | 13,206 |
Download the data
- J542_geographic_units_by_region_Feb2026.csv (J542 Software Publishing: geographic units by regional council, February 2026, CSV)
- M700_geographic_units_by_region_Feb2026.csv (M700 Computer System Design and Related Services: geographic units by regional council, February 2026, CSV)
- national_geographic_units_2000_2026.csv (J542 Software Publishing and M700 Computer System Design and Related Services: national geographic units, 2000–2026, CSV)
- national_enterprises_2000_2026.csv (J542 Software Publishing and M700 Computer System Design and Related Services: national enterprises, 2000–2026, CSV)
Notes and definitions
- Geographic unit: "A separate operating unit engaged in New Zealand in one, or predominately one, kind of economic activity from a single physical location or base." Enterprise: the legal business entity. Counts cover economically significant businesses, mostly those with GST turnover over $30,000 a year.
- Reference period: February of each year. February 2026 figures are provisional. Regions use 2023 boundaries.
- Rounding: "Enterprise, geographic unit, and EC counts in the tables in this release are randomly rounded. Due to rounding, individual figures may not sum to the stated total(s)." Stats NZ uses fixed random rounding to base 3.
- Revisions: Stats NZ revises the whole series each release; these figures are from the February 2026 release.
- Not published: Stats NZ doesn't publish software-level counts by employee size or enterprise counts by region. "Not published" means the source has no row for that cell.
- Area Outside Region has no published row for either industry.
Source and licence
Source: Stats NZ and licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Release: New Zealand business demography statistics: At February 2026, Stats NZ, released 30 October 2026.
Data extracted 3 November 2026.
What this means if you're hiring a software company
In both industries, the regions with the most geographic units are Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. These counts show where software businesses are based, but not what they build or who they build it for.
If you're comparing teams to build custom software, our pages on web development in Auckland and web development in Christchurch show projects we've built for businesses in each city. Orchid is an Auckland studio that designs and builds custom web apps, mobile apps and AI integrations for New Zealand businesses.
