QCon San Francisco 2026

QCon San Francisco 2026 is a senior software engineering conference held 16-20 November 2026 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco on the Embarcadero, with three conference days followed by two optional training days. Organised by C4Media, the team behind InfoQ, it puts 60-plus practitioners across 12 curated tracks, four of them devoted to AI in production: Architecting for Agents, Engineering AI Systems, Guardrails & Safety Nets (Evals) for the New Landscape, and Modern API Design for humans and agents. The remaining eight cover distributed systems, resilience engineering, real-world platform engineering, data platforms, developer experience, API design and Staff+ leadership. Sessions are screened for commercial intent before selection, so vendor roadmap talks do not make the programme; confirmed speakers come from Netflix, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Airbnb, Adobe, Cisco, Google and Booking.com.

Date

November 16–20, 2026

Location

Hyatt Regency San Francisco, California

Format

In-Person

Event Type

Conference

Status

Upcoming

Pricing

Paid

Organizer

C4Media (InfoQ / QCon Conferences)

Added

Aug 2, 2026

Updated

Aug 2, 2026

• ✓CTOs
• ✓VPs of Engineering
• ✓Software architects
• ✓Staff+ and principal engineers
• ✓Platform engineering leads
• ✓Engineering managers and technical team leads
• ✓AI/ML engineers running production systems

An engineering leader leaves QCon with concrete answers to the questions currently blocking AI rollouts: how to bound an autonomous agent's authority, what to actually measure in an eval harness before shipping, and where inference cost hides inside a production architecture. Because the programme bans sales pitches and only selects speakers who have run these systems at scale, the trade-offs discussed on stage are the real ones. The 12-track format also lets a CTO send a team and cover AI, platform, resilience and Staff+ leadership in parallel, and group pricing takes up to $200 per seat off at 16 attendees.

• ✓Track: Architecting for Agents - Beneath the Loop
• ✓Track: Engineering AI Systems (production AI beyond prototypes)
• ✓Track: Guardrails & Safety Nets (Evals) for the New Landscape
• ✓Track: Modern API Design for Humans and Agents
• ✓Track: Data Platforms Reimagined
• ✓Track: Resilience Engineering - Everything Fails All the Time
• ✓Track: Real World Platform Engineering
• ✓Track: Staff+ Engineering Skills
• ✓Two-day optional training programme, 19-20 November 2026
• ✓InfoQ Certified Architect Program cohort experience (half-day certification add-on)
• ✓12 months of on-demand access to most session recordings plus downloadable slides

• ★Sessions are reviewed for commercial intent before selection and product-roadmap talks are rejected, so the programme carries no vendor pitches
• ★Four of the 12 tracks are AI-in-production specific, rather than one AI track bolted onto a general software conference
• ★Practitioner-only speaker pool: 60+ engineers presenting systems they personally run, from Netflix, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI
• ★Two optional training days (19-20 November) and an InfoQ Certified Architect Program cohort attach directly to the conference
• ★Team pricing scales to 16+ attendees, so a whole platform org can cover AI, resilience and leadership tracks in parallel

Priced in tiers by purchase deadline. Through 11 August 2026: conference only (3 days) $2,715; conference + 1 training day $3,455; conference + 2 training days $4,150; conference + certification $3,455. Rises to $2,835 (8 Sep), $2,955 (13 Oct), $2,995 (10 Nov) and $3,250 after 10 November for the conference-only pass. Standalone training is flat at $795 for one day and $1,490 for two; a video-only recordings pass is $590. Team discounts: up to $100 off per ticket for 3-6 attendees, $150 for 7-10, $175 for 11-15 and $200 for 16+, not combinable and not applied retroactively. The pass includes all tracks and keynotes, meals, social events, exhibitor area and 12 months of on-demand recordings.

When is QCon San Francisco 2026?

QCon San Francisco 2026 takes place November 16–20, 2026 in San Francisco, California.

Where is QCon San Francisco 2026 held?

QCon San Francisco 2026 is held in San Francisco, California. The event format is in-person.

How much does QCon San Francisco 2026 cost?

QCon San Francisco 2026 is paid. Priced in tiers by purchase deadline. Through 11 August 2026: conference only (3 days) $2,715; conference + 1 training day $3,455; conference + 2 training days $4,150; conference + certification $3,455. Rises to $2,835 (8 Sep), $2,955 (13 Oct), $2,995 (10 Nov) and $3,250 after 10 November for the conference-only pass. Standalone training is flat at $795 for one day and $1,490 for two; a video-only recordings pass is $590. Team discounts: up to $100 off per ticket for 3-6 attendees, $150 for 7-10, $175 for 11-15 and $200 for 16+, not combinable and not applied retroactively. The pass includes all tracks and keynotes, meals, social events, exhibitor area and 12 months of on-demand recordings.

Who should attend QCon San Francisco 2026?

QCon San Francisco 2026 is aimed at CTOs, VPs of Engineering, Software architects, Staff+ and principal engineers, Platform engineering leads, Engineering managers and technical team leads, AI/ML engineers running production systems.

What topics does QCon San Francisco 2026 cover?

QCon San Francisco 2026 covers AI agents in production, LLM evaluation and guardrails, Engineering AI systems, Modern API design for humans and agents, Distributed systems, Resilience engineering, Platform engineering, Data platforms, Developer experience, Staff+ engineering leadership.

This page was written from 6 sources, 2 on domains other than qconsf.com.

1. 1.qconsf.com — qconsf.comvendor
2. 2.qconsf.com — nov2026vendor
3. 3.qconsf.com — nov2026vendor
4. 4.qconsf.com — nov2026vendor
5. 5.infoq.com — qconsf 2026 tracks announced
6. 6.eventogo.com — qcon san francisco international software development confer