AL (Business Central) VS COBOL
As of 30 October 2026, COBOL is named by 356 companies and AL (Business Central) by 124; AL (Business Central) skews to companies under 200 people (53% vs 37%), COBOL to companies over 1,000 (45% vs 26%).
As of 30 October 2026 · refreshed daily · counts move as websites, DNS and career sites are re-read.
The website-and-DNS footprint is not comparable between a marketing suite and a CRM: AL (Business Central)'s script and mail records show on hundreds of thousands of small sites, COBOL rarely leaves a trace outside its own apps. Compare on the job-posting numbers; use the footprint for reach.
- AL (Business Central): 2–200 employees
- 53%
- COBOL: 2–200 employees
- 37%
- AL (Business Central): 1,000+ employees
- 26%
- COBOL: 1,000+ employees
- 45%
- Postings per company, 90 days
- 2.1 · 4.2
- Website or DNS footprint
- 0 · 0
Who chooses which
Share of each tool's companies in every segment. "Leans" marks a gap of more than two points.
| Segment | AL (Business Central) | share | COBOL | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-10 employees | 8 | 6% | 16 | 4% | even |
| 11-50 employees | 23 | 19% | 54 | 15% | AL (Business Central) |
| 51-200 employees | 35 | 28% | 61 | 17% | AL (Business Central) |
| 201-500 employees | 18 | 15% | 34 | 10% | AL (Business Central) |
| 501-1000 employees | 8 | 6% | 29 | 8% | even |
| 1001-5000 employees | 24 | 19% | 64 | 18% | even |
| 5001-10000 employees | 3 | 2% | 21 | 6% | COBOL |
| 10,001+ employees | 5 | 4% | 75 | 21% | COBOL |
| Self-employed | – | – | 2 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Segment | AL (Business Central) | share | COBOL | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Technology & software | 60 | 48% | 180 | 51% | COBOL |
| Commerce & trade | 18 | 15% | 6 | 2% | AL (Business Central) |
| Manufacturing & industry | 14 | 11% | 11 | 3% | AL (Business Central) |
| Business & finance services | 13 | 10% | 113 | 32% | COBOL |
| Media & content | 4 | 3% | 10 | 3% | even |
| Public, community & associations | 3 | 2% | 11 | 3% | even |
| Automotive | 2 | 2% | 3 | 1% | even |
| Consumer services & leisure | 2 | 2% | 9 | 3% | even |
| Health care | 2 | 2% | 4 | 1% | even |
| Property & construction | 2 | 2% | 4 | 1% | even |
| Utilities & infrastructure | 2 | 2% | 1 | 0% | even |
| Agriculture & forestry | 1 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Transport, logistics & rental | – | – | 4 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Segment | AL (Business Central) | share | COBOL | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany | 40 | 32% | 27 | 8% | AL (Business Central) |
| United States | 32 | 26% | 189 | 53% | COBOL |
| France | 9 | 7% | 35 | 10% | COBOL |
| United Kingdom | 7 | 6% | 16 | 4% | even |
| India | 5 | 4% | 7 | 2% | AL (Business Central) |
| Canada | 4 | 3% | 11 | 3% | even |
| Australia | 3 | 2% | 6 | 2% | even |
| Italy | 3 | 2% | 7 | 2% | even |
| Sweden | 3 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Belgium | 2 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| KE | 2 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Spain | – | – | 6 | 2% | outside top 12 |
| Singapore | – | – | 6 | 2% | outside top 12 |
| Switzerland | – | – | 5 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Portugal | – | – | 5 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Segment | AL (Business Central) | share | COBOL | share | Leans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software engineering | 110 | 32% | 1,371 | 58% | COBOL |
| IT operations & business systems | 81 | 23% | 351 | 15% | AL (Business Central) |
| Data & AI | 26 | 8% | 62 | 3% | AL (Business Central) |
| Product, program & project management | 22 | 6% | 67 | 3% | AL (Business Central) |
| Legal, compliance & risk | 8 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Engineering (non-software) | 6 | 2% | 21 | 1% | even |
| Healthcare clinical | 6 | 2% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Marketing & communications | 5 | 1% | 7 | 0% | even |
| Procurement and purchasing | 4 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Sales | 4 | 1% | 14 | 1% | even |
| Manufacturing and production | 3 | 1% | – | – | outside top 12 |
| Customer service & success | 2 | 1% | 8 | 0% | even |
| Unclassified | – | – | 12 | 1% | outside top 12 |
| Human resources | – | – | 7 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Education & training | – | – | 4 | 0% | outside top 12 |
| Finance & accounting | – | – | 4 | 0% | outside top 12 |
The companies behind each column
Companies using AL (Business Central) →
Companies using COBOL →
Programming languages ranked →
Quote the sentence with the date and the link. The numbers change daily; the link always shows the current ones.
COBOL is named by 356 companies in job postings and AL (Business Central) by 124; 0 name both. (Breaknorm, 30 October 2026, https://breaknorm.co/compare/al-language-vs-cobol)
Read from the source, not self-reported
Every number on this page can be traced to a page we crawled or a posting we read. Full methodology →
- Job postingsRead hourly from career sites. A tool counts when the employer's own text names it as the team's system; both tools can count for one company.
- Website and DNSScripts and embeds on the company's pages, plus SPF, DKIM, MX and CNAME records of its domain that point at the vendor.
- SegmentsCountry, size and industry from the company profile built from its website.
- Not a reviewNo ratings, prices or feature claims. For those, read the vendors.
AL (Business Central) vs COBOL: questions
Which is more used, AL (Business Central) or COBOL?
By companies naming it in their own job postings, COBOL (356) over AL (Business Central) (124). By website-and-DNS footprint, COBOL (0 vs 0), because its scripts and mail records sit on many small company sites.
Who chooses AL (Business Central)?
53% of AL (Business Central) companies have 2 to 200 employees, against 37% for COBOL. 26% of AL (Business Central) companies have over 1,000 employees, against 45% for COBOL.
Do companies run both?
0 companies name both in their postings, usually AL (Business Central) in marketing and COBOL in sales, or during a migration.
Where do these numbers come from?
From the employer's own text in job postings read hourly from career sites, and from scripts found on company websites in our crawl. No vendor data, no surveys.
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