Pegasystems (PEGA) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Pegasystems published the results on October 20, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Pegasystems reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and non-GAAP, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Pegasystems recognizes license revenue when the license rights become effective, typically upfront, while Pega Cloud and maintenance are recognized over the contract term. Subscription license revenue, and total revenue with it, therefore moves with the timing of license deals. ACV, the annualized value of active contracts, is the measure Pega leads its release with.
• In Q4 2025 Pegasystems combined perpetual license revenue into subscription license in its statements of operations and reclassified prior periods.

Source: Pegasystems Q3 2026 results, October 20, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Pegasystems splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Pegasystems's Subscription services revenue was $292 million in Q3 2026, up 10% from $264 million in Q3 2025, 74% of total revenue.
• Pegasystems's Subscription license revenue was $55.6 million in Q3 2026, down 9% from $60.8 million in Q3 2025, 14% of total revenue.
• Pegasystems's Consulting revenue was $46.2 million in Q3 2026, down 18% from $56.4 million in Q3 2025, 12% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

Pegasystems' release gives no revenue or EPS outlook for Q4 2026 or the full year. It warns on ACV and cash flow for the rest of 2026 and repeats a 2028 free cash flow target.

In its Q3 2026 release, Pegasystems said:

“As a result, our ACV growth rate significantly slowed during the nine months ended September 30, 2026, as compared to the same period last year. These factors may continue to adversely affect the ACV growth rate for the rest of the year.”

“As a result of the factors discussed under ACV above, our cash flow generation may continue to be adversely affected for the rest of the year.”

“We are taking decisive actions to improve execution, accelerate growth, and keep us on track to deliver $700M or more of free cash flow in 2028.”

Source: Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 20, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the PEGA forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP total revenue and diluted EPS, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Pegasystems's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 20, 2026

Pegasystems' total revenue rose 3% to $393.4 million in Q3 2026 from $381.4 million. Subscription revenue was $347.2 million, 88% of the total: Pega Cloud $218.9 million (up 19%), maintenance $72.7 million (down 9%) and subscription license $55.6 million (down 9%). Consulting fell 18% to $46.2 million. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

Pega's 10-Q attributes the Pega Cloud increase to expanded client adoption and the maintenance decline to clients shifting to Pega Cloud-based offerings. Pega Cloud ACV rose 20% to $976.0 million and reached 59% of total ACV of $1,653.3 million, which grew 6% as reported and 7% in constant currency. (Pegasystems Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 20, 2026; Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

Pega said its ACV growth rate slowed significantly in the first nine months of 2026 as clients subject large technology purchases to more scrutiny while AI disrupts the industry. Its CFO put the shortfall largely down to go-to-market execution challenges, while saying the Q3 ACV add was the strongest of the year. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

By client location, the U.S. produced $175.7 million, 44% of revenue against 49% a year earlier. Asia-Pacific rose to $73.0 million (19%), Europe excluding the U.K., Middle East and Africa was $69.3 million (18%), the U.K. $45.3 million (11%) and Other Americas $30.0 million (8%). (Pegasystems Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 20, 2026)

Pegasystems' GAAP diluted EPS fell to $0.08 from $0.24 while non-GAAP diluted EPS rose to $0.35 from $0.30. GAAP net income of $14.1 million included a $16.0 million litigation settlement, $13.3 million of legal fees and $28.7 million of stock-based compensation, all excluded from non-GAAP net income of $59.8 million. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

Taxes explain much of the year-on-year GAAP drop. Pega recorded a $3.7 million tax provision in Q3 2026 against a $19.3 million tax benefit a year earlier. Its nine-month GAAP effective tax rate was 21% against 10%, while the non-GAAP rate was 22% in both periods. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

Buybacks cut the share count. Diluted weighted-average shares were 168.6 million, down 8% from 184.1 million, after Pega repurchased 10.9 million shares for $432.2 million at an average $39.73 in the first nine months of 2026. Restructuring of $2.0 million in the quarter was mainly severance from workforce reductions meant to align roles to an AI-first delivery model. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026; Pegasystems Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 20, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Pegasystems' Q3 2026 release does not give a revenue or EPS outlook. It says the factors behind slower ACV growth may continue to affect ACV growth and cash flow for the rest of 2026, and the CFO repeated a target of $700M or more of free cash flow in 2028. (Pegasystems Q3 2026 release, Oct 20, 2026)

The 10-Q flags a pending retrial in Appian's trade secret case. On October 16, 2026 the court allowed Appian to present a reasonable royalty damages theory, under which Appian seeks $284.6 million for accused marketing and sales activities and $1.36 billion for accused Pega Platform revisions. Pega says it did not misappropriate any trade secrets. (Pegasystems Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 20, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Pegasystems, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Pegasystems's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning PEGA is on is PEGA a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the PEGA forecast, and what the company does is on the Pegasystems (PEGA) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Pegasystems published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.