An Introduction to YOLO26

YOLO26 is the January 2026 generation of the YOLO computer vision model family, featuring edge-optimized improvements including NMS-free predictions, up to 43% faster CPU inference than its predecessor YOLO11, and support for multiple tasks like detection, segmentation, and pose estimation across five size variants. The model is available under AGPL-3.0 license and can be trained and deployed through Roboflow, though the platform also offers RF-DETR as an alternative with better accuracy and a more permissive Apache 2.0 license.