Most Popular Programming Languages 2026
By Axis Intelligence Research
Co-author: Sarah Mitchell | Last updated: September 29, 2026 | License: CC BY 4.0
Python is the only language that ranks in the top two on every major popularity lens in 2026, scoring 97.0 out of 100 on the Axis Intelligence Research Programming Language Consensus Index (PLCI™). But the lenses themselves are splitting: between September 2025 and September 2026, Python’s TIOBE rating fell 8.22 points while its PYPL share rose 21.84 points.
Quick Answer
Python is the most popular programming language in 2026. It leads the TIOBE Index for September 2026 at 17.76%, holds 52.08% of tutorial searches in the PYPL index, and is used by 57.9% of respondents to the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey. JavaScript is the most used language among professional developers (68.8%), and TypeScript has the most monthly contributors on GitHub.
Key Findings
- Axis Intelligence Research’s PLCI™ scores Python at 97.0 out of 100, the highest consensus of any language across TIOBE, PYPL and Stack Overflow data as of September 2026.
- Axis Intelligence Research finds TypeScript is the most disputed major language of 2026: a 9-place spread between its best lens (3rd) and its worst (12th) in a 12-language basket.
- Python’s two leading popularity indices moved in opposite directions by 30.06 percentage points between September 2025 and September 2026, according to Axis Intelligence Research’s comparison of TIOBE and PYPL data.
- According to Axis Intelligence Research’s Classroom-to-Codebase Gap (CCG™), people learning to code use C at 2.51 times the rate of professional developers, based on Stack Overflow’s 2025 survey.
- GitHub’s Octoverse 2025 reports TypeScript reached 2,636,006 monthly contributors in August 2025, overtaking Python by roughly 42,000 to become GitHub’s most used language.
What Is the Most Popular Programming Language in 2026?
The answer depends on what you count, and in 2026 that caveat has stopped being academic. Four public lenses measure language popularity, and each measures something different:
| Lens | What it counts | 2026 leader | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web footprint | Search-engine hits for “<language> programming” | Python | 17.76% rating (Sep 2026) | TIOBE Index |
| Learning demand | Share of Google tutorial searches | Python | 52.08% share (Sep 2026) | PYPL |
| Practitioner use | Share of surveyed developers using the language | JavaScript | 66.0% of all respondents (2025) | Stack Overflow Developer Survey |
| Code contribution | Monthly unique contributors on GitHub | TypeScript | 2,636,006 contributors (Aug 2025) | GitHub Octoverse |
Python wins two of four outright and places second on a third. That is why it sits at the top of every “most popular” list. What those lists rarely show is that the four lenses name three different winners.
The Stack Overflow 2025 survey, fielded to more than 49,000 developers in 177 countries, is the largest practitioner sample. The GitHub Octoverse 2025 report covers 180 million-plus developers but counts activity, not people’s primary language. TIOBE and PYPL count search behavior, not code.
Sarah Mitchell’s read: A leaderboard is a measurement choice wearing a verdict. Python leads because it is the language people search for, learn, and write AI code in, all at once. JavaScript leads when you ask working developers what they touched this year. TypeScript leads when you count commits. None of these is wrong. Picking one and calling it “the” ranking is.
Programming Language Consensus Index (PLCI™): Which Languages Do All the Rankings Agree On?
The Programming Language Consensus Index (PLCI™) is an Axis Intelligence Research metric that scores how consistently a language ranks across independent popularity lenses. A high PLCI means every lens agrees the language matters; a low score means it is niche on all of them.
Formula: For a fixed basket of 12 general-purpose languages, Axis Intelligence Research ranks each language on three lenses: TIOBE rating (September 2026), PYPL share (September 2026) and Stack Overflow professional-developer usage (2025 survey). Each rank converts to a lens score of 100 × (12 − rank) ÷ 11. PLCI is the average of the three lens scores. The lens spread is the gap between a language’s best and worst rank.
PLCI™ Scores, September 2026
| Rank | Language | PLCI™ (0–100) | TIOBE rank* | PYPL rank* | Stack Overflow pro rank* | Lens spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | 97.0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Java | 75.8 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | JavaScript | 72.7 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | C++ | 71.2 | 3 | 3.5 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 | C | 69.7 | 2 | 3.5 | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| 6 | C# | 57.6 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 | PHP | 40.9 | 9 | 6 | 7.5 | 3 |
| 8 | Rust | 36.4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 3 |
| 9 | TypeScript | 33.3 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 9 |
| 10 | Go | 22.7 | 8 | 11.5 | 9 | 3.5 |
| 11 | Swift | 15.2 | 10 | 9 | 12 | 3 |
| 12 | Kotlin | 7.6 | 11 | 11.5 | 11 | 0.5 |
*Rank within the 12-language basket. Source: Axis Intelligence Research calculation from TIOBE (Sep 2026), PYPL (Sep 2026), Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025. Half-ranks are ties.
Two readings stand out. Python’s lens spread of 1 is the tightest agreement at the top of the table; only Kotlin agrees more tightly, and it agrees on being small. TypeScript’s spread of 9 is the widest in the basket: the practitioner lens places it third, the web-footprint lens places it last.
Sarah Mitchell’s read: TypeScript is the cleanest case of an index measuring its own blind spot. TIOBE queries “TypeScript programming” pages; people who write TypeScript mostly search for the framework, the error, or the JavaScript API. So the language GitHub counts as its biggest ranks 39th on TIOBE. When a lens and reality diverge by that much, trust the lens that counts code.
TIOBE Index September 2026: Full Top 20 Rankings
The TIOBE Programming Community Index ranks languages by search-engine page counts across Google, Bing, Wikipedia, Amazon and more than 20 other sites. It is a lagging indicator of web footprint, not usage.
| Sep 2026 rank | Language | Rating | Change vs Sep 2025 (pts) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Python | 17.76% | −8.22 | TIOBE |
| 2 | C | 10.28% | +1.63 | TIOBE |
| 3 | C++ | 8.67% | −0.13 | TIOBE |
| 4 | Java | 7.54% | −0.81 | TIOBE |
| 5 | C# | 4.22% | −2.16 | TIOBE |
| 6 | JavaScript | 2.76% | −0.46 | TIOBE |
| 7 | Visual Basic | 2.55% | −0.28 | TIOBE |
| 8 | SQL | 2.16% | +0.29 | TIOBE |
| 9 | R | 1.69% | +0.27 | TIOBE |
| 10 | Rust | 1.34% | +0.33 | TIOBE |
| 11 | Fortran | 1.24% | −0.25 | TIOBE |
| 12 | Go | 1.10% | −1.22 | TIOBE |
| 13 | Delphi/Object Pascal | 1.08% | −1.18 | TIOBE |
| 14 | PHP | 1.04% | −0.21 | TIOBE |
| 15 | Scratch | 0.99% | −0.19 | TIOBE |
| 16 | Assembly language | 0.89% | −0.15 | TIOBE |
| 17 | Ada | 0.85% | −0.42 | TIOBE |
| 18 | Swift | 0.83% | +0.10 | TIOBE |
| 19 | Objective-C | 0.81% | +0.32 | TIOBE |
| 20 | COBOL | 0.78% | −0.13 | TIOBE |
Which Languages Gained and Lost the Most on TIOBE?
C posted the largest gain in the top 20 (+1.63 points) and climbed back to second. Rust entered the top 10 for September 2026 at 1.34%, up from 18th a year earlier. Go took the steepest fall among established languages, dropping 1.22 points and slipping from 8th to 12th. Outside the top 20, Kotlin sits at 26th (0.67%), MATLAB at 27th (0.61%) and TypeScript at 39th (0.43%).
Is Python Still Growing? The 30-Point Signal Divergence
Python’s September 2026 TIOBE rating of 17.76% is 8.22 points below its September 2025 rating of 25.98%. Over the same twelve months, Python’s share of PYPL tutorial searches rose from 30.24% to 52.08%, a gain of 21.84 points.
Axis Intelligence Research finds a 30.06-point divergence (+21.84 minus −8.22) between the two indices on the same language over the same year. Both indices still rank Python first.
| Metric | Sep 2025 | Sep 2026 | Change | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python TIOBE rating | 25.98% | 17.76% | −8.22 pts | TIOBE (Sep 2025 derived from published change) |
| Python PYPL share | 30.24% | 52.08% | +21.84 pts | PYPL raw data |
| Divergence | — | — | 30.06 pts | Axis Intelligence Research |
This divergence is what the data looks like when AI assistants absorb search behavior unevenly. IEEE Spectrum’s 2025 ranking reported that weekly questions posted on Stack Exchange in 2025 fell to 22% of their 2024 level across the languages it tracks, as programmers moved help-seeking into private AI chats. Every popularity lens built on public search or Q&A activity is now measuring a thinner, stranger slice of developer behavior.
Sarah Mitchell’s read: PYPL’s denominator is shrinking tutorial search, and the people still searching “python tutorial” are disproportionately beginners arriving through AI and data science. That inflates Python’s share without anyone writing more Python. TIOBE’s drop may reflect page-count noise as much as decline. The practitioner and GitHub lenses, which count people and code, both show Python rising. That is the signal to trust.
PYPL Index 2026: Which Languages Are People Learning?
PYPL measures the share of Google searches for “<language> tutorial,” smoothed over six months. It is a leading indicator of learning demand rather than a count of code in production.
| Language | PYPL share Sep 2026 | PYPL share Sep 2025 | Change (pts) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 52.08% | 30.24% | +21.84 | PYPL |
| Java | 13.34% | 14.84% | −1.50 | PYPL |
| C/C++ | 7.99% | 9.77% | −1.78 | PYPL |
| R | 3.83% | 5.49% | −1.66 | PYPL |
| JavaScript | 3.28% | 6.96% | −3.68 | PYPL |
| Objective-C | 3.21% | 2.16% | +1.05 | PYPL |
| PHP | 1.98% | 3.42% | −1.44 | PYPL |
| Rust | 1.70% | 2.83% | −1.13 | PYPL |
| C# | 1.60% | 4.77% | −3.17 | PYPL |
| Swift | 1.54% | 2.90% | −1.36 | PYPL |
| TypeScript | 1.43% | 2.41% | −0.98 | PYPL |
| Go | 0.48% | 1.53% | −1.05 | PYPL |
| Kotlin | 0.48% | 1.48% | −1.00 | PYPL |
Because PYPL shares sum to 100%, Python’s gain is every other language’s loss. JavaScript (−3.68) and C# (−3.17) lost the most share. Read those as “less searched relative to Python,” not as absolute decline.
Most Used Programming Languages by Developers (Stack Overflow 2025)
The 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey asked which languages respondents did extensive development work in over the past year. 31,771 respondents answered the language question.
| Language | All respondents | Professional developers | Learning to code | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript | 66.0% | 68.8% | 62.8% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| HTML/CSS | 61.9% | 63.0% | 66.6% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| SQL | 58.6% | 61.3% | 45.4% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Python | 57.9% | 54.8% | 71.8% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Bash/Shell | 48.7% | 48.8% | 47.0% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| TypeScript | 43.6% | 48.8% | 31.9% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Java | 29.4% | 29.6% | 40.8% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| C# | 27.8% | 29.9% | 23.1% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| C++ | 23.5% | 21.8% | 44.6% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| PowerShell | 23.2% | 23.1% | 19.1% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| C | 22.0% | 19.1% | 48.0% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| PHP | 18.9% | 19.1% | 14.5% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Go | 16.4% | 17.4% | 13.1% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Rust | 14.8% | 14.5% | 23.1% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Kotlin | 10.8% | 11.5% | 10.8% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
| Swift | 5.4% | 5.7% | 3.9% | Stack Overflow 2025 |
Python’s usage jumped 7 percentage points from 2024 to 2025, which Stack Overflow describes as a significant acceleration after more than a decade of steady growth. Python was also the most desired language, at 39.3%.
Most Admired Programming Languages 2025
Admiration measures the share of current users who want to keep using a language. Rust led for another year at 72.4%, followed by Gleam (70.8%), Elixir (65.9%) and Zig (64.2%). Among mainstream languages, TypeScript scored 58.0%, Go 56.5% and Python 56.4%.
Classroom-to-Codebase Gap (CCG™): Which Languages Do Learners Use More Than Professionals?
The Classroom-to-Codebase Gap (CCG™) is an Axis Intelligence Research ratio that compares how often people learning to code use a language against how often professional developers use it. A CCG above 1.0 means the language is over-represented in learning relative to paid work; below 1.0 means professionals use it more than learners do.
Formula: CCG = Stack Overflow 2025 “learning to code” usage share ÷ “professional developers” usage share.
| Language | Learners | Professionals | CCG™ | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 48.0% | 19.1% | 2.51 | Taught far more than worked in |
| C++ | 44.6% | 21.8% | 2.05 | Taught far more than worked in |
| Rust | 23.1% | 14.5% | 1.59 | Learner enthusiasm ahead of jobs |
| Java | 40.8% | 29.6% | 1.38 | Curriculum staple |
| Python | 71.8% | 54.8% | 1.31 | Entry language, still heavily used at work |
| Kotlin | 10.8% | 11.5% | 0.94 | Balanced |
| JavaScript | 62.8% | 68.8% | 0.91 | Balanced, slight work tilt |
| C# | 23.1% | 29.9% | 0.77 | Learned on the job |
| PHP | 14.5% | 19.1% | 0.76 | Learned on the job |
| Go | 13.1% | 17.4% | 0.75 | Learned on the job |
| Swift | 3.9% | 5.7% | 0.68 | Learned on the job |
| TypeScript | 31.9% | 48.8% | 0.65 | Most work-weighted language |
Source: Axis Intelligence Research calculation from Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025.
Sarah Mitchell’s read: CCG is the number to show anyone planning a curriculum or a hiring pipeline. C and C++ are how computer science teaches memory and pointers; the job market pays for them far less often. TypeScript is the reverse: almost nobody starts there, and half of working developers end up there. If a bootcamp graduate has Python and C but no TypeScript, the gap is not skill. It is the syllabus.
TypeScript vs Python on GitHub: Who Has More Contributors?
GitHub’s Octoverse 2025 measured languages by distinct monthly contributors. In August 2025, TypeScript became the most used language on GitHub for the first time.
| GitHub rank (Aug 2025) | Language | Monthly contributors | Growth YoY | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TypeScript | 2,636,006 | +66.63% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| 2 | Python | 2.6 million | +48.78% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| 3 | JavaScript | 2.15 million | +24.79% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| 4 | Java | — | +20.73% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| 5 | C# | — | +22.22% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
TypeScript added 1,054,015 contributors in a year. GitHub attributes the rise to frameworks that scaffold new projects in TypeScript by default and to AI-assisted development, where type systems catch generated errors earlier.
Which Languages Are Used in New GitHub Repositories?
| Language | New repositories (Sep 2024–Aug 2025) | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| JavaScript | 9,345,046 | +14.57% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| Python | 9,261,587 | +53.41% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| TypeScript | 5,394,256 | +78.10% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| Java | 3,520,215 | +9.35% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| C++ | 1,701,552 | +11.82% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
| C# | 1,478,463 | +10.61% | GitHub Octoverse 2025 |
What Programming Language Is Used Most for AI?
Python dominates AI development on GitHub, powering 582,196 new AI-tagged repositories, up 50.7% year over year, according to Octoverse 2025. For how AI tools are changing the code itself, see our AI-generated code statistics and AI coding assistant statistics.
Which Programming Languages Are Best for Jobs in 2026?
IEEE Spectrum’s 2025 Top Programming Languages ranked Python first in its jobs-weighted view, ahead of SQL, and first in its default ranking; JavaScript fell to sixth in the default ranking.
The U.S. labor market remains large. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 1,905,400 jobs for software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers in 2025, at a median annual pay of $134,040. BLS projects 10% employment growth from 2025 to 2035, adding 185,400 jobs.
Read the jobs question through CCG and the practitioner lens together. SQL appears in 61.3% of professional developers’ work and ranks second in IEEE’s jobs view, yet no search-based index rewards it much. TypeScript is used by 48.8% of professionals. Python is the one language strong on every lens.
Methodology
Data collection. Axis Intelligence Research fetched each source on September 29, 2026: the TIOBE Index page (September 2026 edition), PYPL’s raw Google Trends-derived dataset (monthly shares, September 2025 and September 2026), the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey technology results, GitHub’s Octoverse 2025 report (measurement year September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2025), IEEE Spectrum’s Top Programming Languages 2025, and the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Derived values. Python’s September 2025 TIOBE rating (25.98%) is the September 2026 rating minus TIOBE’s published year-over-year change. PYPL year-over-year changes are computed from the raw monthly shares.
PLCI™. Twelve general-purpose languages with data on all three lenses. Each language is ranked within the basket per lens (ties receive the average rank); lens score = 100 × (12 − rank) ÷ 11; PLCI = arithmetic mean of three lens scores, equal weights. PYPL reports C and C/C++ as one series, so C and C++ both receive that value. GitHub contributor data is reported alongside the index rather than inside it, because Octoverse publishes exact ranks only for its top five.
CCG™. Stack Overflow 2025 learning-to-code usage ÷ professional-developer usage, per language.
What these figures measure. Stack Overflow’s respondents self-select through its own channels; TIOBE and PYPL measure search behavior, not code written; GitHub counts public and platform activity. Each lens is reported separately so readers can weigh them.
About This Dataset
The dataset behind this page contains 273 rows covering TIOBE ratings and ranks (September 2026), PYPL shares (September 2025 and 2026), Stack Overflow 2025 usage and admiration rates, GitHub Octoverse 2025 contributor and repository counts, IEEE Spectrum ranks, BLS labor data, and every PLCI™ and CCG™ value. Each row carries its source organization, document, URL, as-of date and retrieval date.
- File: programming-language-statistics.csv
- License: CC BY 4.0. Reuse freely with attribution to Axis Intelligence Research.
- Mirrors: Hugging Face, Kaggle, GitHub
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do TIOBE and PYPL disagree about Python?
TIOBE counts web pages mentioning “Python programming”; PYPL counts the share of Google searches for “Python tutorial.” Between September 2025 and September 2026, Python’s TIOBE rating fell 8.22 points while its PYPL share rose 21.84 points, a 30.06-point divergence calculated by Axis Intelligence Research.
Is TypeScript more popular than JavaScript now?
On GitHub, yes: TypeScript had 2,636,006 monthly contributors in August 2025 versus about 2.15 million for JavaScript. In the Stack Overflow 2025 survey, JavaScript is still used by more professional developers (68.8% versus 48.8%).
Which programming language should a beginner learn first in 2026?
Python. It is the most used language among Stack Overflow’s 2025 learners (71.8%), leads PYPL tutorial searches at 52.08%, and has a PLCI™ of 97.0, meaning it stays relevant from classroom to professional work.
Are C and C++ still worth learning?
For systems work, yes, but Axis Intelligence Research’s CCG™ shows learners use C at 2.51 times and C++ at 2.05 times the professional rate. Both rank in TIOBE’s top three, reflecting deep legacy and embedded footprints.
Is Rust replacing C++?
Not by usage. Rust is used by 14.5% of professional developers versus 21.8% for C++, per Stack Overflow 2025. Rust does lead admiration at 72.4% and entered TIOBE’s top 10 in September 2026 at 1.34%.
Is AI making programming language rankings less reliable?
Search- and Q&A-based rankings are losing signal. IEEE Spectrum reported weekly Stack Exchange questions in 2025 fell to 22% of their 2024 level. Contributor counts and practitioner surveys, which measure people and code, are now the more dependable lenses.
Why is SQL missing from some programming language rankings?
PYPL does not track SQL, and TIOBE only added it in 2018. Practitioner data tells a different story: 61.3% of professional developers used SQL in the Stack Overflow 2025 survey, and IEEE Spectrum ranks it second for jobs.
When will the 2026 Stack Overflow Developer Survey results be published?
The 2026 survey opened on June 23, 2026, per Stack Overflow’s announcement. Results had not been published as of September 29, 2026; this page will be revised when they are.
How to Cite This Page
APA: Axis Intelligence Research & Mitchell, S. (2026, September 29). Most popular programming languages 2026: Statistics from four measurement lenses. Axis Intelligence. https://axis-intelligence.com/programming-language-statistics/
MLA: Axis Intelligence Research, and Sarah Mitchell. “Most Popular Programming Languages 2026: Statistics From Four Measurement Lenses.” Axis Intelligence, 29 Sept. 2026, axis-intelligence.com/programming-language-statistics/.
Chicago: Axis Intelligence Research and Sarah Mitchell. “Most Popular Programming Languages 2026: Statistics From Four Measurement Lenses.” Axis Intelligence, September 29, 2026. https://axis-intelligence.com/programming-language-statistics/.
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