Software development tools span programming languages, databases, containers, documentation, AI assistants, open-source platforms, and security systems. The statistics below combine 2024 survey results from Stack Overflow and JetBrains with platform activity reported by GitHub’s 2024 Octoverse report, so each figure retains its population, geography, period, and definition.
Key Software Development Tool Statistics
The most useful headline figures are:
- In 2024, 65,437 developers from 185 countries responded to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey.
- In 2024, 62.3% of Stack Overflow respondents had used JavaScript during the previous 12 months.
- In 2024, 49% of Stack Overflow respondents reported using PostgreSQL.
- In 2024, 59% of professional developers reported using Docker in the Stack Overflow survey.
- In 2024, 76% of Stack Overflow respondents were using or planning to use AI tools in their development process.
- In 2024, 62% of Stack Overflow respondents were currently using AI tools in development.
- In the prior-year comparison, 44% of Stack Overflow respondents were currently using AI tools in development.
- In 2024, 69% of JetBrains respondents had tried ChatGPT for coding or other development activities.
- In 2024, 49% of JetBrains respondents regularly used ChatGPT for coding or other development activities.
- In 2024, 40% of JetBrains respondents had tried GitHub Copilot.
- In 2024, 26% of JetBrains respondents regularly used GitHub Copilot.
- GitHub hosted 518 million total projects in its 2024 Octoverse report.
- GitHub reported 108 million new repositories created in 2024.
- GitHub recorded nearly 1 billion contributions to public and open-source projects in 2024.
- GitHub reported 137,000 public generative-AI projects in 2024.
- GitHub’s generative-AI projects grew 98% year over year in 2024.
- GitHub secret scanning detected more than 39 million secret leaks in 2024.
- GitHub reported nearly 1 million repositories containing a Dockerfile in 2024.
Contents
- Key Software Development Tool Statistics
- Software Development Tool Adoption and Developer Ecosystem Scale
- Programming Language and Database Usage Trends
- Developer Workflow, Documentation, and Collaboration Tools
- AI Coding and Software Development Tool Adoption
- Open-Source Activity and Generative-AI Projects
- Security, Productivity, and Software Development Work Practices
Software Development Tool Adoption and Developer Ecosystem Scale
The 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey provides a large, international view of developer-tool users, but it is a self-selected survey population rather than a census. It received 65,437 responses from coders in 185 countries in May 2024. 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
Several results describe the learning and professional background of this respondent group:
- 76.3% reported having a Stack Overflow account in 2024.
- 66% reported a BA/BS or MA/MS degree.
- Among respondents learning to code, 49% said they learned at school.
- 82% selected online resources as a way they learn to code; respondents could select multiple resources.
- 90% selected API and SDK documentation as a preferred documentation source for learning to code.
These figures measure account ownership, educational attainment, and self-reported learning pathways among survey respondents. They should not be interpreted as the share of all developers worldwide.
JetBrains’ 2024 developer survey offers a separate sample and a different lens on organizations and development work. In its sample, 61% of developers reported using JavaScript to create web pages, while 16% of companies had dedicated developer-productivity or developer-experience specialists. State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024
Programming Language and Database Usage Trends
Programming-language and database statistics describe reported use or platform activity, not a single universal market-share measure. Stack Overflow’s 2024 survey found that 62.3% of respondents had used JavaScript during the previous year, while PostgreSQL was reported by 49% of respondents. 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
The Stack Overflow series also shows a change in reported PostgreSQL use over time:
| Measure | Period | Result | Population or definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| PostgreSQL reported use | 2018 | 33% | Stack Overflow respondents |
| PostgreSQL reported use | 2024 | 49% | Stack Overflow respondents |
| MySQL reported use | 2018 | 59% | Stack Overflow respondents |
The survey notes that wording and respondent composition can change across years, so the 2018 and 2024 values should not be treated as a controlled experiment. The MySQL result is a historical survey figure, not a current estimate.
GitHub’s 2024 activity analysis adds ecosystem measures. TypeScript ranked third by overall GitHub activity, npm package consumption grew 15% year over year, and the number of public GitHub repositories using Jupyter Notebooks increased 92% year over year. Octoverse 2024
GitHub also identified more than 1.5 million repositories using Jupyter Notebooks since 2016. That is a cumulative count of public repositories with at least one notebook, based on repository creation year; it does not measure notebook quality or active use.
Developer Workflow, Documentation, and Collaboration Tools
Tool adoption varies by developer group and by what “use” means. In Stack Overflow’s 2024 survey, 59% of professional developers used Docker, while 45% of developers learning to code used npm. 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
Attitudes toward tools also differ from direct adoption:
- 73% of Svelte users wanted to keep working with Svelte; this is stated preference, not retention behavior.
- Rust had an 83% admired score among respondents evaluating it; “admired” is a survey construct, not market share.
- 75% of ChatGPT users rated it admired.
- Replit Ghostwrite or Tabnine users reported a 36% admired score in the grouped headline result; the source does not provide a separate score for each tool.
- 74% of Stack Overflow respondents using or evaluating ChatGPT wanted to keep using it the following year, an intention rather than subsequent adoption.
- 41% of ChatGPT users wanted to use GitHub Copilot the following year.
JetBrains also measured emerging workflow experiments. In 2024, 8% of respondents had experimented with coding using a VR headset, nearly 50% were eager to try VR coding, and 18% reported physical discomfort or health concerns related to prolonged VR use.
These are self-reported experimentation, interest, and concern measures, not evidence of regular VR adoption or clinical diagnoses. State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024
AI Coding and Software Development Tool Adoption
AI coding adoption rose sharply in the Stack Overflow comparison, although the measures combine different periods and should retain their survey context. In 2024, 62% of respondents said they were currently using AI tools in development, compared with 44% in the prior-year comparison; 76% were using or planning to use them. 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey
Respondents also reported where they expected AI tools to become more integrated over the next year:
| Expected area of integration | 2024 Stack Overflow respondents |
|---|---|
| Code documentation | 81% |
| Code testing | 80% |
| Code writing | 76% |
These are expectations, not observed future outcomes. Among professional developers, 70% did not perceive AI as a threat to their job, which measures perception rather than employment results.
JetBrains’ 2024 results separate experimentation from regular use:
- 69% had tried ChatGPT for coding or other development activities, and 49% regularly used it.
- 40% had tried GitHub Copilot, and 26% regularly used it.
“Regularly used” is self-defined by respondents, so these figures should not be read as standardized usage frequency. In the organizations represented by JetBrains respondents, only 11% completely prohibited third-party cloud AI tools for coding and development, while almost 80% either allowed them to some extent or had no established policy. State of Developer Ecosystem Report 2024
Open-Source Activity and Generative-AI Projects
GitHub’s Octoverse 2024 report measures activity on GitHub, not the global software-development industry. It reported 518 million total projects, 25% year-over-year project growth, 108 million new repositories created in 2024, and nearly 1 billion contributions to public and open-source projects.
The same headline metrics recorded 5.6 billion contributions to all projects. Octoverse 2024
| GitHub measure | 2024 result | Definition or scope |
|---|---|---|
| Total projects | 518 million | GitHub platform total |
| New repositories | 108 million | Created during 2024 |
| Contributions | Nearly 1 billion | Public and open-source projects |
| Contributions | 5.6 billion | All GitHub projects |
| GitHub Education participants | More than 7 million | Verified program participants |
GitHub reported 137,000 public generative-AI projects in 2024, with the number growing 98% year over year and contributions to those projects increasing 59%. Developers created more than 70,000 new public and open-source generative-AI projects during 2024, while another Octoverse headline described almost 60% more total contributions to generative-AI projects.
The report’s project and contribution definitions are platform-specific, and its keyword-based generative-AI classification is narrower than all AI software.
Security, Productivity, and Software Development Work Practices
Security activity is one of the clearest reasons adoption statistics need operational definitions. GitHub secret scanning detected more than 39 million secret leaks in 2024, but detections are not necessarily unique incidents or confirmed compromises. Octoverse 2024
GitHub’s 2024 open-source survey also measured security priorities and AI use among its open-source community sample:
- 82% considered secure-by-design important when using an open-source project.
- 65% prioritized secure-by-design when contributing.
- 73% reported using AI tools for coding or documentation.
These are self-reported attitudes and behaviors within an open-source community sample, not measurements of every software team. The survey also found that 30% of respondents classified themselves as minorities, 9 percentage points higher than in the prior survey and reported by GitHub as a 43% relative increase; those comparisons depend on consistent sampling and identity categories.
Productivity-tool access has its own defined population. More than 1 million maintainers, teachers, and students used GitHub Copilot for free in the 2024 headline metrics, and adoption within that complimentary program grew 100% year over year.
This is program-specific growth, not total Copilot adoption.
Finally, GitHub’s 2024 usage graphic showed nearly 1 million repositories including a Dockerfile. Repository file presence does not prove container deployment or active maintenance, but it remains a measurable indicator of container-related configuration appearing across the platform.