PHP Overtakes Go in TIOBE Index: Insights from the 2026 Rankings

Top 20 Languages (August 2026)

Python – Rank 1 – 18.53% share – YoY ‑7.61%

C – Rank 2 – 11.10% share – YoY +2.07%

C++ – Rank 3 – 8.62% share – YoY ‑0.56%

Java – Rank 4 – 8.25% share – YoY ‑0.34%

C# – Rank 5 – 4.09% share – YoY ‑1.43%

JavaScript – Rank 6 – 2.63% share – YoY ‑0.52%

Visual Basic – Rank 7 – 2.18% share – YoY ‑0.15%

SQL – Rank 8 – 1.88% share – YoY +0.16%

R – Rank 9 – 1.56% share – YoY +0.19%

Rust – Rank 10 – 1.45% share – YoY +0.31%

Delphi/Object Pascal – Rank 11 – 1.37% share – YoY ‑0.46%

Scratch – Rank 12 – 1.27% share – YoY +0.12%

PHP – Rank 13 – 1.11% share – YoY ‑0.16%

Go – Rank 14 – 1.07% share – YoY ‑1.04%

Fortran – Rank 15 – 0.99% share – YoY ‑0.77%

Ruby – Rank 16 – 0.98% share – YoY +0.23%

Swift – Rank 17 – 0.96% share – YoY +0.19%

Perl – Rank 18 – 0.94% share – YoY ‑1.13%

COBOL – Rank 19 – 0.87% share – YoY +0.02%

Assembly – Rank 20 – 0.86% share – YoY ‑0.16%

Key Trend Analysis

1. Head‑line Landscape – Python cools, low‑level languages stabilize

Python remains #1 but its 7.61 percentage‑point YoY decline indicates the AI‑driven surge is plateauing. System languages C and C++ stay stable; C gains 2.07 pp YoY and reclaims #2, reflecting continued demand in systems and embedded development. Java and C# show little movement, preserving their enterprise bases.

2. Rust’s first Top‑10 appearance

Rust enters the Top 10 for the first time, the most notable change this month. Its memory‑safety and garbage‑collector‑free design continue to attract developers and enterprises, expanding usage in operating systems, infrastructure tools, and game engines, and exerting pressure on traditional C/C++ domains.

3. Divergence among established languages

Declining camp: MATLAB drops out of the Top 20 after more than a decade; Perl falls from #9 to #18; Fortran slides four places; Go slips six places. Paid‑license models and slower ecosystem evolution are cited as factors.

Rising camp: SQL and R gain modestly (+0.16 pp and +0.19 pp) driven by persistent data‑science demand; Ruby and Swift show small rebounds (+0.23 pp and +0.19 pp).

4. Emerging languages with continued growth

Zig and OCaml have maintained multi‑quarter growth despite not yet entering the Top 20. Zig positions itself as “a better C” and is gaining traction in system‑level projects; OCaml’s functional and type‑safe features keep it popular in finance and compiler toolchains.

Index Explanation

The TIOBE index is refreshed monthly. It aggregates the number of engineers, related courses, and third‑party vendor data, combined with search volume from Google, Bing, Amazon, Wikipedia and over 20 other platforms. The index reflects search popularity and mind‑share, not language quality, production code volume, or employment rates, and can serve as a reference for technology selection and skill‑learning trends.

Source: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/