What the 2025 Stack Overflow Survey Reveals About the Hottest Languages, Databases, and AI Tools

Most Popular Database – Among professional developers, 49.09% now use PostgreSQL, a 2.61‑point rise from the previous year, pushing MySQL (40.59%) to second place and SQLite (30.17%) to third. DynamoDB (10.31%) surpasses Oracle (10.06%) to rank ninth. For learners, MySQL remains dominant (45.71%), followed by MongoDB (28.15%) and SQLite (26.93%).

Most Popular Programming Language – JavaScript has been the top language for eleven consecutive years. Python has moved ahead of SQL to become the third‑most popular, while Bash/Shell, C, Ruby, Perl and Erlang each climbed one rank. Usage of Go and Rust also increased compared with last year.

Highest‑Paying Language – Zig developers report a median annual salary of $103,611 (≈ ¥740,000). Zig is positioned as a general‑purpose language aiming to replace C in system programming. PHP and Dart rank at the bottom of the salary list, and Clojure, which topped last year, fell to fifth place.

Most Popular Web Frameworks and Technologies – Node.js and React.js are tied as the leading web technologies among professionals; among learners, Node.js leads slightly (52% vs 48%). Other notable choices include jQuery, Express, Angular, Next.js and Vue.js.

Most Preferred IDE – Visual Studio Code remains the top integrated development environment, with usage rising from 75% to 81% of respondents.

Most Popular AI Search Tool – ChatGPT is used by 83% of developers, followed by Bing AI (20%), WolframAlpha (13%) and Google Bard (10%).

Most Popular AI Development Tool – GitHub Copilot leads with 55% adoption, while Tabnine (13%) and AWS CodeWhisperer (5%) trail behind.

Trust in AI Tools – Less than 3% of users express high trust in AI tool accuracy, whereas about 6% express strong distrust. Approximately 39% report “some trust,” and 30% indicate no trust at all.

AI Tool Usage Scenarios – 82.55% of developers use AI tools to assist code writing; other uses include debugging, documentation, learning codebases, and testing.

Future Expectations – Both professional developers and learners believe AI tools will noticeably change development workflows within the next year.