---
title: "Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026
year: 2026
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026

In the whirlwind that has been the last year of technological innovation and market uncertainty, we don’t blame you if you’re feeling burnt out. If keeping up with the latest and greatest in the tech world has been difficult for you, have no fear, because the Stack Overflow Annual Developer Survey is here! 

For the sixteenth year, we’ve asked developers and technologists about everything from how they’re using AI to how happy they are at work to where they’re learning new skills. This year’s survey boils down to one question: **How are you doing?**

## At a glance

- 30,903 responses
- 169 countries reached
- 467 technologies examined
- 103 questions asked across 5 categories

## Chapters

- [Work](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work) · [all data](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data): Well, it ain’t what it used to be. This year, we’re finding survey respondents are less happy in their work—the numbers are showing less happy folks and more unhappy ones.  All that innovation and uncertainty can make it tough to feel comfortable in your job.
- [AI](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai) · [all data](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data): How are technologists using AI?
- [Technology](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology) · [all data](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data): What's your favorite tech? It wouldn’t be a Stack Overflow Developer Survey if we didn’t include our technology leaderboard!
- [Community](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community) · [all data](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/community/data): What’s the developer community up to? Whether you’ve become best buds with an AI-powered chatbot or have taken up the anti-AI pitchforks alongside the other luddites, we can all recognize how much AI has changed. We saw that very clearly reflected in this year’s survey—especially in how developers are engaging with knowledge and community.
- [Knowledge](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge) · [all data](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/knowledge/data): What does everyone need to know? In software development, context seems to be the reigning king this year, whether or not AI agents are involved. But the right context is not always reaching developers at the right time.

## Headline figures

### Work

#### So…how’s work going for you?  33% say they are not happy at work this year.

Asked as: How satisfied are you in your current professional role? (`JobSat`, nps, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 18,876

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Complacent at Work | 8,516 | 45.1% |
| Not Happy at Work | 6,161 | 32.6% |
| Happy at Work | 4,199 | 22.2% |

> “AI has the potential to reshape the entire software and product development life cycle, but realizing that potential requires a foundational change to workflows, roles, and ownership.”
>
> — Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar interview with McKinsey

#### Many are not taking this lying down: more and more technologists are finding freedom in freelance and self-employment.

The percentage of freelance or self-employed responses jumped from 3.9% to 10.5% just this year.

Asked as: Approximately how many people are employed by your employer? This should only include your primary company. If you had more than one employer, please consider the one you spent most of your time working for in the past year. (`OrgSize`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 21,115

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| 10,000 or more employees | 2,941 | 13.9% |
| 5,000 to 9,999 employees | 1,017 | 4.8% |
| 1,000 to 4,999 employees | 2,409 | 11.4% |
| 500 to 999 employees | 1,307 | 6.2% |
| 100 to 499 employees | 3,474 | 16.5% |
| 20 to 99 employees | 3,677 | 17.4% |
| Less than 20 employees | 3,555 | 16.8% |
| Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc. | 2,213 | 10.5% |
| I don’t know | 522 | 2.5% |

Stack Overflow CEO Prashanth Chandrasekar recently spoke to Computing’s Ctrl Alt Lead podcast about why this might be the case: “With AI, every individual becomes almost a manager of agents. That's a sea change from just an individual that's writing code.” It seems that agents are superpowering some developers' work, making it easier for them to set a solo course backed up by their own team of agents—instead of taking their decreasing satisfaction at work on the chin.

### AI

#### 62% like using AI

To the surprise of no one, AI use has skyrocketed over the last year. Devs are using AI more than ever before in their daily work—80% of respondents from this year’s survey used AI at least an hour per day. And with increased usage has come increased favor: now more than 60% of respondents have a favorable attitude towards AI tool use in their work.

Asked as: How would you describe your attitude toward using AI tools or agents as part of your work? (`AISentiment`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 14,428

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very favorable | 4,564 | 31.6% |
| Somewhat favorable | 4,385 | 30.4% |
| Neutral | 2,205 | 15.3% |
| Somewhat unfavorable | 2,110 | 14.6% |
| Very unfavorable | 994 | 6.9% |
| Not sure | 170 | 1.2% |

#### How much do you trust the output from AI tools or AI agents as part of your workflow?

And technologists have figured out better ways to use their AI tools—and place more trust in them. This year, more than 87% of respondents had some level of trust in AI’s outputs, a huge increase from 31% last year. But that trust is conditional—48% trust AI only when it comes to low risk, easily verifiable tasks.

Asked as: How much do you trust the output from AI tools or AI agents as part of your workflow? (`AITrust`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 14,304

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| I trust it when I can easily verify the output | 6,872 | 48.0% |
| I trust it for many tasks, but not important work decisions | 2,329 | 16.3% |
| I trust it for low-risk work tasks only | 2,326 | 16.3% |
| I do not trust it for most work tasks | 1,754 | 12.3% |
| I trust it for many tasks, including important work decisions | 949 | 6.6% |
| Not sure / I do not use AI tools | 74 | 0.5% |

#### And how exactly are AI users verifying the outcomes of an AI-generated answers?

Well, 93% of our respondents think that it all comes down to citing your sources. AI technology may have improved by leaps and bounds over last year, but it’s responses aren’t trustworthy enough yet to take at face value.

Asked as: How important is source attribution when deciding whether to trust an AI-generated technical answer? (`KnowledgeSourceAI`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 13,945

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very important | 7,269 | 52.1% |
| Important | 3,701 | 26.5% |
| Somewhat important | 1,956 | 14.0% |

### Technology

#### Top programming languages used for AI shows Python leading at 39% usage

While the top-used technologies of the year—JavaScript, SQL, HTML/CSS, Python, and Bash/Shell—may not surprise you, how they are being used just might. For instance, when it comes to coding agents, AI seems to love Python above nearly all else, coming in at 39% usage.

Asked as: Which programming, scripting, and markup languages have you done extensive development work in over the past year, which do you want to work with over the next year, and which have you used AI tools or AI agents to work with? Select all that apply in each row. (`Languages`, scale, optional, v2026.1)

Used for AI · n = 14,099

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| JavaScript | 5,419 | 38.4% |
| SQL | 4,207 | 29.8% |
| HTML/CSS | 4,692 | 33.3% |
| Python | 5,495 | 39.0% |
| Bash/Shell (all shells) | 4,038 | 28.6% |
| TypeScript | 4,293 | 30.4% |
| Java | 2,052 | 14.6% |
| C# | 2,277 | 16.2% |
| PowerShell | 2,057 | 14.6% |
| C++ | 1,595 | 11.3% |

#### Top programming languages used by those with 16+ years of professional work experience

For both the seasoned developer and the green AI-assisted developer alike, JavaScript comes out near the top, trailing SQL (the first-place winner) by just one point.

Asked as: Which programming, scripting, and markup languages have you done extensive development work in over the past year, which do you want to work with over the next year, and which have you used AI tools or AI agents to work with? Select all that apply in each row. (`Languages`, scale, optional, v2026.1)

16+ yrs work exp · n = 5,296

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| JavaScript | 3,282 | 62.0% |
| SQL | 3,337 | 63.0% |
| HTML/CSS | 2,987 | 56.4% |
| Python | 2,818 | 53.2% |
| Bash/Shell (all shells) | 2,740 | 51.7% |

#### When it comes to building vs. buying—the age-old trolley problem of software development—only 19% of our respondents are building their own tools to replace vendors.

However, of those that are building instead of buying, over half are using AI tools to help them do it, showing AI’s utility for developers looking to bring their SaaS in-house.

Asked as: Have you used or been involved with building in-house software in the past year? Are you planning to do so in the next year? Select all work functions from the list below that apply. (`BuildTool`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 13,338

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Small scripts/automations | 10,304 | 77.3% |
| Team-level internal tools | 8,398 | 63.0% |
| Customer-facing products | 7,254 | 54.4% |
| Cross-team/platform tools | 6,130 | 46.0% |
| Replacing paid vendors | 2,482 | 18.6% |

### Community

#### How do you search for answers?

While the lion’s share of respondents still seek guidance from traditional search tools when they face a new challenge, nearly 70% of technologists also use AI agents to help them solve problems—beating out maintained repositories and trusted humans as direct sources of learning.

Asked as: Which actions do you turn to first when trying to find answers to a problem? Select your top 3 choices. (`Answers`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 16,664

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Use online search tools to find general guidance and/or discourse | 13,774 | 82.7% |
| Ask an AI agent | 11,643 | 69.9% |
| Go directly to a maintained repository or more than one and search within its contents (this could be a repository like Wikipedia or IMDB or GitHub projects) | 7,288 | 43.7% |
| Send a message to a human I trust directly | 4,803 | 28.8% |
| Post a message in a group text or private discussion among humans I know | 2,462 | 14.8% |

#### When you need to answer a work-related question, which sources do you use most often?

When it comes to work-related questions, however, developers are still turning to the humans in their loops—also known as coworkers and teammates—first in order to get the answers they need (72%), with code repositories (63%) and internal documentation (60%) following as close runner-ups.

Asked as: When you need to answer a work-related question, which sources do you use most often? Select up to 5. (`KnowledgeQ`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 14,462

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Coworkers or teammates | 10,405 | 71.9% |
| Code repositories or code comments | 9,065 | 62.7% |
| Internal documentation (i.e. Design, product, or planning docs), wiki, or knowledge base | 8,687 | 60.1% |
| Internal chat tools, such as Slack or Teams | 6,572 | 45.4% |
| Official docs | 4,415 | 30.5% |

#### Nearly two-thirds of developers rely less on Stack Overflow for straightforward questions due to AI, with 29% asking fewer questions overall.

64% visiting less for simple questions

Asked as: How has AI changed your Stack Overflow usage? Select all that apply. (`SOChange`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 16,985

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Visit less for simple questions | 10,892 | 64.1% |
| Ask fewer questions | 4,910 | 28.9% |
| Contribute less | 4,496 | 26.5% |
| No change | 3,704 | 21.8% |
| Visit more for verification (for example, source attribution) | 2,707 | 15.9% |
| Other | 1,084 | 6.4% |
| Ask more advanced questions | 967 | 5.7% |
| Visit SO more because AI-generated answers lead you there | 965 | 5.7% |
| Contribute more | 203 | 1.2% |

### Knowledge

#### What gets in the way of you getting the context you need for work?

Over 63% of developers find incomplete information to be a barrier to getting the right context at work, while 79% regularly discover the important context they need only after the fact. A lot of time goes into that context search, 75% spent five plus hours searching for answers.

Asked as: Which of the following make it difficult to get the context you need for work? Select all that apply. (`ContextProblems`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 12,374

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Information is incomplete | 7,825 | 63.2% |
| Important context lives in people’s heads | 7,541 | 60.9% |
| Information is outdated | 6,989 | 56.5% |
| Information is spread across too many tools | 6,603 | 53.4% |
| I do not know where to look | 3,816 | 30.8% |

#### How often do you discover important work context only after you have already started or completed a task?

This has left teams with a bit of a problem of their own creation. Developers have relied on the expert knowledge from [resources like technical documentation](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/developers#2-how-did-you-learn-to-code), Stack Overflow, or online search to drive their work, but, as reported in a pulse survey earlier this year, we know [low-effort documentation](https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/03/16/domain-expertise-still-wanted-the-latest-trends-in-ai/) is leading to more and more dissatisfaction in AI-driven work.

Asked as: How often do you discover important work context only after you have already started or completed a task? (`ContextFreq`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 12,687

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Very often | 1,539 | 12.1% |
| Often | 2,964 | 23.4% |
| Sometimes | 5,465 | 43.1% |
| Rarely | 2,136 | 16.8% |

> “AI is forcing software organizations to document the judgment they previously relied on people to supply.”
>
> — Stack Overflow Chief Product and Technology Officer [Jody Bailey told CTO Uncovered](https://www.ctouncovered.com/p/jody-bailey)

#### 31% of respondents say that the accuracy of AI answers is important to the adoption or expansion of AI tool use.

Asked as: When you or your organization decides whether to adopt, continue using, or expand use of an AI tool or model for your work, which factors matter most? Select up to 3. (`AIAdopt`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 11,462

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| The tool produces useful and accurate results | 3,520 | 30.7% |
| The tool meets security, privacy requirements | 3,290 | 28.7% |
| The price is acceptable for the value it provides | 3,090 | 27.0% |
| The tool meets legal or compliance requirements | 2,557 | 22.3% |
| Not sure | 2,522 | 22.0% |

#### Project goals or requirements (85%) and code, repositories, or technical documentation (73%) are the top important sources for context at work

And the most important context for AI agents and assistants to have? Why, your internal projects, of course! Project requirements (85%) and the code and docs themselves (73%) are the two most important contexts that developers need their AI agents to have.

Asked as: When working on a project or task, which types of context are most important for you to have? Select up to 5. (`ContextSelect`, multi select, optional, v2026.1)

All Respondents · n = 12,678

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| Project goals or requirements | 10,806 | 85.2% |
| Code, repositories, or technical documentation | 9,297 | 73.3% |
| Prior decisions and rationale | 5,580 | 44.0% |
| Related tickets, tasks, or issues | 4,679 | 36.9% |
| Business goals or product strategy | 4,189 | 33.0% |
| Pull requests, commit history, or release notes | 3,332 | 26.3% |
| Customer or user feedback | 3,296 | 26.0% |
| Team norms, preferences, or ways of working | 3,183 | 25.1% |
| Compliance, security, or policy requirements | 2,498 | 19.7% |
| Current status or ownership | 2,490 | 19.6% |
| Past discussions in chat, email, or meetings | 2,000 | 15.8% |
| Data, dashboards, or reports | 932 | 7.4% |
| I do not usually need additional context | 266 | 2.1% |
| Other | 79 | 0.6% |