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Stack Overflow Dev Survey 2026

Importance of information accuracy

Our analysis

Accuracy is the expectation for official docs, API documentation, and code repos; chat tools and Stack Overflow face lower accuracy expectations.
Importance of information accuracyAll Respondents · n = 14,049All RespondentsImportance of information accuracyImportantLeast importantNot very importantSomewhat importantVery importantCode and comments28%6%65%Coworkers or teammates34%8%57%Customer and sales info29%17%51%Internal chat tools44%19%35%Internal docs and wikis36%12%51%Manager or leadership31%9%60%Meeting notes37%4%24%35%None of these14%9%5%16%55%Not sure17%9%5%26%43%Official docs22%5%73%Past decisions37%4%20%38%Product and API docs25%6%68%Ticketing tools41%15%41%Stack Overflow41%3%25%30%Vendor forum36%3%22%38%14,049Data licensed under Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0
All Respondents · n = 14,049
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Format

Question

For each source, how important is it that information you use to operate is accurate?
  • scale
  • Optional
  • v2026.1
  • Carries forward KnowledgeQ

Data

ImportantLeast importantNot very importantSomewhat importantVery important
Code repositories or code comments27.6%0.1%0.7%6.3%65.2%
Coworkers or teammates34.1%0.1%0.7%8.4%56.7%
Customer, support, or sales information28.9%0.9%2.6%17.1%50.6%
Internal chat tools, such as Slack or Teams43.8%0.3%2.3%18.6%35.0%
Internal documentation (i.e. Design, product, or planning docs), wiki, or knowledge base35.9%0.2%1.2%11.9%50.9%
Manager or leadership30.8%0.1%0.8%8.6%59.6%
Meeting notes or transcripts37.0%0.9%3.8%23.8%34.5%
None of these14.3%9.2%5.1%16.3%55.1%
Not sure17.4%9.4%4.7%25.5%43.0%
Official docs21.7%0.1%0.7%5.0%72.5%
Past decisions or architecture records37.4%0.2%3.7%20.3%38.4%
Product, vendor, or API documentation25.3%0.0%0.8%5.5%68.4%
Project management or ticketing tools41.2%0.4%2.0%15.2%41.2%
Stack Overflow40.9%0.7%3.4%25.0%30.0%
Vendor forum36.0%0.5%3.2%22.1%38.2%

Use this data

The Markdown table shows one column per segment; the CSV and JSON carry every measure.

Response data is released under the ODbL 1.0, which asks that you attribute it.

Structured for code, with the question, the year and the source url alongside the numbers.

A formatted table, ready to paste into a document, an issue or a prompt.

Spreadsheet

.csv is a plain text format which most spreadsheet software can open.