---
title: "Reasons to endorse a technology — Work data 2026"
url: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data/tech-endorse
year: 2026
chapter: "work"
question: "TechEndorse"
section: "Employer + technology details"
licence: "ODbL 1.0 (https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/)"
---

# Reasons to endorse a technology

Reliability is the leading recommendation driver at 17%, followed by productivity at 16%. AI features motivate only 2.3%, below community, developer experience, flexibility, trust, and documentation.

Asked as: Thinking about technologies you enjoy using for work, school, or personal projects, what is the main reason you would recommend one to others? Select one. (`TechEndorse`, single select, optional, v2026.1)

## Options offered

1. It helps me be more productive or save time
2. It is easy to learn and use
3. It has excellent documentation, examples, or learning resources
4. It has a strong developer experience, such as APIs, SDKs, tooling, or integrations
5. It is reliable, performant, and stable
6. It is flexible, customizable, or easy to adapt to my needs
7. It has strong security, privacy, or compliance features
8. It has a strong community, ecosystem, or open-source presence
9. It has a reputation for quality and long-term trustworthiness
10. It has manageable cost, pricing, or licensing
11. It has useful AI features or agent capabilities
12. I would not recommend any technology I use
13. I’m not sure
14. Other, please specify (with free-text entry)

## Results

### All Respondents

n = 22,371

|  | Respondents | Percent |
| --- | ---: | ---: |
| It is reliable, performant, and stable | 3,874 | 17.3% |
| It helps me be more productive or save time | 3,563 | 15.9% |
| It has a strong community, ecosystem, or open-source presence | 2,888 | 12.9% |
| It has a strong developer experience, such as APIs, SDKs, tooling, or integrations | 2,541 | 11.4% |
| It is flexible, customizable, or easy to adapt to my needs | 1,678 | 7.5% |
| It has a reputation for quality and long-term trustworthiness | 1,666 | 7.5% |
| It has excellent documentation, examples, or learning resources | 1,370 | 6.1% |
| It is easy to learn and use | 1,226 | 5.5% |
| I’m not sure | 1,223 | 5.5% |
| Other, please specify | 632 | 2.8% |
| It has useful AI features or agent capabilities | 505 | 2.3% |
| It has strong security, privacy, or compliance features | 423 | 1.9% |
| It has manageable cost, pricing, or licensing | 421 | 1.9% |
| I would not recommend any technology I use | 361 | 1.6% |

In context: https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/work/data.md