Top Resources for Tracking Programming Language Popularity in 2025

Reliable language popularity data keeps hiring plans and roadmap bets aligned as ecosystems like Python and Rust shift in demand.1

Leading Ranking Sites

TIOBE Index

Site: TIOBE Index Focus: Ranks languages by search engine queries, courses, and vendor mentions to gauge broad popularity. Strengths: Monthly historical data makes it easy to spot sustained climbs or dips before committing training budget.2

RedMonk Language Rankings

Site: RedMonk Language Rankings Focus: Blends GitHub activity with Stack Overflow discussion volume to measure community engagement. Strengths: Semiannual reports highlight which languages sustain real-world usage beyond hype.3

Stack Overflow Developer Survey

Site: Stack Overflow Survey Focus: Annual survey reporting most used, wanted, and admired languages across millions of developers. Strengths: Loved vs. dreaded breakouts pair sentiment with adoption data for hiring plans.4

PYPL Index

Site: PYPL Index Focus: Tracks Google tutorial searches to infer learning momentum. Strengths: Monthly updates expose languages gaining new learners before they overtake rankings elsewhere.5

Statistics Times

Site: Statistics Times Focus: Aggregates TIOBE, PYPL, and other indices for cross-verified comparisons. Strengths: Validates outliers by contrasting methodologies and commentary across industry reports.6

W3Techs Usage Statistics

Site: W3Techs Focus: Measures server-side language usage across websites and top domains. Strengths: Continuous crawl data reveals backend adoption shifts that rankings can miss.7

OSS Insight

Site: OSS Insight Focus: Ranks GitHub repositories by stars, pull requests, and issues. Strengths: Highlights contributor velocity so you can gauge ecosystem health monthly.8

Comparing Top Languages Across Indices

Data sources: TIOBE (Oct 2025)2, RedMonk (Q1 2025)3, Stack Overflow (2025)4.

Rank	TIOBE (Oct 2025)	RedMonk (Q1 2025)	Stack Overflow (2025)
1	Python	JavaScript	JavaScript
2	C	Python	Python
3	C++	Java	TypeScript
4	Java	PHP	HTML/CSS
5	C#	C#	SQL

Python holds 24.45% in TIOBE despite a slight dip, while JavaScript dominates RedMonk and Stack Overflow thanks to web demand.1 3 4 C and C++ remain staples for systems work, and Rust continues climbing Stack Overflow’s charts for its safety-first tooling.4

Honorable Mentions

• Index.dev Blog: Business-focused TIOBE and PYPL commentary for stakeholder decks.9
• TestDevLab: QA-centric overview spotlighting Rust and Kotlin adoption in testing pipelines.10
• Semaphore: Tracks emerging contenders like Zig and Mojo for early experimentation plans.12

For iOS-heavy shops, monitor how Swift moves in Stack Overflow sentiment and RedMonk activity to balance native work with cross-team Python integrations.3 4 Available data current as of October 2025—verify before sharing.