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Python’s 2025 momentum in Stack Overflow’s developer survey and TypeScript’s lead in GitHub contributor counts are not contradictory: the two reports measure different things. One records what survey respondents say they worked with or want to use; the other counts activity on a particular development platform. Neither ranking, on its own, identifies the best language for a project.
Why the rankings disagree
A language can rank highly because many developers report using it, because many contributors work with it on a platform, or because it produces more of a particular kind of activity. Those are different signals, so a ranking is meaningful only when its publisher, date, population, and metric are clear.
| Source and date | What it measures | What the result says |
|---|---|---|
| Stack Overflow Developer Survey, 2025 | Self-reported answers to a question about languages used for extensive development work over the past year and languages respondents want to work with over the next year. | Python’s reported adoption rose 7 percentage points from 2024 to 2025. This is a change among survey respondents, not a census of all developers. |
| GitHub Octoverse, August 2025 | Contributors using languages on GitHub. | TypeScript became the most-used language on GitHub by contributor count, passing Python by about 42,000 contributors. |
| GitHub Octoverse, 2024 | A broad platform-activity measure, as well as a separate code-push measure. | Python led the broad activity measure; JavaScript remained first for code pushes alone. |
GitHub’s 2025 report cautions that indices use different methods and may put JavaScript or Python higher. The ranking therefore describes GitHub’s chosen contributor-count measure, not a universal order of language popularity.
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Stack Overflow asked: “Which programming, scripting, and markup languages have you done extensive development work in over the past year, and which do you want to work in over the next year?” The question combines a retrospective use measure with a future preference measure; those should not be mistaken for one statistic.
The 2025 survey received more than 49,000 responses from 177 countries and covered 62 questions and 314 technologies. The language question received 31,771 responses. Its percentages describe the people who answered, not every programmer worldwide. See Stack Overflow’s 2025 survey results.
What GitHub’s numbers count
Contributor counts in 2025
GitHub’s Octoverse says TypeScript became its most-used language by contributor count in August 2025, ahead of Python by about 42,000 contributors. That is evidence of substantial activity by contributors on GitHub; it does not establish that TypeScript is the most-used language in every workplace, country, or kind of software project. Read GitHub’s 2025 Octoverse report.
Rank #2
Broad activity versus code pushes in 2024
GitHub’s 2024 broad activity measure combined commits, issues, pull requests, comments, discussions, pushed code, and reviewed pull requests. Python led that measure, while JavaScript remained first when the comparison counted code pushes alone. A language can therefore lead one platform ranking and not another without either result being wrong. Read GitHub’s 2024 Octoverse report.
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What these figures suggest about language use
Python: strong association with AI, data science, and back-end work
Stack Overflow associates Python with AI, data science, and back-end development, and GitHub says Python remains dominant for AI and data science workloads. These are broad patterns, not exclusive assignments: the findings do not mean Python is appropriate for every project in those areas or unsuitable elsewhere.
GitHub’s 2024 Octoverse also quoted Deb Nicholson, executive director of the Python Software Foundation, on Python’s continued rise on GitHub alongside increased use of Jupyter Notebooks, data analysis, AI, and open-source technology. That observation describes the platform trend, not a separate measure of worldwide language use.
TypeScript: a contributor-count lead, not a project-fit verdict
TypeScript’s 2025 position says that it had the most contributors on GitHub under that report’s measure. The ranking does not tell you which project types are best served by TypeScript or prove it is a better choice than another language for your application.
JavaScript: a reminder to check the activity being ranked
JavaScript’s first-place position for GitHub code pushes in 2024, alongside Python’s lead in the broader activity measure, shows how a result changes with the activity counted. “Most used” needs a metric attached to it.
Rust: admiration is not usage share
In Stack Overflow’s 2025 survey, Rust was the most admired language at 72%. Stack Overflow’s admired-versus-desired view concerns continued-use interest among existing users and wanting to use a technology; it is not a measure of Rust’s share of all development work, nor proof of universal technical superiority. See Stack Overflow’s technology results.
Best Value
How to use popularity data when choosing what to learn or build
- Identify the metric. Check whether the number represents self-reported work, interest in future use, contributors, broad platform activity, or code pushes. Do not compare unlike measures as if they were the same.
- Check the scope and date. A Stack Overflow survey describes its respondents in a particular survey year; a GitHub ranking describes activity on GitHub at the stated time. Neither automatically represents every developer or organization.
- Match the evidence to your goal. The available findings support broad associations for Python with AI, data science, and back-end development. They do not provide a complete language-by-project decision matrix, and TypeScript’s contributor lead alone does not establish application fit.
- Make the project decision on its own requirements. Consider required platforms and libraries, ecosystem maturity, team familiarity, maintainability, and your learning goal. These are useful decision factors, not measurements supplied by the rankings.
Use popularity figures as context: they can indicate where communities and activity are concentrated, but they cannot substitute for requirements analysis or tell you which language is right for a specific project.
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