The State of C++ 2025
This report draws on insights from the JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 to explore how C++ developers are working today – from the standards they adopt and the tools they rely on to their testing approaches, build systems, and the growing role of AI. Based on responses from 1,800 C++ developers from 22 countries, The State of C++ 2025 shows how C++ is adapting to modern development trends while staying true to its performance-oriented roots.
From embedded systems to large-scale applications, C++ continues to demonstrate its versatility. We hope this report helps you see how the language and its ecosystem are evolving and where your own work fits into that story.
Which C++ standards do you regularly use?
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | – | – | – | 7% | C++26 |
| – | – | – | – | 10% | 15% | 21% | C++23 |
| – | 12% | 18% | 23% | 29% | 36% | 34% | C++20 |
| 26% | 41% | 42% | 41% | 43% | 45% | 43% | C++17 |
| 33% | 39% | 30% | 25% | 21% | 19% | 16% | C++14 |
| 63% | 46% | 40% | 31% | 27% | 26% | 24% | C++11 |
| 18% | 13% | 12% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 9% | C++98 / C++03 |
| – | – | 11% | 14% | 13% | 8% | 12% | I'm not sure |
of C++ developers were early adopters of the C++26 standard in 2025. By contrast, most upgrade plans point to C++20 or C++23, indicating the slow pace of C++26 adoption.
C++14 is losing the most users, with 60% planning to switch to newer standards.
remains the most common standard (43%), but C++20 (34%) and C++23 (21%) are gaining traction.
Why are you staying with the C++ standard you’re currently using?
More than two-thirds of C++ developers consider their current standard sufficient. 28% cite dependency constraints as their reason not to upgrade, and 17% lack the resources required for migration.
Which IDE or editor do you use the most for C++ development?
Note: Despite all the measures we've taken to secure a representative pool of respondents, the results may be slightly skewed toward users of JetBrains products, as they may have been more likely to participate in the survey.
VS Code (33%), CLion (23%), and Visual Studio (21%) lead the field, together accounting for more than three-quarters of C++ developers. The rest of the market is split among niche tools like Vim, Qt Creator, and Rider, each with only a few percent.
Which plugins for Visual Studio do you use?
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25% | 26% | 23% | 27% | 26% | ReSharper C++ |
| 22% | 27% | 22% | 17% | 14% | Visual Assist |
| 11% | 11% | 8% | 11% | 10% | ReSharper |
| 6% | 5% | 8% | 5% | 9% | CodeMaid |
| 3% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 3% | AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio |
| 3% | 2% | 3% | 5% | 5% | CodeRush |
| 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | Roslynator |
| 6% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 3% | Other |
| 48% | 42% | 49% | 52% | 49% | None |
ReSharper C++ (26%) and Visual Assist (14%) are the top plugins, while nearly half of Visual Studio users report not using any plugins at all.
Which unit testing frameworks do you regularly use?
GoogleTest is the most widely used framework, used by 31% of C++ developers, yet more than one-third skip unit tests entirely.
Which libraries do you use in your C++ projects?
32%
30%
Boost
28%
24%
Qt
24%
26%
OpenCV
20%
22%
OpenSSL
17%
15%
zlib
15%
15%
libcurl
15%
9%
TensorFlow
Boost (32%), Qt (28%), and OpenCV (24%) remain the leading libraries, while TensorFlow adoption has grown to 15%.
What do you use to manage your first-party and third-party libraries in C++?
Most C++ developers manage libraries using system package managers (36%) or include source code directly (35%). Dedicated tools like vcpkg (11%) or Conan (6%) see comparatively limited use.
Which project models or build systems do you regularly use?
CMake dominates C++ build systems at 59%, ahead of Visual Studio projects (34%) and Makefiles (27%).
Which compilers do you regularly use?
GCC (70%), Clang (45%), and MSVC (27%) dominate.
Which other programming languages do you use in your projects along with C++?
Python stands out as the most common companion to C++ projects (51%), with C (30%) and shell scripting languages (21%) also widely used.
Which of the following tools do you or your team use to enforce code guidelines, run code analysis, or ensure code quality in other ways?
ClangFormat (29%), IDE features (28%), and Clang-Tidy (27%) are nearly tied as the leading tools for code quality. Still, more than a quarter of developers say they don’t use any such tools.
Which standards or guidelines do you follow when coding in C++?
The Google C++ Style Guide leads at 31%, with Clang-Tidy (26%) and ClangFormat (25%) following close behind. One-third of developers report not following any style guide.
How likely are you to try AI coding agents in the next 12 months?
44%
50%
Very likely
21%
21%
Somewhat likely
11%
10%
Not sure
7%
4%
Somewhat unlikely
8%
5%
Very unlikely
8%
11%
I already use AI coding agents
In your opinion, how likely is your company to try AI coding agents in the next 12 months?
42%
43%
Very likely
24%
21%
Somewhat likely
14%
15%
Not sure
6%
5%
Somewhat unlikely
7%
5%
Very unlikely
7%
10%
My company is already using AI coding agents
In your opinion, why would your company not be likely to try AI coding agents in the next 12 months?
54%
52%
Data privacy and security concerns
48%
29%
Concerns about intellectual property rights over code generated by such tools
19%
19%
Difficulty in incorporating such tools into existing workflows and systems
18%
13%
Distrust of new technologies
16%
19%
Processes and decision-making for adopting new technologies are slow and conservative
16%
14%
Coders don’t see value in such tools or services
15%
13%
We have no resources for investigating the benefits and risks of adopting such tools
44% of C++ developers are very likely to try AI coding tools in the next year, compared to 50% of developers who use other languages. Just 8% of C developers are already using AI, with security and IP concerns cited as the main blockers to adoption, followed by slow internal processes and lack of awareness.
Which types of AI- or LLM-powered tools or services are used in your organization?
45%
55%
Third-party cloud-based AI tools or services
27%
18%
Organization’s own cloud-based AI tools or services
21%
16%
Organization’s own local, non-cloud-based AI tools or services
18%
13%
Third-party cloud-based AI tools or services managed and hosted by my company
14%
11%
Third-party locally installed, non-cloud-based AI tools or services
6%
9%
I don’t know
1%
1%
Other
12%
11%
None
Among C++ developers, cloud-based third-party AI tools lead with 45% usage. Local or organization-hosted solutions rank second, with 27% adoption.
8%
8%
Less than 1 hour
23%
20%
From 1 to less than 2 hours
28%
30%
From 2 to less than 4 hours
19%
19%
From 4 to less than 8 hours
16%
19%
8 hours or more
6%
4%
I don’t save any time
Most C++ developers report saving 2–8 hours weekly thanks to AI tools.
What is your biggest concern about AI in coding and software development?
30%
23%
Quality of generated code
17%
10%
Negative effect on my coding and development skills
13%
19%
Limited understanding of complex code and logic by AI tools
11%
10%
Lack of context awareness
10%
13%
Privacy and security
7%
5%
Costs
5%
10%
Job security and future job prospects
The most common concerns include code quality, skill degradation, and AI’s limited understanding of complex code.
How important is each of the following aspects of AI coding assistants, agents and IDEs for you? - C++ developers
| Not important at all | Slightly important | Moderately important | Very important | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7% | 29% | 30% | 33% | Availability of different AI models / LLMs |
| 13% | 24% | 38% | 25% | Availability of local AI models / LLMs that do not require internet access |
| 2% | 8% | 40% | 51% | Availability of the best AI models / LLMs for coding |
| 5% | 20% | 29% | 46% | Easy-to-use user interface |
| 5% | 26% | 42% | 27% | Frequency of code completion suggestions |
| 1% | 15% | 41% | 43% | Predictability of features’ behavior |
| 4% | 17% | 34% | 45% | Price |
| 1% | 6% | 27% | 66% | Quality of answers in chat |
| 2% | 13% | 25% | 61% | Quality of code completion suggestions |
| 1% | 2% | 12% | 85% | Quality of generated code |
| 1% | 6% | 19% | 73% | Quality of the AI features’ codebase context awareness |
| 5% | 10% | 21% | 63% | Security and privacy |
| 3% | 6% | 30% | 60% | Smooth integration with my IDE or code editor |
| 1% | 19% | 50% | 30% | Speed of code generation (apart from code completion) |
| 2% | 17% | 42% | 38% | Speed of generating code completion suggestions |
| 1% | 27% | 45% | 27% | Speed of response generation in chat |
When using AI, C++ developers value the quality of generated code, IDE integration, model availability, and predictability of behavior. Speed and privacy also rank highly.