The State of Java 2025
This report draws on insights from the JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 to explore who Java developers are and how they work. From age and experience to geography, tooling, frameworks, and the growing role of AI, it paints a clear picture of modern Java development in action.
Based on responses from more than 5,000 developers across the globe, this report highlights how Java keeps moving forward without losing the strengths that define it. We hope it helps you understand where today’s Java developers stand and how your own work fits into the broader landscape.
Share:
What’s your age range?
18–20
21–24
25–29
30–34
35–39
40–49
50–59
60 or older
Which country or region do you live in?
All options with less than 1% have been merged into “Other”.
Years of professional coding experience
For three decades, Java has fundamentally shaped the world we live in. From every use case imaginable, Java powers applications that deliver business value while running at scale. And, as the pace of technology keeps increasing, Java continues to thoughtfully evolve to meet the needs of modern application development – whether that's on premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments. Finally, as the technology landscape rapidly embraces the value of AI, integrating a modern AI stack built on Java is easier than ever.
Which programming languages have you used in the past 12 months?100+
Only programming languages with more than 5% usage in 2025 are shown.
What’s your main programming language?
Only programming languages with more than 5% usage in 2025 are shown.
Main language before switching to Java
Which programming languages have you started or continued learning in the past year100+
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28% | 30% | 28% | 25% | 27% | 32% | 26% | Python |
| 24% | 26% | 29% | 26% | 24% | 25% | 18% | JavaScript |
| 19% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 15% | 15% | 15% | Go |
| 19% | 19% | 23% | 22% | 19% | 20% | 18% | TypeScript |
| 15% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 21% | 21% | ●19% | Java |
| 14% | 15% | 11% | 12% | 11% | 10% | 11% | Kotlin |
| 11% | 10% | 11% | 10% | 12% | 12% | 9% | C# |
| 11% | 13% | 11% | 13% | 11% | 17% | 11% | C++ |
| 10% | 9% | 12% | 7% | 7% | 6% | 7% | PHP |
| 9% | 12% | 10% | 14% | 16% | 17% | 14% | Rust |
| 8% | 6% | 5% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 6% | Swift |
| 5% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 3% | Scala |
| 5% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 6% | 8% | 6% | C |
| 4% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | Ruby |
| 4% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 2% | Elixir |
| 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | Haskell |
| 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 4% | 2% | R |
| 2% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | Clojure |
| 4% | 6% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 4% | Other |
| 13% | 9% | 9% | 11% | 14% | 13% | 20% | I’ve not been learning any programming languages |
Only programming languages with more than 5% usage in 2025 are shown.
Which Java versions do you use regularly?100+
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – | – | – | – | – | – | 14% | Java 24 |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | 9% | Java 23 |
| – | – | – | – | – | 12% | 7% | Java 22 |
| – | – | – | – | – | 28% | 40% | Java 21 |
| – | – | – | – | 11% | 4% | 3% | Java 20 |
| – | – | – | – | 8% | 3% | 2% | Java 19 |
| – | – | – | – | 8% | 7% | 7% | Java 18 |
| – | – | – | 30% | 45% | 46% | 39% | Java 17 |
| – | – | – | 6% | 3% | 2% | 1% | Java 16 |
| – | – | 14% | 4% | 2% | 0% | 0% | Java 15 |
| – | – | 8% | 3% | 2% | 0% | 1% | Java 14 |
| – | 14% | 4% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% | Java 13 |
| – | 10% | 4% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | Java 12 |
| 23% | 32% | 42% | 48% | 38% | 25% | 17% | Java 11 |
| 13% | 6% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% | 0% | Java 10 |
| 13% | 6% | 4% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | Java 9 |
| 83% | 75% | 72% | 60% | 50% | 44% | 31% | Java 8 |
| 13% | 7% | 6% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% | Java 7 |
| 5% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 1% | 0% | Java 6 |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | 1% | 0% | 0% | 0% | Other |
| – | – | 3% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 6% | I’m not sure |
It's really nice to see a steady decline of people still using Java 8. A large number of people are using Java 17 and up, which makes sense given that several tools and frameworks require Java 17 to run.
The incremental and regular releases of Java have gotten into a wonderful rhythm. Version 25 is special since it has features that directly benefit both beginners and advanced users of Java.
What types of development are you involved in at work?100+
Which of the following do you develop with Java?100+
Which IDE or editor do you use most for Java development?
Only IDE(s) and editors with more than 3% usage in 2025 are shown.
How does IntelliJ IDEA affect your productivity?
Significantly improves my productivity
Somewhat improves my productivity
Neutral – neither improves nor hinders
Somewhat reduces my productivity
I'm pleased to see developers still experiencing significant productivity gains from using IntelliJ IDEA. The addition of GenAI and agentic coding to our toolset doesn't negate the value a well-designed IDE brings to us when writing, running, and understanding code. Developing applications is such a complex operation that great tools are a mandatory part of creating an excellent developer experience.
IntelliJ IDEA
IntelliJ IDEA helps you write code faster with tools that eliminate tedious tasks and let you focus on what matters – building great software.
Which AI tools do you use for coding?100+
What benefits do you get from AI-assisted coding?100+
How likely are you to try AI coding agents in the next 12 months?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Not sure
Somewhat unlikely
Very unlikely
I already use AI coding agents
With one in eight Java developers already using AI coding agents and a majority likely to try them in the next year, AI is becoming part of everyday development. Big wins are higher productivity, faster handling of repetitive work, and quicker access to information. The next challenge will be integration: enabling IP-safe AI for proprietary codebases, and ensuring AI accelerates learning rather than replacing it, especially for junior developers.
Which web frameworks do you use?
Only frameworks with more than 5% usage in any year are shown.
Teams are being asked to do more with less – scalable microservices, resilient backends for frontends, agentic AI, and airtight security. Spring meets these demands with a rich, deeply integrated ecosystem that lets developers deliver more, faster.
A large number of users use Spring. In my opinion, the Spring Debugger is a big help in working with Spring in IntelliJ IDEA; I hope this makes it more enjoyable for people to use Spring in IntelliJ IDEA.
Which build systems do you rely on?
Only build systems with more than 5% usage in any year are shown.
I’m happy to see Apache Maven still taking a strong position in the build system field. With the upcoming release of Maven 4, I’m confident its users will continue to benefit by having a stable and reliable build tool for the years to come. To those that don’t use a build system regularly, please consider using one, even if it’s not Maven. It’ll make your developer life a lot easier!
Which programming languages do you use to develop microservices?100+
46%
51%
Java
26%
24%
Python
19%
18%
Go
19%
17%
TypeScript
17%
18%
JavaScript