---
title: "The results of the 2026 Developer Survey are here!"
description: "The 2026 Developer Survey gathered responses from over 30,000 developers over seven weeks, covering work patterns, technology usage, and AI adoption. Only 18% of developers work in an office daily, and the share of solo developers rose from 4% to 10%, possibly reflecting AI-enabled solopreneurship. In technology rankings, SQL surpassed HTML/CSS for the second spot, while Rust climbed to 12th most used language, potentially influenced by memory safety advocacy. AI usage is widespread: 73% of AI tool users employ them daily, with Claude Code (66%) and GitHub Copilot (59%) as leading agents, primarily for code generation (67%) and debugging (61%). Developers prioritize quality over cost (75% vs 38%) when using AI, and organizations implement cost controls like usage limits (38%) and model routing (27%), though 21% report increased spending."
---

# The results of the 2026 Developer Survey are here!

[Stack Overflow](https://yomu.fyi/company/stack-overflow) · Ryan Donovan · Oct 6, 2026

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

The 2026 Developer Survey gathered responses from over 30,000 developers over seven weeks, covering work patterns, technology usage, and AI adoption. Only 18% of developers work in an office daily, and the share of solo developers rose from 4% to 10%, possibly reflecting AI-enabled solopreneurship. In technology rankings, SQL surpassed HTML/CSS for the second spot, while Rust climbed to 12th most used language, potentially influenced by memory safety advocacy. AI usage is widespread: 73% of AI tool users employ them daily, with Claude Code (66%) and GitHub Copilot (59%) as leading agents, primarily for code generation (67%) and debugging (61%). Developers prioritize quality over cost (75% vs 38%) when using AI, and organizations implement cost controls like usage limits (38%) and model routing (27%), though 21% report increased spending.

## Context

The post is a summary of the 2026 Developer Survey results, highlighting key findings about developer work patterns, technology usage, AI adoption, and cost considerations. It also mentions the release of the full dataset and an editorial approach to presenting results.

## Takeaways

- Only 18% of developers work in an office daily, and the proportion of solo developers increased from 4% to 10%, possibly due to AI enabling solopreneurship.
- SQL overtook HTML/CSS as the second most used language, and Rust rose to 12th place, potentially influenced by memory safety discussions.
- 73% of AI tool users use them daily, with Claude Code (66%) and GitHub Copilot (59%) as top agents, mainly for code generation and debugging, not production operations.

## FAQ

### What are the top AI coding agents used by developers?

Claude Code (66%) and GitHub Copilot (59%) are the leading agents, with chatbots also popular (63%).

### How do developers prioritize quality vs cost when using AI?

75% of developers prioritize quality over cost (38%) when shaping prompts and selecting models.

### What cost-control measures have organizations implemented for AI?

38% set usage limits, 28% reviewed spending, 27% use different models for different work, and 25% limit who can use AI.

**Tags:** [AI](https://yomu.fyi/topic/ai), [Developer Survey](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-survey), [Rust](https://yomu.fyi/topic/rust), [SQL](https://yomu.fyi/topic/sql)

- Source: [Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/06/the-results-of-the-2026-developer-survey-are-here)
- Source URL: https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/06/the-results-of-the-2026-developer-survey-are-here
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-06T15:00:12.378Z

[Read original post](https://stackoverflow.blog/2026/10/06/the-results-of-the-2026-developer-survey-are-here)