# IDE Market Share 2026: Most Popular IDEs and AI Code Editors

Updated 2026-10-23. Checked by StatisticsGlobal editorial team. Stack Overflow Developer Surveys 2022 to 2026, our weighted tally of the JetBrains Developer Ecosystem 2025 raw data, the PYPL TOP IDE index, Visual Studio Marketplace install counts, and Microsoft and Cursor company statements, data for 2025 and 2026.
Canonical: https://statisticsglobal.org/ide-market-share/

Visual Studio Code is the most used code editor. 70.9% of developers in the 2026 Stack Overflow Developer Survey used it regularly, well ahead of Notepad++ (27.8%), Visual Studio (27.6%) and IntelliJ IDEA (24.3%). As a primary IDE, VS Code leads IntelliJ IDEA by 26.8% to 24.3% in our tally of JetBrains 2025 survey data. No sales-based IDE market share exists. AI tools are the fastest-moving part: Cursor now ranks second in IDE download searches, and GitHub Copilot reached 50 million users in July 2026.

## Key statistics

- Visual Studio Code was used regularly by 70.9% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow.
- VS Code was the primary IDE of 26.8% of developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data.
- VS Code use fell by 5.0 percentage points between the 2025 and 2026 Stack Overflow surveys, from 75.9% to 70.9%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data.
- Cursor had 13.31% of IDE download searches worldwide in October 2026, second after Visual Studio, according to PYPL.
- GitHub Copilot had 50 million users in July 2026, according to Microsoft.

## Most popular IDEs 2026

The Stack Overflow Developer Survey is the largest free source on editor use. It asks which development environments and code editors people used regularly in the past year. Respondents can pick several.

VS Code is in a league of its own. 9,350 of the 13,193 people who answered use it, 2.6 times as many as Visual Studio. The next four tools sit close together between 24% and 28%. Two of them, Notepad++ and Vim, are general text editors rather than full IDEs.

Cursor is the highest-placed AI-first editor, at 14.9%. Zed, a newer fast editor with built-in AI features, reached 11.4%. Windsurf (3.2%), Kiro (2.8%) and Trae (0.7%) are still small in this survey.

Loyalty tells a different story from reach. Stack Overflow also asks which tools people want to keep using. 69.9% of Neovim users want to stay with it, the highest of any editor used by at least 10% of respondents. Cursor scores 33.0%, the lowest of that group. Many developers try AI editors without settling on them.

- Visual Studio Code was used regularly by 70.9% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Notepad++ was used regularly by 27.8% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Visual Studio was used regularly by 27.6% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Vim was used regularly by 27.2% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- IntelliJ IDEA was used regularly by 24.3% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Cursor was used regularly by 14.9% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Zed was used regularly by 11.4% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- VS Code had 2.6 times as many regular users as Visual Studio in the 2026 Stack Overflow survey, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- 69.9% of Neovim users wanted to keep using it in 2026, the highest of any editor used by at least 10% of developers, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Admired and desired dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/da-dev-envs
- Only 33.0% of Cursor users wanted to keep using it next year in 2026, against 55.7% for VS Code, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Admired and desired dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/da-dev-envs

Table: IDEs and code editors used regularly by developers, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026 (top 15)

| IDE or editor | Respondents | Share of respondents | Want to keep using (admired) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Code | 9,350 | 70.9% | 55.7% |
| Notepad++ | 3,673 | 27.8% | 52.5% |
| Visual Studio | 3,643 | 27.6% | 47.8% |
| Vim | 3,586 | 27.2% | 55.7% |
| IntelliJ IDEA | 3,201 | 24.3% | 53.3% |
| Cursor | 1,971 | 14.9% | 33.0% |
| Neovim | 1,939 | 14.7% | 69.9% |
| Android Studio | 1,880 | 14.2% | 39.4% |
| PyCharm | 1,783 | 13.5% | 49.7% |
| Nano | 1,600 | 12.1% | 46.8% |
| Zed | 1,504 | 11.4% | 57.3% |
| Jupyter Notebook/JupyterLab | 1,498 | 11.4% | 44.7% |
| Xcode | 1,322 | 10.0% | 38.7% |
| Sublime Text | 1,290 | 9.8% | 49.6% |
| VSCodium | 1,017 | 7.7% | 51.4% |

Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, Dev IDEs and Admired and desired (n=13,193). Data licensed under ODbL 1.0.

## IDE market share by developer survey

There is no sales-based market share for IDEs. Most editors are free. So "market share" depends on what you count: who uses a tool at all, who uses it most, or who searches to download it. Each lens gives a different ranking.

Primary use is much closer than any use. JetBrains publishes its raw survey data but no IDE chart, so we tallied it with JetBrains’ own weights. VS Code is the primary IDE of 26.8% of developers and IntelliJ IDEA of 24.3%. VS Code’s lead shrinks because many people keep it open as a second editor. In the same data, 58.3% use VS Code regularly.

Search interest ranks tools differently again. In the PYPL index, which counts Google searches for each IDE’s download page, Visual Studio leads with 19.65%. Cursor is second and VS Code only fifth. Download searches favour tools people install fresh, such as Visual Studio and Android Studio. They undercount tools that are already installed or update themselves.

Developers do move. 25.1% of JetBrains respondents had changed their main IDE in the previous 12 months. JetBrains is itself an IDE maker, so its sample leans towards its own users even after weighting. That is why IntelliJ IDEA ranks higher there than in Stack Overflow’s survey.

- VS Code was the primary IDE of 26.8% of developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- IntelliJ IDEA was the primary IDE of 24.3% of developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- Cursor was the primary IDE of 4.1% of developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- VS Code was used regularly by 58.3% of developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- 25.1% of developers had changed their main IDE in the 12 months before mid-2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- Visual Studio had 19.65% of IDE download searches worldwide in October 2026, the highest of any IDE, according to PYPL. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- VS Code had 10.18% of IDE download searches worldwide in October 2026, according to PYPL. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html

Table: Three ways to measure IDE share: any regular use, primary IDE and download searches

| IDE | Stack Overflow 2026: use regularly | JetBrains 2025: primary IDE (our tally) | PYPL October 2026: download search share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Code | 70.9% | 26.8% | 10.18% |
| IntelliJ IDEA | 24.3% | 24.3% | 4.09% |
| Visual Studio | 27.6% | 5.5% | 19.65% |
| PyCharm | 13.5% | 6.8% | 4.05% |
| Android Studio | 14.2% | 4.8% | 12.92% |
| Cursor | 14.9% | 4.1% | 13.31% |
| Eclipse | 6.9% | 1.3% | 11.50% |
| Xcode | 10.0% | 1.1% | 3.18% |

Sources: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026 (n=13,193); StatisticsGlobal weighted tally of JetBrains Developer Ecosystem 2025 raw data (n=23,749, CC BY 4.0); PYPL TOP IDE index, October 2026 (CC BY 3.0). Columns use different questions and are not additive.

## VS Code vs IntelliJ IDEA vs Visual Studio usage

Stack Overflow has asked the same IDE question every year. The five-year series shows a stable top three, with a dip in 2026 that needs care.

VS Code use held between 73.6% and 75.9% from 2022 to 2025, then fell to 70.9% in 2026. Visual Studio slid from 32.2% to 27.6% over the five years, and IntelliJ IDEA from 28.0% to 24.3%.

Treat the 2026 drop with caution. The number of people answering the IDE question fell from 86,544 in 2023 to 13,193 in 2026, down 84.8%. The 2025 question also listed AI tools such as Claude Code, which were moved to a separate question in 2026. A smaller, different sample can move shares by a few points on its own.

Search data points the same way, though. Visual Studio’s share of IDE download searches fell 8.2 points in the year to October 2026, and VS Code’s fell 4.9 points, as Cursor and Antigravity took a fifth of all searches.

- Visual Studio Code was used regularly by 75.9% of developers in the Stack Overflow Developer Survey in 2025, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025: Technology (Dev IDEs) (2025, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology
- VS Code use fell by 5.0 percentage points between the 2025 and 2026 Stack Overflow surveys, from 75.9% to 70.9%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- VS Code use in the Stack Overflow survey moved between 70.9% and 75.9% from 2022 to 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Respondents to the Stack Overflow IDE question fell 84.8% from 86,544 in 2023 to 13,193 in 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Visual Studio’s share of IDE download searches fell 8.2 points between October 2025 and October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from PYPL data. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- VS Code’s share of IDE download searches fell 4.9 points between October 2025 and October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from PYPL data. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html

Table: Share of developers using VS Code, Visual Studio and IntelliJ IDEA, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022 to 2026

| Survey year | Respondents to IDE question | VS Code | Visual Studio | IntelliJ IDEA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 71,010 | 74.5% | 32.2% | 28.0% |
| 2023 | 86,544 | 73.7% | 28.4% | 26.8% |
| 2024 | 58,121 | 73.6% | 29.3% | 26.8% |
| 2025 | 26,143 | 75.9% | 29.0% | 27.1% |
| 2026 | 13,193 | 70.9% | 27.6% | 24.3% |

Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, all respondents. 2022 and 2023 shares rounded to one decimal by StatisticsGlobal.

## AI code editor adoption (Cursor, Copilot) statistics

AI coding tools come in two forms. Some are separate editors, such as Cursor and Antigravity. Others are agents or extensions that run inside an existing IDE or the terminal, such as GitHub Copilot and Claude Code.

Among developers who use an AI coding agent or assistant, Claude Code (65.5%) and GitHub Copilot (58.7%) lead in the 2026 Stack Overflow survey. Cursor is fourth at 25.5%, behind OpenAI Codex. These tools mostly run inside VS Code or JetBrains IDEs, which helps explain why the classic editors keep their reach.

Company figures show the scale. Microsoft says GitHub Copilot had 50 million users in July 2026, up 150% from 20 million a year earlier. On the Visual Studio Marketplace, the Copilot extension has 74.8 million installs. The Claude Code extension reached 28.5 million in 16 months and is adding installs faster per day than Copilot did on average. Install counts include reinstalls, so they overstate active users.

Cursor is the AI editor that has won the most attention. It rose from 1.7% to 4.3% as a primary IDE in the JetBrains data, and 37.9% of its primary users came from VS Code. In search data it overtook VS Code in May 2026. But Cursor’s regular use fell 3.0 points between the 2025 and 2026 Stack Overflow surveys, and only a third of its users want to keep it. PYPL’s Cursor series jumps sharply in February 2026, which may reflect a change in how the term is tracked. PYPL does not say.

- Claude Code was used by 65.5% of developers who used an AI coding agent or assistant in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: AI coding agents (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data/ai-code-agent
- GitHub Copilot was used by 58.7% of developers who used an AI coding agent or assistant in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: AI coding agents (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data/ai-code-agent
- Cursor was used by 25.5% of developers who used an AI coding agent or assistant in 2026, according to Stack Overflow. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: AI coding agents (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data/ai-code-agent
- Cursor use fell by 3.0 percentage points between the 2025 and 2026 Stack Overflow surveys, from 17.9% to 14.9%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- GitHub Copilot had 50 million users in July 2026, according to Microsoft. Source: Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call (29 July 2026) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q4
- GitHub Copilot had 20 million users in July 2025, according to Microsoft. Source: Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2025 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call (30 July 2025) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2025/earnings-fy-2025-q4
- GitHub Copilot users grew 150% in a year, from 20 million in July 2025 to 50 million in July 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Microsoft data. Source: Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call (29 July 2026) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q4
- One in three pull requests on GitHub involved an agent in July 2026, according to Microsoft. Source: Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call (29 July 2026) https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q4
- The GitHub Copilot extension had 74.8 million installs on the Visual Studio Marketplace in October 2026, according to Visual Studio Marketplace. Source: Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API) (live, pulled 23 October 2026) https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilot
- The Claude Code for VS Code extension had 28.5 million installs in October 2026, 16 months after release, according to Visual Studio Marketplace. Source: Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API) (live, pulled 23 October 2026) https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anthropic.claude-code
- OpenAI’s Codex extension had 15.8 million installs in October 2026, according to Visual Studio Marketplace. Source: Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API) (live, pulled 23 October 2026) https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=openai.chatgpt
- Claude Code for VS Code averaged about 57,900 installs a day by October 2026, against 38,500 for GitHub Copilot, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Visual Studio Marketplace data. Source: Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API) (live, pulled 23 October 2026) https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anthropic.claude-code
- Cursor had 13.31% of IDE download searches worldwide in October 2026, second after Visual Studio, according to PYPL. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- Google Antigravity had 7.22% of IDE download searches worldwide in October 2026, about a year after it entered the index, according to PYPL. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- Cursor and Antigravity together took 20.5% of IDE download searches in October 2026, up from 0.4% a year earlier, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from PYPL data. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- Cursor overtook VS Code in IDE download searches in May 2026 and stayed ahead to October 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from PYPL data. Source: PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide) (monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
- Cursor rose from 1.7% to 4.3% as developers’ primary IDE in the 12 months to mid-2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- 37.9% of developers whose primary IDE was Cursor in 2025 had used VS Code as their main IDE a year earlier, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip

Table: AI coding tools by four measures, latest data

| Tool | Stack Overflow 2026: used (agent users) | VS Marketplace installs, 23 Oct 2026 | Company-reported scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | 65.5% | 28.5 million | Not reported |
| GitHub Copilot | 58.7% | 74.8 million | 50 million users (July 2026) |
| OpenAI Codex | 29.5% | 15.8 million | Not reported |
| Cursor | 25.5% | Not on Marketplace (separate editor) | Over $1 billion annualised revenue (Nov 2025) |
| Gemini Code Assist | 14.6% | 5.5 million | Not reported |
| Cline | 4.5% | 5.7 million | Not reported |

Sources: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, AI coding agents (n=12,255); Visual Studio Marketplace extensionquery API, 23 October 2026; Microsoft FY2026 Q4 earnings call; Cursor blog. Dated copy of install counts: /data/snapshots/vs-marketplace/ai-extensions-2026-10-23.csv.

## IDE usage by programming language

The best IDE depends on the language. JetBrains asks developers which IDE they use most for each language they work in. We tallied the answers with its weights.

Specialised IDEs win their home languages. IntelliJ IDEA is the main Java IDE for 71.5% of Java developers. PhpStorm leads PHP with 58.9% and GoLand leads Go with 46.8%. In C#, Visual Studio and JetBrains Rider are almost level. VS Code leads in JavaScript and TypeScript, C++ and C.

Python is the closest fight. PyCharm’s two editions together are the main Python IDE for 40.6% of Python developers, against 34.2% for VS Code. These figures come from a JetBrains survey, so JetBrains tools are likely overstated. The direction matches Stack Overflow, where general editors dominate overall use.

Experience matters too. In the 2026 Stack Overflow survey, VS Code use was 8.3 points higher among developers with 1 to 5 years of work experience than among those with 16+ years. Neovim was 2.8 times as common among the younger group. Cursor peaked in the middle group, at 17.9% of developers with 6 to 15 years of experience. Many AI coding tools run on the same large language models as chatbots, covered on our [AI chatbot market share](https://statisticsglobal.org/ai-chatbot-market-share/) page.

- IntelliJ IDEA was the most used IDE for Java by 71.5% of Java developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- PyCharm was the main Python IDE for 40.6% of Python developers in 2025, against 34.2% for VS Code, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- VS Code was the main IDE for JavaScript or TypeScript for 48.1% of those developers in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- Visual Studio led JetBrains Rider by 45.3% to 44.3% as the main C# IDE in 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- GoLand was the main Go IDE for 46.8% of Go developers in 2025, against 29.3% for VS Code, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- VS Code was the main C++ IDE for 32.9% of C++ developers in 2025, ahead of CLion at 23.2%, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- PhpStorm was the main PHP IDE for 58.9% of PHP developers in 2025, against 27.2% for VS Code, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from JetBrains data. Source: JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026) https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
- VS Code use was 8.3 points higher among developers with 1 to 5 years of experience than among those with 16+ years in 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Neovim was 2.8 times as common among developers with 1 to 5 years of experience as among those with 16+ years in 2026, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
- Cursor use peaked at 17.9% among developers with 6 to 15 years of experience in 2026, against 13.3% for those with 16+ years, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Stack Overflow data. Source: Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs (2026, accessed 23 October 2026) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide

Table: Most used IDE or editor by programming language, JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 (weighted, our tally)

| Language | Respondents | Leader | Second | Third |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Java | 4,636 | IntelliJ IDEA 71.5% | VS Code 8.6% | Android Studio 7.7% |
| Python | 8,032 | PyCharm 40.6% (both editions) | VS Code 34.2% | Cursor 6.2% |
| JavaScript/TypeScript | 4,146 | VS Code 48.1% | WebStorm 22.3% | Other JetBrains IDE 15.1% |
| C# | 3,555 | Visual Studio 45.3% | Rider 44.3% | VS Code 8.8% |
| Kotlin | 1,925 | IntelliJ IDEA 55.5% (both editions) | Android Studio 42.2% | Other 2.3% |
| PHP | 1,645 | PhpStorm 58.9% | VS Code 27.2% | Cursor 5.4% |
| Go | 1,412 | GoLand 46.8% | VS Code 29.3% | Cursor 5.8% |
| C++ | 1,803 | VS Code 32.9% | CLion 23.2% | Visual Studio 21.2% |
| C | 896 | VS Code 41.9% | CLion 19.4% | Visual Studio 13.6% |

Source: StatisticsGlobal weighted tally of JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data (CC BY 4.0). Kotlin: IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate 42.7% + Community 12.8%. Python: PyCharm Professional 24.3% + Community 16.3%.

## IDE market size

We found no primary, freely available estimate of the total IDE market in dollars. Market research firms sell such figures, but we cannot check their methods. What vendors disclose is revenue and user counts for AI coding tools.

Cursor, made by Anysphere, said it passed $500 million in annual recurring revenue in June 2025 and $1 billion in annualised revenue in November 2025. That is a doubling in about five months. These are run rates stated by the company, not audited annual revenue.

Microsoft does not report GitHub Copilot revenue in dollars. In its July 2026 call it said GitHub Copilot had 50 million users and that one in three pull requests on GitHub now involves an agent. Spending is moving from the editor itself, usually free, to the AI services that run inside it. For the cloud platforms behind these tools, see our [cloud market share](https://statisticsglobal.org/cloud-market-share/) page.

- Cursor passed $500 million in annual recurring revenue in June 2025, according to Cursor. Source: Cursor, Series C and Scale (6 June 2025) https://cursor.com/blog/series-c
- Cursor passed $1 billion in annualised revenue in November 2025, according to Cursor. Source: Cursor, Past, Present, and Future (Series D announcement) (13 November 2025) https://cursor.com/blog/series-d
- Cursor’s annualised revenue doubled from $500 million to $1 billion in about five months of 2025, calculated by StatisticsGlobal from Cursor data. Source: Cursor, Past, Present, and Future (Series D announcement) (13 November 2025) https://cursor.com/blog/series-d

Table: Company-reported scale of AI coding tools, 2025 and 2026

| Company | Metric | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cursor (Anysphere) | Annual recurring revenue | Over $500 million | June 2025 |
| Cursor (Anysphere) | Annualised revenue | Over $1 billion | November 2025 |
| Microsoft | GitHub Copilot users | 20 million | July 2025 |
| Microsoft | GitHub Copilot users | 50 million | July 2026 |
| Microsoft | GitHub users (all) | 225 million | July 2026 |

Sources: Cursor blog (Series C and Series D posts); Microsoft FY2025 Q4 and FY2026 Q4 earnings calls.

## How these sources measure IDE use

Every source here measures something different, and each has a bias. Read the numbers side by side, not as one market share.

Stack Overflow surveys people who reach it through its own site and channels. The 2026 survey ran from 23 June to 5 August 2026 and drew 30,903 valid responses, of whom 13,193 answered the IDE question. Respondents tick every tool they used regularly, so shares add up to far more than 100%. The sample shrank sharply after 2023 and the question wording changed in 2025 and 2026, so small year-on-year moves may be noise.

JetBrains surveyed 24,534 developers from April to June 2025 and publishes the raw data under CC BY 4.0. JetBrains makes IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm and other IDEs, and recruits partly through its own channels. It provides weights to reduce that bias, and we used them. Even so, JetBrains tools probably still rank higher than in the wider population. The 2026 edition was not out when we checked. Our tallies are published at /data/snapshots/jetbrains/.

PYPL counts Google searches for "<IDE> download" through Google Trends, normalises them to 100% across 36 IDEs and smooths them over six months. It shows interest, not use, and leaves out tools whose names are ambiguous. Visual Studio Marketplace counts are cumulative installs, not active users, and do not cover Cursor or other VS Code forks. Microsoft and Cursor figures are company statements without a published definition of "users" or "revenue run rate".


## Frequently asked questions

### What is the most popular IDE in 2026?

Visual Studio Code. 70.9% of developers in the 2026 Stack Overflow Developer Survey used it regularly. Notepad++ (27.8%), Visual Studio (27.6%), Vim (27.2%) and IntelliJ IDEA (24.3%) follow.

### Is VS Code losing market share?

Slightly, on two measures. VS Code use fell from 75.9% to 70.9% between the 2025 and 2026 Stack Overflow surveys, though the sample also shrank. Its share of IDE download searches in the PYPL index fell from 15.10% to 10.18% in the year to October 2026.

### What percentage of developers use Cursor?

14.9% of developers in the 2026 Stack Overflow survey used Cursor regularly, down from 17.9% in 2025. In JetBrains’ 2025 data, 4.1% used Cursor as their primary IDE. Among developers who use AI coding agents, 25.5% had used Cursor.

### Which IDE do Java and Python developers use?

IntelliJ IDEA is the main Java IDE for 71.5% of Java developers in JetBrains’ 2025 data. For Python, PyCharm leads with 40.6% across both editions, against 34.2% for VS Code.

### How many people use GitHub Copilot?

Microsoft said GitHub Copilot had 50 million users in July 2026, up from 20 million in July 2025. The Copilot extension had 74.8 million installs on the Visual Studio Marketplace in October 2026.

### How big is the IDE market?

No free, primary estimate of the IDE market in dollars exists. Most editors are free. The clearest revenue signal is AI coding tools: Cursor said it passed $1 billion in annualised revenue in November 2025.

## Sources

1. Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Dev IDEs, 2026, accessed 23 October 2026. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/dev-ide
2. JetBrains, Developer Ecosystem Survey 2025 raw data, October 2025, downloaded 23 October 2026. https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/research/DevEco2025/RawData.zip
3. PYPL, TOP IDE index (worldwide), monthly series to October 2026, accessed 23 October 2026. https://pypl.github.io/IDE.html
4. Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2026 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call, 29 July 2026. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2026/earnings-fy-2026-q4
5. Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: Admired and desired dev IDEs, 2026, accessed 23 October 2026. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/technology/data/da-dev-envs
6. Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025: Technology (Dev IDEs), 2025, accessed 23 October 2026. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2025/technology
7. Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026: AI coding agents, 2026, accessed 23 October 2026. https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2026/ai/data/ai-code-agent
8. Microsoft, Microsoft Fiscal Year 2025 Fourth Quarter Earnings Conference Call, 30 July 2025. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/investor/events/fy-2025/earnings-fy-2025-q4
9. Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API), live, pulled 23 October 2026. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=GitHub.copilot
10. Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API), live, pulled 23 October 2026. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=anthropic.claude-code
11. Visual Studio Marketplace, Visual Studio Marketplace extension statistics (extensionquery API), live, pulled 23 October 2026. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=openai.chatgpt
12. Cursor, Series C and Scale, 6 June 2025. https://cursor.com/blog/series-c
13. Cursor, Past, Present, and Future (Series D announcement), 13 November 2025. https://cursor.com/blog/series-d