If you've ever written a line of code for the web, chances are you've used JavaScript.
JavaScript is the backbone of modern websites and the engine behind interactive apps. It runs everything from front-end frameworks to back-end development.
But just how dominant is JavaScript in 2025? And where is it headed next?
From its dominance in web development to its growing role in AI and beyond, the numbers tell you how JavaScript continues to shape the world of tech. We have done the research to present to you all the hottest JavaScript usage statistics you need to know in 2025.
JavaScript Is the Most Used Programming Language Globally
In 2024, JavaScript was the programming language of choice for 62.3% of developers, of whom 64.6% are professional developers.
This is followed by HTML/CSS, the second most used programming language (52.9% usage), Python (51% usage), and SQL (51% usage).
JavaScript was also favored by 60.4% of those who are just learning to code (source: StackOverflow).
The reason behind this continuous chart dominance is simple: JavaScript is a low-barrier language that powers most front-end web development.
The TIOBE Index, updated monthly based on search engine data, brings another perspective. As of March 2025, JavaScript ranked 6th in the TIOBE Index, with a rating increase of 0.08%. This means it is the 6th most popular language based on factors like search engine queries, developer activity, and online discussions.
This growth, while modest, indicates sustained interest. In fact, it's in its highest-ever position since the index's inception.
However, JavaScript still ranks first for code pushes alone, and there is a 15% year-over-year spike in npm package consumption. This positions JavaScript as a leader in open-source ecosystem involvement.
JavaScript Leads In Front-End Development
This dominance extends to libraries and frameworks built on JavaScript, with React leading the pack.
- According to the State of JavaScript 2024 report, React is the most popular JavaScript front-end library, followed by Vue.js, Angular, and Svelte, based on developer usage and desire to continue.
- Moreover, React and Angular are more common in large companies, while smaller companies or startups favor Svelte.
Additionally, the Stack Overflow Developer Survey shows that React is used by 39.5% of web developers, of which 41.6% are professionals. Its virtual DOM and component-based architecture drive its popularity. React also benefits from a large community of users, extensive documentation, and efficiency for complex UI.
Reasons Why React Is the One Of The Most Used Library
- React isn't new; it's been around since May 2013. It wasn't the first library/framework, either (it was Backbone). However, it was the first one to have solid performance, which led to its mass adoption. Developers who mastered React early kept using it, and it, too, kept evolving with time.
- Moreover, React has a component-based architecture. This means that UIs are structured as a tree of reusable components. This modularity made it easy to manage and maintain React's code.
- React also uses JSX, a syntax extension of JavaScript. JSX follows HTML-like code, and since most devs are already familiar with HTML code, they embraced React.
As for runtime environments, Node.js remains the most popular, with 40.8% usage. While Node.js has dropped in popularity from its 2020 peak of 51%, it still remains the most used JavaScript web technology.
Next.js Is the Most Popular Meta-Framework
Meta frameworks are focused on rendering and serving your application. Expectedly, Next.js emerges as the most used meta-framework (source: 2024 State of JavaScript).
If you're not familiar with Next.js, it is a React framework built on JavaScript that enables server-side rendering, static site generation, and full-stack web development.
However, the positive sentiment around Next.js has declined in the last year. This is because alternatives like Remix, SvelteKit, and Astro have become more mainstream.
Gatsby, SvelteKit, and Astro are emerging competitors. Ironically, Gatsby is one of the most non-preferred tools, but it remains appealing since it is primarily used in large companies.
80% of JavaScript Users Work Primarily On Websites
It's pretty clear that JavaScript usage is on the rise, even though objectively faster and more efficient languages have emerged.
But where is JavaScript even used?
According to the JetBrains State of Developer Ecosystem 2023 Survey, the second most popular use case for JavaScript is developing utilities—small apps for day-to-day tasks. In contrast, the demographic of users employing JavaScript for dedicated software is relatively small.
Beyond these specialized use cases, JavaScript remains dominant in web development: 86% of JavaScript developers build front-end projects, while 34% are involved in back-end development.
Libraries and frameworks like React and Angular help JavaScript dominate front-end development by enabling dynamic user interfaces, among other things. Node.js has expanded its role in back-end development and has made way for full-stack solutions.
Mobile app development benefits from React Native and Ionic, while game development relies on Phaser and Pixi.js for browser-based games.
Data visualization tools like D3.js and Chart.js improve how users engage with web elements with interactive charts.
TensorFlow.js Led to the Rise of In-Browser Machine Learning
Traditionally, ML has been the territory of Python.
The introduction of TensorFlow.js has changed that. It lets you train and run ML models right in the browser or on Node.js, making AI applications more accessible.
Among its competitors like PyTorch, OpenCV, and Keras, TensorFlow leads the pack with a 38.38% industry market share.
Beyond TensorFlow.js, the JavaScript ecosystem is rich with tools that leverage its AI capabilities:
- Brain.js: A library focused on neural networks with which you can quickly prototype machine learning models.
- Synaptic: Another JavaScript neural network library that prioritizes ease of use and flexibility.
- ONNX Runtime Web: An initiative to run pre-trained models in the browser, thereby encouraging interoperability among different ML frameworks.
JavaScript Continues to Evolve and Bring In Fresh Features
The 15th edition of ECMAScript brings many enhancements to JavaScript. To recap, ECMAScript is a standard for scripting languages like JavaScript.
New additions include:
- Grouping methods:
Map.groupBy()` `` andObject.groupBy()` `` let you group data more easily and organize numbers by their sign, which helps in data manipulation. - Promise enhancements:
Promise.withResolvers()simplifies Promise creation and makes asynchronous programming more straightforward. - Regular expression updates: The
`/v`flag introduces advanced Unicode support to improve string pattern matching. - Memory management:
`ArrayBuffer`and`SharedArrayBuffer`resizing offers better control over memory, a must for performance-intensive applications. - String handling: New methods like
String.prototype.isWellFormed()confirm Unicode string integrity and address internalization needs.
JavaScript Finds a Lot of Use in Web Scraping
Web scrapers use JavaScript through headless browsers, which are browser instances without a graphical interface controlled programmatically.
Some popular tools include:
- Puppeteer: Controls Chrome, ideal for screenshots, PDFs, and scraping JavaScript-heavy sites.
- Playwright: Offers cross-browser support, easier integration than Puppeteer, and is suitable for complex sites.
JavaScript crawlers with Node.js are also used, primarily to write the scraping scripts themselves.
Node.js supports system resources like network connections and file access, with an event loop enabling single-threaded, asynchronous operations. This is ideal for handling multiple concurrent requests, but it is a must for large-scale scraping.
JavaScript Becomes Increasingly Popular in AI and ML Use Cases
Modern web apps now implement AI for on-the-fly image classification, speech-to-text features, or other use cases. These benefits come from instant server-side processing. JavaScript's ecosystem, with libraries like D3.js, enables dynamic visualizations of ML outputs.
Although Python dominates AI/ML work, JavaScript's sheer ubiquity and flexibility make it a natural choice for integrating AI-driven features into web and mobile applications.
Future Outlook for JavaScript
Based on our research and current JavaScript usage statistics, we expect JavaScript-backed serverless computing, particularly with Node.js and Deno, to gain prominence.
Also, we expect to see WebAssembly (Wasm) integration becoming more and more important for performance-intensive apps, with JavaScript providing the orchestration layer for Wasm modules. AssemblyScript is a case in point, which enables strong document processing and other compute-heavy tasks.
TypeScript will continue to climb charts and rankings as it is playing an increasingly larger role in overseeing type safety and generating documentation, with tools like TSDoc and TypeDoc becoming standard.
JavaScript Still Has a Long Way to Go
Despite shifting tides, JavaScript remains an extremely popular programming language for developers.
Its accessibility, versatility, and expanding ecosystem still make it the go-to language for both beginners and seasoned professionals.
JavaScript ensures that developers always have the tools to build faster, more innovative, and more interactive experiences and is shaping the future of software development across multiple domains.