TL;DR
JetBrains published its State of the Developer Ecosystem survey with over 24,500 responses, highlighting heavy AI adoption and a controversial claim that PHP and Ruby are in long-term decline. The company also posted a follow-up noting PHP remains stable, underscoring ambiguity in interpreting the results.
What happened
JetBrains released its annual State of the Developer Ecosystem survey, collecting more than 24,500 responses and applying weighting to adjust for factors such as regional distribution and use of JetBrains products. The report emphasizes AI's growing role in development: most respondents expect AI skills to be important, 85% report using AI coding tools, and a larger share say AI saves them substantial time compared with 2024. The survey also presents programming language trends, stating PHP, Ruby and Objective-C are in 'long-term decline.' That assessment prompted a quick clarification from JetBrains asserting that PHP remains a stable and evolving ecosystem. The raw, unweighted data show sharp increases in usage for some AI-focused tools, and JetBrains said it is discontinuing its CodeCanvas cloud environment in favor of a future 'AI-first, cloud-native product.' Since May 2024 the company has made several IDEs free for non-commercial use.
Why it matters
- Surveys inform perceptions of language vitality; mixed messaging can shape hiring and tooling choices.
- Growing AI use could change developer workflows and the commercial calculus for IDE vendors.
- Vendor moves — free non-commercial IDEs and cloud strategy shifts — may influence competition and adoption.
- Ambiguity in methodology and follow-up statements highlights the difficulty of translating survey data into clear industry conclusions.
Key facts
- The JetBrains survey had more than 24,500 responses.
- Responses were weighted to reduce bias toward JetBrains product users and regional differences; JetBrains acknowledges some bias likely remains.
- 85% of respondents reported using AI coding tools; ChatGPT was the most-used at 41% (down from 49% in 2024).
- 68% expect AI proficiency will become a job requirement; 44% say AI is fully or partially adopted in their workflows.
- In 2025, 19% of AI tool users said the tools save them eight or more hours per week, up from 9% in 2024.
- Nearly 23% of developers express concern about low-quality generated code.
- Raw unweighted data show Cursor usage rising from 135 respondents in 2024 to over 2,300 in 2025.
- JetBrains declared PHP, Ruby and Objective-C to be in 'long-term decline' in its language trends section, then posted that 'PHP remains a stable, professional, and evolving ecosystem.'
- Since May 2024 JetBrains has made several IDEs free for non-commercial use, including CLion, DataGrip, Rider, RubyMine, RustRover and WebStorm.
- JetBrains said it will discontinue the CodeCanvas cloud environment in favor of a future 'AI-first, cloud-native product.'
What to watch next
- How the developer community and employers respond to the contradictory language trend statements — not confirmed in the source
- Release timing and details of JetBrains' planned 'AI-first, cloud-native product' after CodeCanvas discontinuation — not confirmed in the source
- Whether future JetBrains surveys clarify methodology or present follow-up analysis on PHP and Ruby trends — not confirmed in the source
Quick glossary
- IDE: Integrated Development Environment: a software application that provides comprehensive facilities to programmers for software development, typically including a code editor, build tools, and debugging support.
- Weighted survey: A survey in which responses are adjusted by factors like demographics or user groups to correct for sampling imbalances and better reflect a target population.
- AI coding tools: Software that uses artificial intelligence to assist with programming tasks such as code completion, generation, refactoring, or documentation.
- TypeScript: A programming language that builds on JavaScript by adding static types, often used for large-scale web development projects.
Reader FAQ
Did the JetBrains survey find PHP is declining?
The survey reported PHP (along with Ruby and Objective-C) as in 'long-term decline,' but JetBrains later posted that PHP remains a stable and evolving ecosystem.
How many developers responded to the survey?
More than 24,500 developers participated.
Is the survey fully representative of all developers?
JetBrains applies weighting to reduce biases but acknowledges some bias is likely present, especially toward JetBrains users.
Will JetBrains continue CodeCanvas or replace it?
JetBrains said it is discontinuing CodeCanvas and plans a future 'AI-first, cloud-native product.'
DEVOPS 37 Is PHP declining? JetBrains says yes. And no 24,500 devs polled, two blog posts, one confusion Tim Anderson Tue 21 Oct 2025 // 15:56 UTC JetBrains has released its State of the…
Sources
- Is PHP declining? JetBrains says yes. And no
- JetBrains Survey Declares PHP Declining, Then Says It Isn't
- JetBrains Reverses PHP Decline Claim, Highlights Stable …
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