State of JS

State of JS
Name	State of JS
Status	Annual
Genre	Developer survey
Founded	2016
Founders	Sacha Greif

State of JS. The State of JS is an annual developer survey and report that captures the evolving landscape of JavaScript ecosystem, including web frameworks, build tools, and programming languages. Initiated by developer Sacha Greif in 2016, it has become a key benchmark for tracking adoption rates, developer satisfaction, and emerging trends within the global web development community. The survey results are published openly, providing a comprehensive data set used by developers, tech companies, and open-source project maintainers to guide decisions.

Overview

The project was created by Sacha Greif, a designer and developer known for his work on the Meteor framework and the Vulcan.js project. It emerged during a period of rapid fragmentation in the JavaScript world, following the rise of tools like React and Vue.js. The survey is conducted in collaboration with other notable figures in the community, including Raphaël Benitte, and is often promoted through platforms like Twitter and Hacker News. Its primary output is an interactive website featuring detailed charts and analysis on topics ranging from front-end libraries to back-end runtimes like Node.js.

Survey Methodology

The survey is typically conducted online over a period of several weeks, inviting participation from developers worldwide via social media, newsletters, and developer forums. Questions are designed to gauge multiple dimensions, including awareness, usage, interest, and satisfaction across a wide array of technologies such as TypeScript, Svelte, and Webpack. The methodology emphasizes anonymity and aims for a large, diverse sample size, though it is acknowledged as a self-selecting survey. Data is processed and visualized using modern data visualization tools, with raw results often made available on platforms like GitHub.

Key Findings and Trends

Annual reports have highlighted significant shifts, such as the dominant adoption of TypeScript over plain JavaScript, the rapid growth in popularity of the React-based Next.js framework, and the rising interest in newer tools like Vite and Turbopack. The surveys have consistently tracked the "JavaScript fatigue" phenomenon while also identifying rising stars, such as the Svelte framework. Other notable trends include the evolution of state management libraries, with Redux seeing decreased satisfaction and tools like Zustand gaining traction, and the consolidation around ES6+ features.

Technology Adoption and Awareness

The survey categorizes technologies into spectra of awareness, from those never heard of to those used and would use again. It has provided clear signals on the adoption curves for build tools, charting the decline of Grunt and Gulp.js, the dominance of Webpack, and the subsequent rise of Vite. For web frameworks, it has detailed the sustained stronghold of React, the solid niche of Vue.js, and the growing curiosity around Astro and Qwik. In the libraries space, data visualization tools like D3.js and testing frameworks like Jest are routinely measured.

Developer Satisfaction and Challenges

A core metric is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) for various technologies, revealing developer sentiment beyond mere usage. Tools like Svelte and Vite have frequently scored high on satisfaction, while complex configuration in tools like Webpack has been a noted pain point. The survey also captures challenges such as the learning curve associated with advanced functional programming concepts, the toolchain complexity in modern front-end setups, and concerns around bundle size and performance. Feedback on documentation quality for projects like React and Vue.js is also a recurring theme.

Impact and Community Reception

The State of JS report has significantly influenced the open-source ecosystem, with project maintainers citing its data to prioritize features or gauge their tool's market fit. It is frequently covered by major tech publications like CSS-Tricks, Smashing Magazine, and The New Stack, and discussed at conferences such as JSConf. The data has been used in talks by influential developers from companies like Vercel and Netlify, and has informed strategic decisions within larger organizations like Google and Microsoft. Its role in providing a communal snapshot has made it a anticipated event within the web development calendar.

Category:Web development Category:JavaScript Category:Surveys