Key figures from the Node.js Foundation user survey

Published on 15 April 2016 • 1 min

Now we’re talking.

A couple days ago, the Node.js Foundation released its first-ever Node.js User Survey Report. It is chock-full of interesting data points. Here’s what peaked my interest most:

• 3.5 million Node.js users. We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. Node is not a fringe tech, or even in the small-kids playground, at all. It’s right up there with leading enterprise techs.
• Node.js throughout the stack. 62% respondents use Node.js and its ecosystem (modules, npm-installed, etc.) for both their backend and frontend code.
• Node LTS sees strong uptake. 45% BigCos using Node have upgraded already to the v4 series, and 80% of the remainder plan to do so this year.
• JS drives the IoT world. 96% of the IoT respondents use JS/Node for development. There’s just no other widespread contendant, especially now that Microsoft started maintaining a Chakra Core-based variant for even smaller-capacities devices.
• In other languages involved in projects the respondents work on, Java, .NET and PHP see planned usage decrease, whilst Python and C++ are expected to rise a bit.
• Containers = BFFs. Over 45% of Node.js users rely on Docker for their development environment. This goes up to 58% in the IoT segment.

As always, YMMV. The survey “only” had 1,760 respondents, which still covered a lot of production areas and use cases. But I sure like what I see there.

If you’re into infographics, here’s the big one.