The 2020 State of JavaScript Survey Is In
The 2020 State of JavaScript survey results are now public, capping off a year that saw just shy of 24,000 participants—roughly 2,000 more than the previous year. As with prior editions, the project provides both polished visualizations and raw data exports, making it easy for anyone to dig into the numbers and draw their own conclusions rather than relying solely on the built-in charts.
Several trends stand out in this year's results:
React's Luster Is Fading
React remains the dominant framework by usage, but its satisfaction rating has slipped to 88%, down from a 93% peak in 2017. While there's no mass exodus, the dip suggests the "shiny" factor has worn off. Whether that's tied to documentation frustrations raised in other surveys is unclear, but the combination of continued growth and a notable shift toward negative sentiment is worth watching into 2021.
Gulp's Reputation Takes a Hit
Gulp's perception has turned decidedly negative. Usage has dipped, and impressions have moved solidly into unfavorable territory. The tool still works fine for projects that need its pipe-based task running, but newer build tooling has clearly made it less appealing to the broader developer community.
Svelte Is Winning Enthusiasm
Svelte ranks as the fourth most-used framework at 15% adoption, yet it leads the pack in satisfaction at 89%. It also captures the most interest of any framework, with 68% of respondents expressing curiosity about it. That combination of high satisfaction and high interest suggests Svelte is positioned for continued growth.
Mixed Feelings About JavaScript Itself
Opinions on whether JavaScript is overused and whether building JS apps has become overly complex are nearly evenly split—an almost perfect distribution of agreement and disagreement. Despite those ambivalent views, an overwhelming majority of respondents (80.6%) believe JavaScript is heading in the right direction overall.
The full interactive results are available on the official State of JavaScript site, where you can explore the data by framework, tooling, and opinion.
