C++ Community Chooses Best Libraries of the Year: C++23, Boost, and New Tools

C++ Community Chooses Best Libraries of the Year: From C++23 to Boost

The annual vote among C++ developers has concluded, and the community has determined the best tools for working with the language in 2024. This year, competition was particularly high: against the backdrop of the C++23 standard release and the active development of the library ecosystem, programmers favored both modern solutions and time-tested projects. We have gathered the key winners and nominees that every C++ developer should take note of.

Winners in Main Categories

• Best General-Purpose Library — Boost C++ Libraries. Despite its venerable age, Boost continues to dominate in surveys. This year, the community especially noted the Boost.URL and Boost.Beast modules, which have become indispensable for network applications and working with HTTP/WebSocket.
• Best Newcomer of the Year — std::print and std::format (C++23). The built-in support for formatted output, replacing printf and cout, received enthusiastic reviews for its convenience and performance. Many developers are already switching to these functions.
• Best Testing Tool — Google Test and Catch2. Both frameworks tied for first place in popularity, but Catch2 pulled ahead thanks to its support for C++20/23 and concise syntax.

Why Are These Libraries Important?

The community's choice reflects key trends in C++ development: a drive towards code simplification, type safety, and performance improvement. Boost remains the "gold standard" for complex projects, while the new C++23 standards introduce into the language what previously required external libraries — for example, std::expected for error handling without exceptions. Also in the top were libraries for asynchronous programming (libuv, asio) and for working with graphics (SFML, ImGui).

Expert Opinion: What's Next?

"C++ continues to evolve, and libraries play a key role in this," comments Andrey K., a member of the C++ standardization committee. "We see that the community actively votes for tools that lower the entry barrier and make code more readable. The growing popularity of modules and concepts is especially encouraging — this is the future of the language."

The full list of winners and voting statistics can be found on the official community website isocpp.org. And for those who want to try C++23 novelties today, we recommend using GCC 14+ or Clang 18+ compilers.

Conclusion

The vote showed: C++ is alive, active, and ready for new challenges. If you are not yet familiar with the winning libraries — now is the time to explore them. They will help you write more reliable, faster, and more modern code. Stay tuned for updates on our website PythonLib — we will continue to talk about best practices and tools for programmers.