JavaScript Outplays Everyone Again: GitHub Names It the Fastest-Growing Language of 2025

GitHub named JavaScript the fastest growing language of the year

According to the annual report of the GitHub platform Octoverse 2025, the JavaScript programming language (and its server-side environment Node.js) became the absolute leader in growth rate among all languages. The figure increased by 23% compared to 2024, outpacing TypeScript, Python, and Rust.

The report notes that the main driver of growth is the Node.js ecosystem. The number of repositories using Node.js grew by 41% over the year. This is due to the boom in AI agents and serverless functions, which are increasingly written in JavaScript for quick integration with the frontend.

«JavaScript has ceased to be just a language for browsers. Now it is a universal glue for the entire infrastructure: from microservices to edge computing,» commented Thomas Domingo, lead engineer at GitHub.

Among the key growth factors, analysts highlight:

• The rise in popularity of Bun and Deno — alternative runtimes that speed up development and lower the entry barrier.
• Integration with AI tools — Copilot and Claude actively generate code in JS, which increases the number of commits.
• Migration from Python to Node.js in startups where deployment speed and a unified stack are important.

It is also noted that JavaScript has overtaken Python for the first time in the number of active contributors to Open Source projects related to DevOps and automation. At the same time, TypeScript, which is often considered the «successor» to JS, took only third place with a growth of 14%.

Experts predict that by 2026, the share of JavaScript in GitHub repositories could reach 35% of the total number of projects, making it the dominant language of the platform.

Source: GitHub Octoverse 2025 report