Python remains at the top of the Tiobe index of programming languages this month as well, but the lead is decreasing.
The programming language Python saw its market share decline over the past six months, and more specialized languages like R and Perl are gaining popularity again.
Python Still Dominant
The Tiobe index measures programming language popularity based on the number of developers, courses, and vendors. This is done through data from Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon, among others. The alternative Pypl index, which looks at searches for tutorials, paints a different picture. There, Python continues to grow and reaches 31.17 percent, while R and languages like Swift and Rust also score strongly.
According to the latest figures from the Tiobe Programming Community Index, Python has a share of 21.81 percent. That’s still more than ten percentage points ahead of number two C, but represents a clear decline from the peak of 26.98 percent in July last year. TIOBE CEO Paul Jansen sees this as a shift toward niche and domain-specific languages.
R, particularly popular in statistics and data science, climbed from position fifteen to eight in one year and now stands stable in the top 10 with 2.19 percent. Perl is also making a comeback. The scripting language declined for years, but rose from position 27 last year to position 11 this month, with a share of 1.67 percent.
Top 10 Tiobe Index (February 2026)
- Python (21.81%)
- C (11.05%)
- C++ (8.55%)
- Java (8.12%)
- C# (6.83%)
- JavaScript (2.92%)
- Visual Basic (2.85%)
- R (2.19%)
- SQL (1.93%)
- Delphi/Object Pascal (1.88%)
The figures show that Python remains untouchable for now, but that developers are increasingly using specialized alternatives.