Most respondents are hands-on developers (51.4%), followed by lead developers (24.6%). Smaller but notable groups include CTOs, architects, and engineering managers, showing a community that’s not just composed of coders but also technical leaders and decision-makers.

The range of roles—from students to CEOs might indicate a mature, well-rounded ecosystem.

Compared to last year, the distribution looks fairly stable—developers still dominate, and lead developers remain the second-largest group. However, there’s a slight increase in more senior and managerial positions (CTOs, architects, and managers).

The experience level distribution is well-spread. About a fifth of respondents are new (18.4%), while nearly as many (14.8%) have been using Elixir for eight years or more. The middle ranges are also evenly represented, suggesting that Elixir continues to attract fresh talent while retaining long-time practitioners which is a good sign.

Respondents tend to cluster around the middle-upper range, with 7 and 8 being the most popular scores—together, they account for over half of the responses.

This aligns with a common pattern in self-assessment surveys, where participants often pick a safe 'above average' rating rather than extremes.

Compared to last year, the distribution looks very similar, indicating that the overall self-assessment of Elixir proficiency remains stable.

Senior-level developers dominate (almost 74%), with regular/mid-level at about 22% and juniors under 4%.

Compared to last year, senior representation has inched upward, while mid-level and junior shares remain similar.

This suggests an ongoing trend where more respondents self-identify as seniors. It might also suggest that Elixir devs stick to this technology, and as a result, more and more of them become senior.

Productivity is still the top priority, closely followed by the joy of development and concurrency—just like last year.

Fault tolerance and a strong ecosystem continue to be key factors, while reliability, documentation, and scalability maintain their steady position in the middle.

Compared to last year, the top choices remain largely unchanged, though a slight rise in mentions of concurrency and the ecosystem highlights ongoing appreciation for Elixir’s core strengths.

Responses like 'Functional', 'Maintainability', or 'Access running state' reflect niche interests in code quality and operational visibility. Mentions of 'Syntax' and 'Cost Efficacy' show that users value both a great developer experience and economic efficiency.

This is the question we were most eager to see answered because it’s something we’re genuinely curious about.

It’s no surprise that concurrency and the joy of development came out on top—these are clearly Elixir’s superpowers.

Productivity, fault tolerance, reliability, documentation, and the amazing community also scored high, which just confirms what makes Elixir so special.

Scalability, though, scored a bit lower, which makes us wonder if we as a community could do more to show how well Elixir scales in real-world, large-scale systems.

Performance and the ecosystem seem to be rated the lowest, whether through better tools, libraries, or resources.

A significant share of respondents (about 37%) don’t integrate Elixir with other languages at all.

Among those who do, Erlang (28.1%) and Rust (26.1%) are top choices, followed by Python, JavaScript, Bash, and C/C++.

Compared to last year, Rust usage has grown slightly.

Just like last year, JavaScript, Ruby, and Python are the top three languages people switched from.

Java/JVM languages, PHP, and Go also continue to show up regularly.

It’s clear that Elixir is often stepping in to replace traditional web and scripting stacks, as well as some enterprise setups.

Monolithic architectures are the strong favorite—over three-quarters of respondents indicate they “prefer” monoliths. Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and event-driven approaches also show solid interest, though most respondents only use them occasionally. Microservices, while widely experimented with (nearly half “use occasionally”), remain less favored overall. CQRS and serverless architectures remain niche, with the vast majority never using them.

The adoption of Phoenix LiveView has grown (62.8% last year). Now, with version 1.0, Phoenix LiveView seems to be very well adopted across the community, which could suggest that Elixir devs prefer LiveView over JS frameworks such as React.

About a quarter of Elixir developers had a chance to use at least one of the tools available within the Numerical Elixir ecosystem.

This is the first time we have gathered this data. Therefore, it will be very interesting to observe how the adoption will change in the upcoming years with a growing interest in AI.

Livebook usage clearly states that it's a well-known tool within the community. From our point of view, the adoption of Livebook should continue to go up in the upcoming years.

VS Code still dominates at nearly 60%, with Neovim entering the second place.

This year we introduced additional editors based on community feedback—Zed, Cursor, and Helix—all showing measurable usage.

The data also shows that AI-centered editors, such as Cursor, are not yet the go-to option. It might mean that developers use in-editor extensions (such as Github Copilot), are not yet familiar with these tools, or simply don't see enough value yet.

AWS is still the top choice (49%), but Fly.io is catching up fast at 42%. Its rising presence in the community and simpler deployment model seem to appeal to developers looking for alternatives to more complex or expensive setups.

Private clouds and on-premise hosting (21%) also stand out, likely driven by stricter data regulations or cost-saving strategies.

Hetzner, Digital Ocean, and GCP hold steady in the middle but aren’t growing as quickly as Fly.io. This might suggest a shift toward either the convenience of Fly.io’s platform-focused approach or the control offered by private hosting.

Microsoft Azure and other smaller platforms see limited use, perhaps due to a lack of Elixir-specific resources, marketing, or community buzz.

Hiring and missing integrations are the biggest issues, followed by a moderate learning curve and questions about ecosystem depth.

“Other” comments highlight struggles with management buy-in, cultural resistance, advanced docs, and type system gaps.

It’s clear that beyond technical challenges, organizational and educational hurdles also need more attention.

Nearly all participants stated that they plan to continue using Elixir for future projects.

It's clearly a sign that Elixir is consistently one of the most-loved programming languages in the world.

Amongst the six people who answered this question, three developers had a hard time finding a job.

Since the number one challenge in adopting Elixir was 'hiring', there might be a need to educate companies on effective hiring strategies within this community to fix the problems on both sides.

Most of the respondents are either employed or self-employed.

We asked this question to direct people to the right questions about the company specifics.

Elixir isn’t limited to just one type of company. While early-stage startups (0–10 and 10–50 employees) make up the largest groups, there’s also solid representation in mid-sized companies and even nearly 15% adoption in large enterprises with 1000+ employees.

To us, this spread shows a healthy and growing ecosystem. It’s natural to see fewer huge corporations in a sample like this, but their presence at all is a great sign that Elixir is breaking out of its niche.

Adoption across startups, mid-sized businesses, and enterprises proves that Elixir is maturing and ready to scale with growing organizations.

Software development & consultancy, SaaS, and finance top the list, but the range of industries is extensive—everything from healthcare and e-commerce to education and enterprise software is represented.

While tech-related fields lead, the presence of finance, HR, healthcare, and more niche areas suggests Elixir’s utility goes beyond just early adopters and web-centric startups.

This broad distribution indicates Elixir’s versatility. It’s not just stuck in the tech bubble; it’s finding practical uses in traditionally slower-to-adopt sectors, hinting at a language that’s gaining trust and maturity.

Over time, as more success stories emerge, we may see even broader adoption across industries that aren’t historically first-movers in tech.

Nearly 80% of respondents are employed at companies utilizing the Elixir programming language.

Given that almost 99% previously stated they plan to use Elixir in future projects, this suggests that the remaining 20% might either be interested in transitioning to roles involving Elixir or influencing their current company’s technology choices.

Compared to last year, the pattern hasn’t changed dramatically.

About half of respondents again rate hiring as 'neither hard nor easy,' and around 40% still find it challenging ('hard' or 'very hard').

A small but steady minority reports no issues at all.

This stable trend suggests that while Elixir is known and used, the talent pool isn’t rapidly expanding. Companies may need to invest more in training or community building to make hiring smoother over time.

Among the respondents that answered 'No' in one of the previous questions, most work in a company that didn't consider using Elixir.

This group of people could be a future Elixir evangelist that may impact executives' tech decisions.

Within those who answered 'No' in 'Did your organization consider using Elixir?' question, the primary barrier was a lack of internal expertise (two-thirds cited this).

Time and cost constraints also played a role, as did simply opting for a different technology.

Even though this is a small subset, it highlights the need for more accessible training, resources, and clear cost-benefit examples to help organizations feel confident about making the switch.

Job boards and word-of-mouth are the main channels for finding Elixir developers, while internal recruitment and social media also play a role.

Among the 'Other' answers, a recurring theme is not actively seeking Elixir specialists but hiring strong general engineers and training them in-house.

Some respondents mention relying on recruiters, LinkedIn, or external agencies, but overall, this suggests a flexible approach: companies often start with talented all-round developers and build Elixir expertise internally rather than always searching for ready-made Elixir experts.

We're always very interested to see how Elixir developers are spread across the world. This year's results appear to be quite similar to the previous edition.

USA, Brazil, Poland, and Germany seem to be the biggest hubs of Elixir developers in exactly the same order as in 2023!

Keep in mind that while we strive to engage the entire community, the data represents insights from 500 Elixir enthusiasts. As a result, the overall picture might vary slightly when considering the broader group.