Jamstack Web Development Community is Booming, New Netlify Report Reveals
Jamstack Community Survey indicates the dynamic direction web development is headed
SAN FRANCISCO – October 6, 2021 — Today, Netlify, the most popular way to build, deploy, and scale modern web applications, has launched results of the annual Jamstack Community Survey, showing Jamstack is rapidly becoming the mainstream architecture for web developers of every experience level. With shifting working patterns and the increase in remote work, the web developer community is turning to Jamstack to create faster, more secure websites.
Netlify’s comprehensive Jamstack community report shows the modern architecture is becoming the primary home for not only experienced web developers (half of the respondents represented more than five years of experience), but also those with less experience and who are just breaking into the industry. The percentage of developers in the community who are students has nearly doubled in the past year, from 9% to 16%, indicating Jamstack is becoming the go-to architecture for new developers, even as the number of experienced developers in the community has continued to grow.
Changing work patterns
When looking at how the pandemic affected working life, perhaps unsurprisingly, the report highlighted a shift to remote work that was high among Jamstack developers, with nearly a third (31%) of people saying their working life is now fully remote due to the global pandemic and plan to stay remote even after it ends.
Where developers are located has diversified, with newer developers significantly more geographically diverse. While a majority of developers are still based in Europe or North America, the percentage coming from outside those two regions has tripled from 15% to 48% amongst newer developers. This new population of developers brings global diversity.
Building for scale
Jamstack continues to serve the needs of developers building for scale, with nearly a third (32%) of Jamstack developers reporting the sites they build are for audiences of millions of users. These larger sites are also more likely to target mobile devices, showing the strength of Jamstack in the mobile space.
Serverless functions are mainstream
When asked how frequently different techniques were used to build backends for Jamstack sites, 46% reported using some form of serverless functions. When compared to usage and awareness, respondents revealed functions are becoming almost as ubiquitous as containers.
Jamstack is about compiling the UI, decoupling the frontend from the backend, and pulling in data as needed. Today Jamstack developers are enabling more dynamic use cases with the architecture, with 65% reporting they are building fully dynamic sites.
Other key findings include:
- Security is top of mind — Jamstack developers are taking security more seriously than a year ago, with an overwhelming majority prioritizing security over the speed of development. In line with this trend, authentication, which helps reduce security challenges, is the most popular third-party service. Performance and uptime also continue to be a top priority for developers.
- Figma is the designer’s tool of choice — When it comes to design tools, 60% of respondents use Figma and love it in comparison to any other design tool.
- WordPress leads CMS usage, but not satisfaction — WordPress is the clear leader in content management systems, but it is not well-liked as a stand-alone solution, getting much higher marks from users when used as a headless CMS. 2021 was a breakout year for Sanity and Strapi, with users of Sanity reporting the highest levels of satisfaction.
- TypeScript continues to gain ground on JavaScript as a primary programming language — For 55% of Jamstack developers, JavaScript is still their primary language. TypeScript is gaining, with 15% of developers calling it their primary language this year.
- React is most popular amongst frameworks — React continues to dominate the web frameworks, both in usage and satisfaction, but Vue also showed growth and high satisfaction. Next.js also has stellar satisfaction.
Netlify sits at the center of the Jamstack community, pushing the original conception of the methodology forward and working to help modernize the way developers build and deploy web applications. This year, Netlify received over 7,000 responses to the Jamstack Community Survey, more than doubling since the previous year and confirming the exponential growth of the Jamstack community.
View the complete findings of the Jamstack Community Survey 2021 at jamstack.org/survey/2021/. Results will be presented live at Jamstack Conf on October 6 and anyone can register for free at jamstackconf.com. For more information on Netlify visit www.netlify.com.
Methodology
The survey was conducted by Netlify and the Jamstack community between June 23 and August 10, 2021, collecting results from 7,000+ respondents across the globe.
Supporting Quotes
Matt Biilmann, co-founder and CEO, Netlify
"Jamstack is everywhere. It’s a thriving community of developers at all stages of their careers across different geographies and industries. As the Jamstack becomes more mainstream, Netlify is thrilled to support the effort to create high performance, scalable web experiences that set the pace for developers and an ever-evolving ecosystem."
Pierre Burgy, co-founder and CEO, Strapi
"These survey results confirm the spectacular usage growth and user satisfaction we have seen in the Strapi community. With the release of Strapi v4 and official marketplace just around the corner, this momentum should accelerate and further establish our leadership in the Jamstack ecosystem."
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About Netlify
Netlify is the most popular way to build, deploy and scale modern web applications. Developers love Netlify for its powerful, yet simple workflows, which make it easy to integrate their choice of tools and collaborate with their team to deliver the best online experiences, faster.
Now home to millions of developers and thousands of enterprises, Netlify is the platform of choice for running modern Jamstack web applications in production, from global corporate sites to complex e-commerce and SaaS applications. Get started for free at netlify.com.
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Media contact
Kelly Tenn
Netlify