Microsoft counted 50 million GitHub Copilot users in July 2026. Between May and July, JetBrains found 21% of professional developers using Copilot at work and 12% using Cursor.
This page lays out AI coding assistant adoption for Copilot, Cursor and Windsurf across Stack Overflow’s 2026 survey, JetBrains research, Microsoft earnings calls, and company and press disclosures on revenue and ownership.
AI Coding Assistant Adoption Statistics 2026 [Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf]
Copilot vs Cursor vs Windsurf: Which Leads AI Coding Assistant Adoption?
GitHub Copilot leads the three named tools, used in the past year by 58.7% of the 12,255 respondents who answered Stack Overflow’s 2026 coding agent question. Cursor reached 25.5% and Windsurf 6.5%.
Claude Code tops the full list at 65.5%, and OpenAI Codex sits third at 29.5%. Devin, Cognition’s own agent, registers 2.9%.
Respondents could pick several tools, so the shares do not form one market. In a separate question, 40.5% said they use three to five AI tools in a typical week (n = 11,919).
Open Code, an open-source agent, reached 13.6%. Counts of open-source AI model downloads track file downloads, not tool use.
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026 (opt-in, 30,903 responses), AI data, published October 2026
Cursor and Windsurf as Editors: Used vs. Desired
| Editor | Used regularly, past year | Desired, next year |
|---|---|---|
| Visual Studio Code | 70.9% | 40.6% |
| Cursor | 14.9% | 7.9% |
| Windsurf | 3.2% | 1.7% |
| Kiro | 2.8% | 1.7% |
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, Dev IDEs question (opt-in, n = 13,193)
GitHub Copilot has no row here because it runs as an extension inside editors such as Visual Studio Code.
Stack Overflow’s admired score shows how many current users want to stay: 33.0% for Cursor and 22.7% for Windsurf, against 55.7% for VS Code.
In the survey’s language question, Python leads the languages respondents used with AI tools at 39.0% (n = 14,099), while JavaScript tops overall language usage rankings at 62.0%.
JetBrains AI Coding Assistant Adoption Data: Copilot at 21%, Cursor at 12%
JetBrains tracks regular use at work among professional developers. Between May and July 2026, 21% used GitHub Copilot at work, down from 29% in January, while Cursor fell from 18% to 12%.
Claude Code climbed from 18% to 39%, and OpenAI Codex from 3% to 16%. Google Antigravity held at 6%.
Neither JetBrains post reports a Windsurf figure. Across all tools, 90% of professional developers used AI coding agents at work at least weekly in May–July 2026, and 68% used them daily.
Source: JetBrains AI Pulse, January 2026 (10,000+ developers); JetBrains Developer Ecosystem Survey 2026, May–July 2026 (15,000+ developers, reweighted)
Awareness Gains and Regional Drops
Cursor’s biggest drop came in China, where work use fell from 28% in January to 16% in May–July 2026.
Copilot’s awareness reaches 86%–90% in Europe, the UK and the US. In January 2026, it was adopted by 40% of developers at companies with more than 5,000 employees.
In the United States, 47% of developers use Claude Code at work. In India, 15% use Google Antigravity, which JetBrains places on par with Cursor there.
JetBrains also found that 39% of GitHub Copilot users run it, among other surfaces, in JetBrains IDEs such as IntelliJ IDEA.
| Tool | Heard of it, Jan 2026 | Heard of it, May–Jul 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | 76% | 79% |
| Cursor | 69% | 75% |
| OpenAI Codex | 27% | 65% |
| Google Antigravity | 29% | 47% |
Source: JetBrains Research, AI Pulse January 2026 and Developer Ecosystem Survey 2026 (May–July 2026)
How Many People Use GitHub Copilot in 2026?
GitHub Copilot had 50 million users in July 2026, Satya Nadella said on Microsoft’s July 29 earnings call. Microsoft reported over 15 million in April 2025.
That user total and JetBrains’ 21% work-use share measure different things and do not convert into each other.
A GitHub spokesperson told TechCrunch in July 2025 that the 20 million figure counted all-time users. The July 2026 call did not define the 50 million figure.
Paid seats are a separate count. Microsoft reported 4.7 million paid Copilot subscribers in January 2026, up 75% year over year.
Copilot moved to usage-based billing in June 2026, and Nadella said Copilot revenue accelerated over 60% quarter over quarter. He also said 1 in 3 pull requests on GitHub now involves an agent.
GitHub as a whole counts 225 million users, and its Actions service competes in the CI/CD tool market with Jenkins and GitLab.
Source: Microsoft earnings calls, April 2025, July 2025, October 2025, January 2026 and July 2026; TechCrunch, July 2025
Cursor’s $4 Billion Run Rate and $60 Billion Sale to SpaceX
Cursor said in November 2025 that its annualized revenue had passed $1 billion, as it raised $2.3 billion at a $29.3 billion post-money valuation. Enterprise revenue grew 100x in 2025 through that point, the company said.
Later revenue figures come from press reports, not Cursor releases. Bloomberg reported annualized revenue above $2 billion in February 2026, with about 60% from corporate customers.
Forbes reported that the run rate passed $4 billion in early June 2026.
SpaceX agreed on June 16, 2026 to buy Anysphere, Cursor’s maker, in a $60 billion all-stock deal. It closed on August 14, 2026, with Cursor shareholders receiving about 389.3 million SpaceX Class A shares.
Cursor now operates as a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary. Annualized revenue projects recent sales over 12 months and is not audited full-year revenue.
Source: Cursor via Business Wire, November 2025; Bloomberg, March 2026; Forbes, June 2026; SpaceX securities filing, August 2026
What Happened to Windsurf After Cognition Bought It?
Cognition signed a definitive agreement to acquire Windsurf on July 14, 2025. Windsurf brought $82 million in ARR and 350+ enterprise customers, according to Cognition.
On June 2, 2026, Cognition renamed the editor Devin Desktop. Plans, pricing and extensions stayed the same, the company said.
Cognition’s later revenue figures cover the whole company. On September 8, 2026, it announced a Series E of more than $2 billion at a $48 billion valuation, with run-rate revenue of almost $900 million, up from $492 million in May.
Stack Overflow’s 2026 survey still lists Windsurf: 6.5% used it as a coding agent in the past year (n = 12,255). In the editor question, 3.2% reported regular use (n = 13,193).
Source: Cognition, July 2025 and September 2026; Devin blog, June 2026; Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026
AI Coding Assistant Adoption at Work: 73% of Users Go Daily
65.9% of Stack Overflow’s 2026 respondents use AI coding assistants or coding agents in their role at work (n = 17,464). General-purpose AI chat tools reach 62.5%, and 17.2% use no AI tools.
Among coding assistant users, 73.0% use them daily (n = 14,478). Of all daily AI users, 30.9% spend four or more hours a day with AI (n = 10,926).
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, AI data (opt-in), published October 2026
How Employers Govern AI Tools
AI use is optional and left to individuals for 29.7% of respondents. Another 24.0% say their organization provides approved AI tools and guidance (n = 13,167).
On tool choice, 32.8% say their organization uses a few approved tools or models, and 18.6% say it mostly uses one (n = 12,637).
10.6% switched AI tools in the past year because their organization required or recommended a different tool. Another 25.1% switched for better output quality, and 33.7% did not switch (n = 13,144).
At the model layer, 74.6% used Anthropic models and 74.3% used OpenAI models for work (n = 11,895); company-level LLM adoption in enterprises is measured differently.
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, AI and technology data (opt-in)
Trust Checks Before AI Code Ships
48.0% trust AI output when it is easy to verify, and 6.6% trust it with important work decisions (n = 14,304).
Before using an AI answer, 76.5% run it locally and 9.6% use it as-is (n = 13,162).
| AI mistake that cost the most time (select all) | Respondents |
|---|---|
| Plausible but wrong code | 69.3% |
| Hard-to-review generated code | 54.2% |
| Missing context | 49.3% |
| Hallucinated package/config | 45.1% |
| Incorrect or stale internal knowledge | 38.7% |
| Outdated APIs | 33.9% |
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026, technology data (opt-in, multi-select, n = 13,648)
FAQs
What percentage of developers use AI coding assistants in 2026?
65.9% of Stack Overflow’s 2026 respondents use AI coding assistants or coding agents at work (n = 17,464). JetBrains found 90% of professional developers used AI coding agents at work at least weekly in May–July 2026.
Do more developers use GitHub Copilot than Cursor?
Yes, in both 2026 surveys. Stack Overflow shows 58.7% past-year use for Copilot and 25.5% for Cursor (n = 12,255). JetBrains puts work use at 21% and 12% for May–July 2026. Claude Code tops both.
How many users does GitHub Copilot have?
Fifty million, Satya Nadella said on Microsoft’s July 29, 2026 earnings call. Paid subscribers stood at 4.7 million in January 2026, up 75% year over year.
What happened to Windsurf?
Cognition agreed to acquire Windsurf on July 14, 2025, and renamed the editor Devin Desktop on June 2, 2026. Stack Overflow’s 2026 survey still lists Windsurf, at 6.5% past-year use as a coding agent (n = 12,255).
Are Reddit threads a reliable guide to Copilot, Cursor and Windsurf adoption?
Not for adoption rates, since threads are unsampled discussion. Stack Overflow’s opt-in 2026 survey gives counted shares: 58.7% past-year use for Copilot, 25.5% for Cursor and 6.5% for Windsurf (n = 12,255).
