Docker Tops the Stack Overflow 2026 Developer Survey
More than 30K technologists from 169 countries have shared their thoughts with us, and now it’s time to share everything we’ve learned with you. So let’s dive into this year’s Annual Developer Survey and where Docker stood in the results
The Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2026 is out, and Docker is the #1 tool in the Cloud Development category on both usage and desire. More than 30,900 developers from 169 countries took part this year.
The Cloud Development category covers cloud platforms, container and orchestration tools, package managers, build tools and infrastructure as code. About 10,900 people answered this question, and they picked from 56 tools. Here is what the numbers say about Docker.
1. The most used tool in Cloud Development
59.1% of respondents in this category did extensive work with Docker or Docker Compose in the past year. That puts Docker ahead of every package manager, cloud provider and orchestrator on the list.
Docker's usage is more than double that of Kubernetes, and about 4.5 times that of Podman.
Source: Cloud development usage
2. The tool developers most want to use next year
This is the strongest result for Docker. 38.4% of respondents said they want to work with Docker next year. That puts it 14 points ahead of the next tool.
AWS comes second at 24.1%, followed by npm (21.7%) and Kubernetes (21.6%). No other tool in the category is above 25%.
Usage tells you what people work with today. Desire tells you where they want to spend their time next. Docker leads on both.
Source: Admired and Desired, Cloud development
3. People who use Docker want to keep using it
58.9% of Docker users said they want to keep using it next year. Stack Overflow calls this the "admired" score.
A few smaller tools score higher, such as Cargo (65.4%), Hetzner Cloud (63.6%) and uv (60.9%). But those tools have a much smaller user base. Docker is the only tool that is at the top for usage and desire and also keeps most of its users happy.
The gap with Podman, the closest container alternative, is wide:
Measure | Docker | Podman |
|---|---|---|
Used (%) | 59.1 | 13.0 |
Want to use next year (%) | 38.4 | 10.7 |
Admired by current users (%) | 58.9 | 54.9 |
Docker has about 4.5 times the usage of Podman and about 3.6 times the desire.
Source: Admired and Desired, Cloud development
4. Testcontainers users are happy too
Testcontainers, which is part of Docker, shows up in the Code Testing tools list. 7.8% of respondents used it in the past year. That is a smaller group than for Postman (32.6%) or Jest (20.8%).
The admired score is where it stands out. 54.5% of Testcontainers users want to keep using it. That is higher than Postman (38.5%), Jest (35.3%), Selenium (30.6%) and Cypress (25.7%).
Sources: Code testing usage, Code testing admired and desired
5. AI is creating new security work
The survey also shows why safe, isolated environments matter more now that AI agents write and run code. 13,648 people answered a question about which AI mistakes cost their team the most time:
- 45.1% lost time to hallucinated packages or configs.
- 23.5% lost time to security or privacy issues caused by AI.
At the same time, only 23.1% of respondents used security software for permissions and compliance in the past year.
A made-up package name or a bad config is far less risky when an agent runs inside a sandbox, starts from a hardened base image and works under clear policies. This is the problem Docker Sandboxes, Docker Hardened Images and Docker's AI governance tools are built for.
Sources: AI mistakes that cost time, Technology settings used
A note on comparing with 2025
If you look at last year's survey, Docker's 2025 numbers were higher: 71.1% usage, 50.4% desired and 63.6% admired. I would not read too much into the change.
The 2026 survey had about 30,900 responses, compared with about 49,000 in 2025, so the group of people answering is different. Stack Overflow also said the 2025 jump for Docker came partly from merging some categories that year. The fair comparison is within 2026, and there Docker leads its category.
Source: Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025, Technology
Wrapping up
Docker is the most used and the most wanted tool in the 2026 Cloud Development category, and most of its users want to stick with it. As more code is written and run by AI agents, the need for safe, repeatable containers is only growing.
The full data is open, so you can dig in yourself:
- Cloud development usage
- Cloud development admired and desired
- Code testing admired and desired
- AI mistakes that cost time
- Full 2026 survey
What stood out to you in this year's survey? Share your thoughts in the comments.
