The first-ever State of AI 2025 survey polled thousands of developers to see how AI tools fit into real workflows, from brainstorming features to debugging in production. 

The survey ran from Feb-March 2025 and collected over 4,000 responses from developers around the world. Organized by Devographics and supported by open-source contributors, it was designed to capture how developers are actually using AI tools today. It gives a good perspective on what’s working, what’s hype, and where real value is already emerging in AI-assisted coding in the world of devtools. 

The TL;DR: Some AI coding tools are getting mainstream, but there’s still some barriers. The winner workflow among developers in 2025: kicking off projects with Cursor and v0 for fast prototyping, then refining the output with manual reviews. 

Here are a few takeaways:

IDE trends: Cursor is winning

The hype is real in this case. 33% of developers said they’ve used Cursor, and another 49% have at least heard of it. Respondents talk about autocomplete in the comments, the natural language prompting, and the way it generally integrates AI deeply into the editing experience. 

“When used with care, Cursor it’s a ridiculous force multiplier for programming”

“I use Cursor Pro every day. @notepad, @files, @web, @docs… Just got started using MCP ;)”

Zed and Winsurf are next. Zed is the closest runner-up, with 17% of respondents saying they’ve used it. Windsurf is still less used with a 7.5%, but it’s worth mentioning the high awareness (26%) which shows signs of early momentum. 

In general, commentary on AI IDES is quite positive, making them a big winner on the survey. Of course, there’s still resistance… It’s hard to give up on your favorite editors 🙂

“I won’t change editors. I purchased Copilot because it works in my favorite editor, NeoVim”

Codegen tools: v0 is winning

Codegen tools are taking the internet by storm, opening up app development to non-coders. But how popular are they among developers?

According to the survey, the most widely used codegen tool among developers is v0, with 26.5% reporting they’ve used it. It also has by far the highest positive sentiment of the group.

“Literally everytime I open v0, it gets better. Fantastic platform that has saved me hours“

“I use v0 day-to-day to get a general grasp of the page I want to make“

The next tools on the list: 

• Bolt has been used by 13.3% of respondents 
• Replit Agent shows less usage among developers, 4.4%, which makes sense considering Replit’s focus on less technical audiences
• The next codegen tool on the list is Lovable, with 3.1% of usage among respondents

The survey also shows skepticism with codegen, especially around code quality. A common theme: AI-generated code needs to be carefully reviewed in order to be usable, and codebases quickly get out of hand and are hard to maintain with codegen running wild.

“AI generated code is very surface level with a lot of work required to make it functional to a high standard“

“Takes lots of fine tuning for basic things“

Model providers: Open AI is still king

ChatGPT was the first-mover in this space, and it shows. Despite all the awesome new alternatives, it shows a massive dominance among developers, with 91.2% of total awareness and 52% positive sentiment. Claude comes next, with 37% of developers loving it.

Coding assistants: Copilot is still king

Something similar to ChatGPT happens with Copilot, which captured the market early on. 71% of respondents said they’ve used it, with 31% happy users.

It’ll be interesting to see how if this evolves in a few months: the survey comments illustrate how Cursor is being used by many as a Copilot alternative, so we’ll see to what extent developers are willing to switch environments. 

Conclusion 

AI is no longer just a curiosity in the dev world: it’s becoming a core part of how developers build. IDEs are evolving into AI copilots, and codegen tools are making it easier than ever to go from idea to working product. Cursor and v0 are leading the way. 

That said, the hype comes with big caveats. Developers are still learning how to navigate issues like code quality, editor lock-in, and pricing. AI coding workflows in 2025 are not automated yet: AI is helping, but manual reviews and expert judgment are still needed. 

It seems like developers won’t be replaced anytime soon after all 😉

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