Python overtakes Java: the programming languages IT contracts in Germany ask for
Listings name Python (17%) most often, followed by Java (16%). Since August 2026, Python has been ahead of Java in every month. SQL (13%) is third. The percentages are shares of all mentions of a programming language. Of all mentions of a backend framework, the shares are Java (55%) and Python (8%). Overall, 60% of the developer and engineering contracts in Germany name at least one programming language. This analysis covers 52,306 listings – by language, developer role and month, with the backend frameworks per language.
Which programming languages are most in demand in Germany?
The chart compares the languages with each other: each language's share of all mentions of a programming language, 100% together. A listing naming two languages counts for both. SQL is a query language, but listings name it next to the programming languages, so it is counted here.
How many contracts ask for Python, Java or SQL?
The second chart shows how widespread each language is overall: the share of all developer and engineering contracts naming it. These shares do not add up to 100%, because many contracts name several languages and some name none.
19% of the developer and engineering contracts name Python (3,223 listings), 18% name Java (3,141) and 12% name SQL (2,085). Together, 10,437 of 17,318 contracts name at least one programming language, which is 60%.
Python or Java: which roles ask for them?
Python and Java are asked for in different roles. The Python contracts fall mostly to the roles Data Engineer (18%), ML / AI Engineer (18%) and DevOps / Platform Engineer (16%), the Java contracts to Java Backend Developer (37%), Java Fullstack Developer (23%) and Test Engineer (8.4%). The two charts show how each language's contracts are spread over the developer roles; under each role is the share of its own listings naming the language. Contracts without one of the listed roles are missing, so the bars do not add up to 100%.
Demand by month and the skills most often named with each language are on the pages for Python and Java, remote share, contract length and typical contracts on the role pages Python developer, Java backend developer, ML/AI engineer and Data engineer. What the roles pay is on the rate pages for Java backend developers, data engineers and ML/AI engineers.
Which programming languages are gaining, which are losing?
Gained share from May–July 2026 to August–October 2026: Python (+3.1), SQL (+2.9), ABAP (+2.3). Lost share: TypeScript (−4.4), JavaScript (−3.2), C# (−1.3) (in percentage points). The comparison is between the shares among the languages in the latest three months (August–October 2026) and the three months before (May–July 2026).
| Language | May–July 2026 | August–October 2026 | Change (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Python | 15% | 18% | +3.1 |
| Java | 17% | 16% | −0.9 |
| SQL | 11% | 14% | +2.9 |
| TypeScript | 13% | 8.7% | −4.4 |
| JavaScript | 9.1% | 5.9% | −3.2 |
| ABAP | 5.3% | 7.6% | +2.3 |
| C# | 5.9% | 4.6% | −1.3 |
| Bash / Shell | 3.9% | 4.8% | +0.9 |
| C++ | 3.4% | 3.8% | +0.4 |
| PowerShell | 3.1% | 3.4% | +0.4 |
| Kotlin | 3% | 2.6% | −0.4 |
| Go | 2.4% | 2.7% | +0.3 |
| C | 1.7% | 1.7% | 0.0 |
| Groovy | 0.8% | 0.8% | 0.0 |
| PHP | 1% | 0.7% | −0.3 |
| COBOL | 0.8% | 0.7% | −0.1 |
| MATLAB | 0.5% | 0.7% | +0.2 |
| VBA | 0.6% | 0.7% | +0.1 |
| Rust | 0.6% | 0.6% | −0.1 |
| Visual Basic | 0.6% | 0.4% | −0.2 |
| Perl | 0.3% | 0.4% | +0.1 |
| Scala | 0.3% | 0.2% | −0.1 |
| Dart | 0.2% | 0.3% | +0.1 |
| R | 0.1% | 0.3% | +0.2 |
| Delphi | 0.2% | 0.1% | −0.1 |
Grey: a change within the variation this number of listings produces by chance.
The share of developer and engineering contracts naming a programming language fell from 64.6% (May–July 2026) to 57.7% (August–October 2026). This article compares shares, not absolute numbers, because the number of analysed listings varies from month to month.
Java or Python for the backend: which backend frameworks are in demand?
A language being named often does not mean the backend is built in it. Among the backend frameworks, listings name Spring (40%) most often, followed by .NET (18%). Overall, 25% of the developer and engineering contracts name a backend framework or backend development explicitly.
The next chart sums the frameworks by their language. Of all mentions of a backend framework, the shares are Java (55%), C# / .NET (19%), JavaScript / TypeScript (16%) and Python (8%). Java covers Spring, Java EE / Jakarta EE and Quarkus; Python covers FastAPI (5.3% of the framework mentions), Django (1.7%) and Flask (0.7%). For comparison: Python has 17% of the mentions among the programming languages, while the Python frameworks have 8% among the backend frameworks.
Gained share from May–July 2026 to August–October 2026: Spring (+3.3), FastAPI (+2.6), Django (+1.3). Lost share: NestJS (−3.9), Node.js (−3.8) (in percentage points). More on the most named framework is on the page for Spring Boot, on .NET on the pages for .NET and C#.
How much demand is there for TypeScript, C#, C++, Kotlin, Go and Rust?
TypeScript (10%) and JavaScript (7.2%) are the languages of web development; the frameworks asked for there are covered in the analysis of the frontend frameworks. ABAP (6.7%) is the language of the SAP market.
C# has 5.2%, C++ 3.7%, Kotlin 2.7% and Go 2.6% of the language mentions. Of the developer and engineering contracts, 5.9% name C#, 4.2% C++, 3.2% Kotlin, 3% Go and 0.7% Rust. Rust is named by 123 listings in the whole period, PHP by 174 and COBOL by 149.
Programming languages month by month
The table shows, per month, the developer and engineering contracts, how many of them name a programming language, their share, and the listings of the three most named languages (counted across all listings, not only developer and engineering contracts).
| Month | Developer and engineering contracts | Contracts naming a language | Share | Python | Java | SQL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | 178 | 149 | 84% | 34 | 62 | 23 |
| June 2026 | 2,646 | 1,774 | 67% | 531 | 637 | 462 |
| July 2026 | 3,594 | 2,220 | 62% | 751 | 752 | 457 |
| August 2026 | 3,364 | 1,881 | 56% | 657 | 592 | 505 |
| September 2026 | 3,602 | 2,037 | 57% | 782 | 667 | 558 |
| October 2026 | 3,934 | 2,376 | 60% | 859 | 735 | 669 |
How to find contracts in your programming language in Germany
- Filter by your language: Projectmatch shows the current projects with Python, Java or TypeScript from five project boards.
- Name the frameworks you have worked with next to the language in your profile: 25% of the developer and engineering contracts name a backend framework or backend development.
- Have new projects matched against your profile automatically instead of searching every board – try it now.
See also: The most in-demand IT skills, The most in-demand developer roles, The most in-demand frontend frameworks, AI in IT freelance contracts and Hourly and day rates of IT contractors.
Frequently asked questions
Which programming language is most in demand in German IT freelance contracts?
Listings name Python (17%) most often, followed by Java (16%). Since August 2026, Python has been ahead of Java in every month. SQL (13%) is third. The percentages are shares of all mentions of a programming language in 52,306 listings (May 2026 – October 2026).
Python or Java: which should a contractor in Germany know?
19% of the developer and engineering contracts name Python, 18% name Java. The Python contracts fall mostly to the roles Data Engineer (18%), ML / AI Engineer (18%) and DevOps / Platform Engineer (16%), the Java contracts to Java Backend Developer (37%), Java Fullstack Developer (23%) and Test Engineer (8.4%).
Which language are backends built in?
Among the backend frameworks, listings name Spring (40%) most often, followed by .NET (18%). Summed by language, the shares of all mentions of a backend framework are Java (55%), C# / .NET (19%), JavaScript / TypeScript (16%) and Python (8%).
How much demand is there for Go and Rust?
3% of the developer and engineering contracts name Go (521 listings), 0.7% name Rust (115).
Method
An AI model reads every project description and records the skills it asks for. Different spellings are merged into one name. A language counts for a listing that names it; T-SQL and PL/SQL count for SQL, Bash and shell scripting together. HTML and CSS do not count as programming languages. Swift is not part of the analysis, because the same name in listings mostly means the SWIFT payment network. Every listing counts at most once per language.
A backend framework counts when the listing names it or a project that clearly belongs to it (Spring Boot and Spring Security count for Spring). ASP.NET counts towards .NET. In the summary by language, the mentions of a language's frameworks are added up: a listing naming Spring and Quarkus counts twice there. A backend contract is a listing naming at least one backend framework or backend development explicitly.
Developer and engineering contracts are the listings assigned to a technical role of the developer roles analysis; listings for project management, consulting or operations are not among them. Languages and frameworks with fewer than 30 listings are summed in the charts, and roles with fewer than 30 listings are left out. The first month, May 2026, is only partly covered.
A change counts as a gain or a loss only when it is at least one percentage point and larger than the variation this number of listings produces by chance. The figures refer to the projects first listed in a month and are updated monthly. They are published under the CC BY 4.0 licence: you may use them freely, also commercially, crediting “Projectmatch (projectmatch.io)” and, online, linking to this page.