Claude Code Tops AI Tools, Dethrones Copilot
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- Claude Code rocketed from zero to the #1 most-used AI coding tool in just eight months since its May 2025 release, overtaking both GitHub Copilot and Cursor.
- Anthropic's Opus and Sonnet models dominate coding tasks by a wide margin, mentioned more often than all other models combined.
- AI tools have hit full mainstream adoption: 95% of respondents use them weekly, 75% use AI for at least half their work, and 56% report doing 70%+ of their engineering work with AI.
- Cursor has grown 35% in nine months and now threatens GitHub Copilot, with the article projecting it could surpass Copilot in 6-9 months at that rate.
- OpenAI's Codex already has 60% of Cursor's usage despite not existing during the previous survey, reflecting explosive early growth.
- Company size strongly shapes tool choice: 75% of tiny startups favor Claude Code, while 56% of large enterprises (10K+) default to GitHub Copilot, with the survey attributing the split to enterprise procurement rather than individual preference.
- Staff+ engineers are the heaviest AI agent users at 63.5%, compared to 49.7% of regular engineers, and agent users are nearly twice as likely to feel excited about AI as non-users are.
Why it matters: Claude Code's eight-month rise to #1 marks a rare displacement in AI coding tools, where GitHub Copilot had been the default since 2021. Anthropic gains the most in both product adoption and model mentions, while GitHub Copilot's flat growth (46% nine months ago, barely higher now) shows the incumbency advantage is eroding as terminal-first agents win the next phase.
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