Yes—within Cloudflare’s observed automated API requests, Go overtook Node.js in 2024 and widened the lead in 2025. Cloudflare reported almost 12% for Go in 2024, versus 10% for Node.js in the detailed breakdown reported by InfoWorld. Its 2025 review put Go at 20% and Node.js at 8.3%.
This is not a ranking of programming-language popularity among developers or of all API traffic. Cloudflare inferred client languages from automated requests to API endpoints that its network protected and delivered.
What Cloudflare measured
Cloudflare analyzes traffic passing through its network, identifies requests to API endpoints, and uses heuristics to distinguish automated API activity from requests made by people in browsers or native mobile apps. It then infers the language used to build the client making those requests.
The resulting metric is best described as Cloudflare-observed automated API requests. It does not represent every internet request, every API, or all client software. The reports provide observed shares but no numerical confidence intervals or complete sampling-bias analysis, so the percentages should not be treated as more precise than Cloudflare presents them.
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Go’s lead over Node.js by year
| Cloudflare review | Go | Node.js | Other reported languages | What it shows |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Smaller share than NodeJS | Almost 15% | Not stated | NodeJS was ahead in Cloudflare’s automated-API sample. |
| 2024 | Almost 12%; InfoWorld’s detailed account gives 11.8% | 10% in InfoWorld’s detailed account | Python 9.6%; Java 7.4%; .NET 3.6% | Go moved into first place among the languages reported for these requests. |
| 2025 | 20% | 8.3% | Python 17%; Java 11.2% | Go remained first, while Node.js fell to fourth in the reported ranking. |
Cloudflare’s 2024 review described Go’s share as up approximately 40% from 2023 and NodeJS’s as down just over 30%. Those changes refer to the shares in Cloudflare’s respective annual snapshots, not to a measure of all software development.
What changed between 2024 and 2025
Cloudflare’s 2025 review reported Go at 20%, compared with its reported 12% share in 2024. Python reached 17%, Java 11.2%, and Node.js 8.3%. On this measure, Go’s observed share increased while Node.js’s decreased.
The reports document the movement but do not establish why it happened. They do not test whether Go clients are faster, cheaper, easier to maintain, or better suited to a particular API. A traffic share alone cannot justify choosing one language over another for a new project.
How to interpret the result
It is a client-traffic signal
The figures indicate which language Cloudflare inferred most often among the automated API requests visible to its network. That can reflect the kinds of services, infrastructure, bots, agents, and integrations that use Cloudflare-protected endpoints.
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It is not a developer-popularity census
Nothing in these reports shows that Go has become the most widely used language overall, that more developers use Go than Node.js, or that Go dominates APIs outside Cloudflare’s observed traffic.
The annual snapshots are not identical populations
Each percentage is a year-specific share of requests classified by Cloudflare. Comparing 2024 with 2025 reveals the reported direction of change, but it does not provide a controlled experiment or a causal explanation.
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What the reports establish—and what they do not
- Established: Go surpassed NodeJS in Cloudflare’s 2024 automated-API classification.
- Established: The detailed 2024 account lists Go at 11.8% and Node.js at 10%.
- Established: Cloudflare’s 2025 review lists Go at 20% and Node.js at 8.3%.
- Not established: Go’s general programming-language popularity, share of all internet traffic, or share of every API request.
- Not established: A reason for the shift, or a performance and maintainability advantage for Go.
Practical takeaway for API teams
If you operate APIs behind Cloudflare, the figures are useful as an ecosystem signal: Go-based automated clients were the largest identified group in both 2024 and 2025, while Node.js ranked lower in the later snapshot. They are not a substitute for project-specific decisions. Evaluate runtime behavior, libraries, staffing, security requirements, deployment targets, and existing code before selecting a client or server language.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.The Bottom Line
Go did overtake Node.js—but only in Cloudflare’s observed, heuristically classified automated API requests. Cloudflare reported roughly 12% for Go in 2024 and 20% in 2025, while Node.js fell from 10% in the detailed 2024 account to 8.3% in 2025. The result signals a change in this traffic sample, not a universal language popularity ranking.
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