At the same time, Perl has returned to prominence in the scripting realm. Once the undisputed leader in scripting, Perl declined after years of internal fragmentation and competition from newer languages, Jansen said. Recently, however, the language has staged a comeback, rising to 10th in the Tiobe index in September 2025 from 27th a year earlier. Perl ranks 11th in the index this month, with a 1.67% rating, having risen from 30th this time last year.
The monthly Tiobe Programming Community index serves as an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. Ratings are based on a formula that assesses the number of skilled engineers worldwide, courses, and third-party vendors pertinent to a language. Ratings are calculated by examining websites including Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, Bing, and more than 20 others.
The Tiobe index top 10 for February 26:
