Why Gleam Could Be the Next Most Admired Programming Language After Rust

For the tenth consecutive year, Rust has topped Stack Overflow’s “most admired programming language” category. In the 2025 developer survey, it topped with a 72% approval rating. But the surprise is in the runner-up segment. 

Gleam, a relatively new language in its public debut, has secured second place with a 70% approval rating. It has outperformed well-known languages like Elixir (66%) and Zig (64%). This is Gleam’s first time on the list, and developers appear optimistic that it won't be its last.

The new language seems to find a balance that other languages have struggled to reach, combining the runtime’s renowned robustness with a design that appeals to developers familiar with static typing and minimal syntax.

Those who have adopted it talk less about trends and more about practicality and speed, which are highly valued in the programming world.

A Static Type Language for BEAM

For many developers, Gleam’s rise is directly linked to its place in the BEAM ecosystem. The BEAM — Erlang’s virtual machine — is highly regarded for its capacity to run fault-tolerant, concurrent applications at scale. However, its main languages, Erlang and Elixir, use dynamic typing, which can pose a challenge for some.

When AIM inquired about the sudden popularity of Gleam, Wesley Payne, software engineer and co-host of the LINUX UNPLUGGED podcast, said, “My quick take is that the BEAM is a world-class runtime built by smart people with real work today.”

He continued by acknowledging that while static types can offer some advantages, he believes that the main reason many people interested in the BEAM are hesitant is due to their discomfort with Erlang's style and the dynamic nature of Elixir, which they lack the training for.

Meanwhile, Isaac Harris-Holt, CTO of Documatic, highlighted Gleam’s blend of power and portability, “I like the simplicity, and the fact you get the incredible power of the BEAM in a very tight little package.”

“The tooling is also best in class, and being able to compile to JS as well as Erlang means you get great full-stack type safety,” he explained.

Minimalism Meets Power

A recurring theme among Gleam users is the language’s minimal design and simplicity.

A developer from the Gleam Discord community mentioned that the simplicity of the language is due to its small size, with minimal syntax and language-specific concepts to learn. The person added saying Gleam is as powerful as its target languages, such as Erlang and JavaScript. Understanding functional programming is often considered the most challenging aspect of learning Gleam, since it is an unfamiliar paradigm for many newcomers.

The developer also highlighted that it is a great option to get introduced to, if someone wants to explore functional programming.

For many, the appeal is as much about escaping JavaScript-heavy workflows as it is about Gleam’s syntax. 

A developer on Gleam’s Discord community, who is also a startup founder, noted the advantage of building front-end web applications with minimal JavaScript using Gleam. 

Nguyễn Nhật Anh, another front-end developer, described it as the most well-designed language. He praised its functional design and the minimalism of its type system, noting that it has fewer keywords than Lua.

The People Behind the Code

While technical features attract developers, the Gleam community is what keeps them engaged. 

Giacomo Cavalieri, a key member of Gleam's team, said to AIM, “The main attraction was its simplicity! I immediately began contributing to its standard library, which I never expected to do with other languages.”

He acknowledged that the community's role was the most important factor in making him feel welcome and encouraging him to stay.

That sense of accessibility, both in the language and the people supporting it, appears to be central to Gleam’s rapid rise. In an industry where adoption curves are often slow and fragmented, Gleam’s trajectory could be driven by the community behind it.

In just a few years, Gleam has gone from an intriguing newcomer to one of the most admired languages in the developer world. 

Its ability to combine the safety of static typing with the proven reliability of BEAM runtime, all in a language that remains approachable and minimal, has made it a standout. 

If Rust’s decade-long dominance demonstrates anything, it is that admiration in programming circles is not fleeting. Gleam’s challenge now is to sustain the momentum, but if its current community energy is any indication, it may well be on its way.