The 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey asked participants to identify dev tools they use (“Desired”) and want to use again (“Admired”). Dividing these scores calculates a “underrated score” which reveals which tools may be hidden gems.
I've compiled a list using this method, filtering for tools admired by >60%, and used by <20% of developers, then sorted by “underrated”.
In 2025 there were a total of 12 tools with an admired score >70%. In 2024 there were 41. Are we admiring our tools less? Or did we stop caring because AI is touching the tools instead of us?
The 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey asked participants to identify dev tools they use (“Desired”) and want to use again (“Admired”). Dividing these scores calculates a “underrated score” which reveals which tools may be hidden gems.
I've compiled a list using this method, filtering for tools admired by >60%, and used by <20% of developers, then sorted by “underrated”.
The previous 2024 list is available here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41090759
In 2025 there were a total of 12 tools with an admired score >70%. In 2024 there were 41. Are we admiring our tools less? Or did we stop caring because AI is touching the tools instead of us?