In the ever-evolving world of technology, websites have become an essential part of our daily lives. From social media platforms to e-commerce sites and search engines, we rely on web-based applications to connect with others, shop, and find information. Behind every successful web application there is a complex infrastructure that requires the use of multiple programming languages, tools, and frameworks.

In this article, we will explore the most popular programming languages used to develop some of the world’s most popular websites, including Facebook, Google, Amazon, and more.

Table of Contents

There is no single programming language used to develop a whole website. Different websites may use different programming languages and frameworks depending on their specific requirements. However, some commonly used programming languages for popular websites include:

  • JavaScript: Websites use it for client-side scripting and interaction with HTML and CSS in the browser.
  • PHP: for server-side scripting and dynamic content generation.
  • Python: best for web development, data analysis, and machine learning.
  • C++: mainly used for developing system components and low-level abstraction layers.
  • Java: used for enterprise web applications and large-scale systems.
  • C#: best for Windows-based web applications and the .NET framework.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, and there are many other programming languages and frameworks used for web development, depending on the specific needs of the website.

We have prepared this table to show the popularity of each website we are going to explore later in this article.

Website/CompanyActive Users (approx.)Other Usage Statistics
Facebook2.96 billion (monthly) (Source)200 billion photos uploaded by users as of 2021.
GoogleGmail: 1.8 Billion (Source) YouTube: 2 Billion (Monthly) (Source)Over 63,000 searches per second.
MicrosoftMicrosoft.com: 4.8 Billion Visits (Source)Used by over 1 billion people worldwide.
Amazon.com and AWSAmazon.com: 310 Million Active Users Worldwide (Source)Amazon.com is the world’s largest online retailer.
Pinterest478 million (monthly) (Source)Over 240 billion pins saved on the platform as of 2021.
YahooYahoo Mail: 225 Million (Monthly) (Source)One of the most popular websites in the early days of the internet.
Twitter401 million (monthly) (Source)Over 500 million tweets sent per day.
Tencent HoldingsPUBG: 30 Million (Daily) (Source) WeCom: 130 Million (Monthly) (Source)Tencent is the world’s largest video game publisher by revenue.
Alibaba98 Million (Source)One of the world’s largest e-commerce companies.
Netflix230 million (Subscribers) (Source)Over 1 billion hours of content streamed per week.
Note that these numbers are approximate and may vary based on the source and methodology used to calculate them. Additionally, some companies may not release specific user statistics or may only report them periodically.

1. Facebook

The Facebook primarily builds its back-end using a variety of programming languages and technologies, including:

  • PHP: Facebook’s early versions were built with PHP, and it continues to be used extensively in the back-end for legacy code.
  • Hack: A derivative of PHP that was developed by Facebook, Hack is now used as the primary programming language for the back-end of Facebook’s website and its mobile applications.
  • JavaScript: Used extensively in Facebook’s front-end code, particularly with the React library for building user interfaces.
  • C++: Used for performance-critical code, such as image and video processing.

In addition to these languages, Facebook also uses a range of other technologies and frameworks, including Hadoop, Cassandra, and Thrift, to support its massive scale and complex infrastructure.

2. Google

Google’s software infrastructure is highly complex and vast, so it uses a wide variety of programming languages for different purposes. Some of the key programming languages include:

  • Java: Google uses Java extensively for building its back-end systems, particularly for building large-scale and distributed systems with frameworks such as Hadoop and MapReduce.
  • Python: Python is used for a wide range of purposes at Google, from building web applications and tools to perform data analysis and machine learning.
  • C++: Google uses C++ for high-performance and system-level code, particularly in areas such as networking and file systems and image processing.
  • Go: Go language is an open source programming language developed at Google. It is designed for building large-scale and distributed systems, and it is used extensively within Google for building tools and infrastructure.

In addition to these languages, Google also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including JavaScript, Objective-C, Swift, and more.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft’s software infrastructure is also complex and vast, so it uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for different purposes. Some of the key programming languages used by Microsoft include:

  • C++: Microsoft has a long history of using C++ for building high-performance and system-level code, particularly for operating systems, device drivers, and other low-level software components.
  • C#: C# is a programming language developed by Microsoft and is used for building Windows-based desktop and web applications, as well as for building back-end services and APIs.
  • Java: Microsoft has been increasingly investing in Java in recent years, particularly for building cloud services and platforms such as Azure.
  • TypeScript and JavaScript: TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that adds additional features and tooling to the language. Both are used extensively for building front-end web applications and web services.

In addition to these languages, Microsoft also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including Python, Rust, and many others.

4. Amazon and AWS

Similar to other large technology companies, Amazon also uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for developing its e-commerce platform and AWS Services. Some of the key programming languages include:

  • Java: Java is one of the primary languages used by Amazon for developing its e-commerce platform and its various back-end services.
  • JavaScript: Amazon uses it for building the front-end of Amazon’s e-commerce platform, particularly with the React library for building user interfaces.
  • Python: Python is used extensively at Amazon for a variety of purposes, including data analysis, machine learning, and web development.
  • C++: C++ is used for high-performance and system-level code, particularly for AWS services and infrastructure.
  • Go: Go is used by Amazon for building various back-end services and tools.

In addition to these languages, Amazon also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including Ruby, Perl, and many others.

5. Pinterest

Pinterest uses Python to builds is primary infrastructure such as the back-end server code, data processing and machine learning tasks. Some of the key Python-based frameworks and tools used by Pinterest include Django, Flask, SQLAlchemy, and NumPy.

In addition to Python, Pinterest also uses JavaScript for building the front-end of its website and for interaction with the user interface. Pinterest uses React as its primary JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

Pinterest also uses other programming languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services. Some are Objective-C and Swift for building its mobile applications, and C++ and Go for performance-critical and high-throughput back-end services.

6. Yahoo

Yahoo is one of the pioneers of the early internet era and diverse technology company. It uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for different purposes. Some of the key programming languages include:

  • PHP: Yahoo has a long history of using PHP for building its back-end systems, particularly for its web applications and services.
  • JavaScript: Yahoo uses JavaScript building the front-end of various web properties, user interfaces and for building web applications.
  • Java: Java is used by Yahoo for building large-scale and distributed systems, particularly for Hadoop and other big data processing frameworks.
  • C++: C++ is used for performance-critical and system-level code, particularly in areas such as networking and file systems at Yahoo.

In addition, Yahoo also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including Python, Ruby, and many others.

7. Twitter

Twitter’s software infrastructure is built using a variety of programming languages and technologies. Some of the key programming languages used by Twitter include:

  • Java: Twitter primarily uses Java for back-end systems, large-scale and distributed systems, particularly for its core systems such as the tweet storage and retrieval system.
  • Scala: Twitter has also heavily invested in the Scala programming language. It is used for building many of its back-end services and tools, particularly for its real-time data processing and machine learning pipelines.
  • JavaScript: JavaScript is being used for building the front-end of web and mobile applications.
  • Ruby: Ruby is used for building many of Twitter’s internal tools and utilities, as well as for its developer API.

In addition to these languages, Twitter also uses many other languages and technologies such as Python, C++, and more.

8. Tencent Holdings

Tencent Holdings is a large and diverse technology company based in China, and it uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for different purposes. Some of the key programming languages used by Tencent include:

  • C++: Tencent uses C++ for building many of its high-performance and system-level code, particularly in areas such as networking, multimedia, and game development.
  • Java: Java is used by Tencent for building large-scale and distributed systems, particularly for its core systems such as messaging and online services.
  • JavaScript: Front-end of Tencent’s various web and mobile applications are built using JavaScript.
  • Python: Python is used for building many of its machine learning and data processing pipelines, particularly in areas such as natural language processing and image recognition.

In addition to these languages, Tencent also uses many other languages and technologies including Go, Lua, and more.

9. Alibaba

Alibaba Group is a large Chinese multinational technology company that operates a diverse range of businesses, including e-commerce, cloud computing, and digital media. The company uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for different purposes.

For example, the Alibaba website (alibaba.com) is primarily built using Java. It is also used for its core systems such as the search engine, order management, and payment processing systems. Java is also used for the back-end of Alibaba’s cloud computing platform, AliCloud.

Alibaba also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including C++, Python, Ruby, and more.

10. Netflix

Netflix uses a variety of programming languages and technologies for different purposes. Some of the key programming languages used by Netflix include:

  • Java: Netflix is primarily built on a Java-based technology stack, and many of its critical systems, such as content management and streaming services, are written in Java.
  • JavaScript: JavaScript is used extensively for building the front-end of Netflix’s various web and mobile applications.
  • Python: Python is used for data processing and analysis, particularly for its machine learning and recommendation systems.
  • Scala: Netflix uses Scala for building many of its critical data processing pipelines, particularly for real-time data processing and stream processing.

In addition to these languages, Netflix also uses many other languages and technologies depending on the specific needs of its various products and services, including Node.js, Ruby, and more.