In January, we at NodeSource took our first major look at all the data we work with daily in Node by Numbers 2015 from nodejs.org downloads , our easy to use Node.js distributions for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and, Enterprise Linux and Docker. We discovered some fascinating insights, including the fact that there are more unique core contributors than ever before and that the Long Term Support (LTS) v4 “Argon” release became the most downloaded version by the end of 2015. The most interesting insight came from a marked increase in the number of downloads of Node.js during weekdays. Let’s dive in to see why and to what an increase in weekday downloads could mean.

Node.js at Work

Over the years, we at NodeSource have worked tirelessly to help enterprises adopt Node.js effectively. In the early days of enterprise adoption, we repeatedly encountered developers who were passionate about JavaScript and excited to embrace the highly productive practices in Node.js. However, they still lacked the mandate from senior management to be able to bring Node.js into their production stacks. During that time, these developers were only able to really use Node.js in their free time and on weekends.

Our research shows us that those days are behind us. The data that we have available shows a differential between weekday and weekend use in May 2014 of 172%, that is, peak weekday downloads are 172% higher than peak weekend downloads. While this is already an impressive demonstration of business adoption of Node.js, we are now reaching new peaks, with the first week of February 2016 registering a differential of 254%. The trend between these points is a clear linear progression. Not only is Node.js being downloaded 3.6 times more frequently between these two dates but its weekday use shows a growing entrenchment of its position in the commercial sphere.

The Node.js platform is stable and is a proven platform for digital transformation. Joe McCann in The (Enterprise) Node Community shares a small sample of the market leading companies who use Node.js. That list alone is staggering, but the reality is there are many more members of the Global 2000 who aren’t as far on their journey across the Node Maturity Curve.

Solid Foundation for Progress

Moving Node.js into the Node.js Foundation has been vital to Node.js’s sustained growth. Through the tireless efforts of myself, Joe McCann, Rod Vagg and many other members of the NodeSource team united with PayPal, IBM, Joyent, Microsoft and the other founding members of the Foundation we have been able to focus our time and effort on contributing to Node.js. Node.js v4, the release that was born with the formation the Node.js Foundation, set a new bar for stability and support from the Node.js core team. The trust engendered by the Foundation’s efforts was demonstrated in the record breaking rise of v4 to be the most downloaded version by the end of 2015. Within one month, downloads of v4 had already overtaken v0.12. Two months after that it took the crown from v0.10.

Automate All The Things

We humans started the revolution, but now the robots are going to rapidly eclipse the effort we have made over the past few years. Automation is an essential component of everything that we build in modern software. To satisfy that need, NodeSource maintains easy to deploy and manage distributions for Debian and Ubuntu and Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Use of these packages has grown 1.6 times faster than manual downloads direct from nodejs.org demonstrating the increasing need for an automated solution. The Linux distributions are all now available as Docker base images to help streamline devops efforts. As Node.js has transformed how we build and ship software, Docker too has transformed how we deploy infrastructure.

Growing Demand for Enterprise Solutions

Enterprise adoption of Node.js has created deep demand for robust enterprise solutions. We built NodeSource from the ground up with this need in mind; to serve the enterprise through products, services and support. NodeSource directly addresses the needs of Global 2000 companies with our N|Solid platform. N|Solid extends the capabilities of Node.js to provide increased developer productivity, protection of critical applications, and peak application performance. Backed by NodeSource’s unequaled expertise, N|Solid delivers predictable quarterly releases backed with LTS (Long Term Service) stability and world-class product support.

2016 Is Going to Be Huge for Node.js

Growth in 2016 should easily eclipse anything we’ve seen before in this ecosystem. We are already breaking new records with February 10th, 2016 reaching a new high of 530,050 downloads. We dedicated a lot of time and effort in 2015 to align on the consensus seeking model for managing the project. More companies and individuals than ever are dedicated to Node.js’s success. The weekday rise of Node.js usage represents pent up demand that’s finally able to build the robust JavaScript experiences we’ve been looking for. This is only the beginning.