According to the Q3 2021 State of Cloud Native Development report from SlashData (developed for the CNCF), the global cloud native developer community is steadily expanding. - Over the last 12 months, the cloud native developer population grew by about **1 million**. - There are now an estimated **7.1 million cloud native developers worldwide**. - This reflects a significant increase from **4.7 million** developers reported in May 2020. This growth shows that more development teams are reimagining how they build and run applications using cloud native patterns, especially containers, Kubernetes, and serverless platforms.

The SlashData report highlights how developers are engaging with key cloud native technologies: - The cloud native developer population includes: - **4.8 million developers** using **container orchestration tools** - **4.2 million developers** using **serverless platforms** - Both of these numbers are up from **4.6 million** and **4.0 million**, respectively. Container and Kubernetes usage: - **61% of backend developers** used **containers** in the previous 12 months. - **30% of backend developers** used **Kubernetes** to orchestrate those containers. - Kubernetes usage has remained relatively stable, increasing by about **2 percentage points** over the last year. Serverless usage patterns: - The number of developers using serverless tools increased from **4.0 million to 4.2 million**. - Developers are simplifying their serverless stacks: - In Q1 2021, **23%** of serverless users worked with **three or more serverless tools**. - Six months later, that dropped to **19%**, indicating a move toward fewer, more focused serverless solutions. Overall, developers are standardizing around containers, Kubernetes, and serverless, while also refining the number of tools they use in parallel.

The report points to a few clear trends in how Kubernetes is being adopted and operated: Enterprise adoption: - Larger organizations are more likely to use Kubernetes. - Close to **one in four developers** working at **very large enterprises (more than 5,000 employees)** are using Kubernetes. Rise of managed Kubernetes services: - Most popular container orchestration tools are now **managed Kubernetes solutions**. - **Five of the top six** most-used orchestration tools fall into this managed category. Blending self-managed and vendor-managed tools: - Developers are less likely to rely on a single orchestration tool: - In Q1 2021, **49%** of developers using orchestration tools used **only one tool**. - Six months later, that dropped to **46%**. - Many teams now combine **self-managed Kubernetes** with **vendor-managed services**, balancing control with operational simplicity. In addition, Kubernetes developers are more likely to be involved in emerging areas such as **blockchain**, **edge computing**, and **5G**, suggesting that Kubernetes is becoming a foundation for teams that want to rethink how they deliver modern, distributed applications. These insights come from SlashData’s 21st Developer Nation survey (June–August 2021), which reached more than **19,300 developers** globally, including over **3,900** focused on backend services and related technologies.