Why Big Tech Is Quietly Avoiding Rust in 2025

Rust was supposed to be the future — the safe, fast, modern systems language that would replace C++ and take over the backend. Instead, in 2025, Big Tech is quietly stepping away from Rust, not leaning into it.

Sure, Rust still dominates Twitter threads, wins “most loved language” awards, and has passionate advocates. But when you peel back the hype and look at real-world usage, hiring, and tooling decisions, a different story emerges. Behind closed doors, engineering leads are saying the same thing:

“Rust is great — but not worth the cost.”

And that cost is exactly why companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are hedging their bets, or avoiding Rust entirely.

Let’s dig into why.

Rust is famously hard to learn — and even harder to master. While its borrow checker and ownership model are genius in theory, they come at a steep productivity cost.

For most Big Tech teams, this is a dealbreaker.

• Onboarding junior and mid-level engineers? Brutal.
• Teaching lifetimes, ownership rules, and trait bounds? Slow.
• Hiring experienced Rust engineers? Expensive and scarce.