Chatgpt Is Crushing Rivals In The Ai Chatbot Race By All Measures - But For How Long?

Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• ChatGPT is number 1 by a wide margin.
• AI hunt services for illustration Perplexity are nibbling astatine Google's dominance.
• History tells america ChatGPT's lead is acold from insurmountable.

It won't travel arsenic immoderate astonishment to you that OpenAI's ChatGPT is easy nan astir celebrated of each nan AI chatbots. All 4 of nan main sites search chatbots -- Comscore, OneLittleWeb, Statcounter, and TechGaged -- work together connected that, but here's what a person look revealed.

Comscore

Comscore collects its AI chatbot study data utilizing a operation of proprietary measurement assets, including desktop and mobile meters, and its opt-in Total Home panel. These systems way tract visitation metrics for devices crossed some PC and mobile platforms, providing real-world usage statistic based connected observed user behaviour alternatively than elemental downloads aliases self-reported surveys.

Armed pinch this information, Comscore recovered that location has been a pronounced displacement successful chatbot usage from desktop to mobile platforms. Comscore's latest reporting, search 117 AI devices crossed some PC and mobile platforms, reveals that mobile scope for AI assistants accrued by 5.3% complete nan past 3 months, rising from 69.7 cardinal to 73.4 cardinal unsocial users.

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By contrast, desktop usage of these devices dropped sharply by 11.1% successful nan aforesaid period. From November 2024 to June 2025, mobile take of AI assistants surged by 82%, importantly narrowing nan spread pinch desktop. The apical brands saw melodramatic maturation successful nan mobile market: Microsoft Copilot usage connected mobile jumped 175%, Google Gemini roseate 68%, and ChatGPT accrued 17.9%.

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's genitor company, revenge an April 2025 suit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights successful training and operating its AI systems.)

Why? Smriti Sharma, Comscore's SVP of Custom IQ, told ZDNET, "Copilot's mobile maturation comes chiefly from Microsoft's ecosystem integration and productivity usage cases. The accent from Microsoft connected its mobile-first attack fits good pinch lightweight productivity tasks."

Also: The fastest increasing AI chatbot lately? It's not ChatGPT aliases Gemini

In addition, Sharma said, "Leading brands are positioning AI assistants arsenic personal, always-available companions, and users are responding." Since Google and Microsoft are embedding AI assistants straight into mobile operating systems and celebrated apps (e.g., Google Gemini connected Pixels and Copilot wrong Office mobile apps). The result? Google and Microsoft's smartphone AI chatbots are booming.

However, Comscore, dissimilar nan others, pointed retired that nan end-user AI marketplace is acold much than conscionable chatbots. By its count, aft ChatGPT and Copilot, nan astir celebrated AI programs are nan AI creation adjunct Canva, followed by writing and editing helper Grammarly, nan AI trading level Octane AI, and AI sound changer Voicemod.

Statcounter

Statcounter collects its AI chatbot marketplace stock information utilizing web analytics search installed connected complete 1.5 cardinal websites worldwide. Its methodology analyzes much than 5 cardinal monthly page views from these divers sites. For each page view, Statcounter's search codification detects really visitors interact pinch chatbots, specified arsenic referrals from AI platforms to outer websites.

Also: How group really usage ChatGPT vs Claude - and what nan differences show us

Statcounter focuses purely connected chatbots. By its count for nan past 3 months, ChatGPT has remained nan clear leader successful world marketplace stock pinch 80.92% of worldwide chatbot usage. This bonzer power highlights ChatGPT's position arsenic nan apical destination for extremity users seeking conversational AI solutions.

Perplexity, astatine 8.08%, has carved a niche by blending AI speech pinch unrecorded net search. Thus, it caters to users hunting up-to-the-minute answers alternatively than relying solely connected fixed pre-trained data. Microsoft's Copilot, sitting astatine 5.19%, benefits from heavy integration wrong Office 365 apps, making it a earthy prime for productivity-minded users. DeepSeek, 2.75%, and Google Gemini, 2.19%, uncover really differentiated strategies -- whether done ecosystem integration aliases caller functionalities -- tin thief newcomers summation traction. Claude, though small, has built its personality astir conversational information and trust, which whitethorn resonate successful nan regulatory ambiance ahead.

OneLittleWeb

Thinking of search, different investigation company, OneLittleWeb, did a heavy dive into AI chatbots and search. Its methodology progressive compiling information by aggregating and analyzing publically disposable web postulation and usage statistic from respective trusted third-party sources. These see analytics platforms specified arsenic Semrush, web catalog sites for illustration aitools.xyz, media databases for illustration MuckRack, and app stores for download and personification ratings data.

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OneLittleWeb recovered that erstwhile group are seeking answers, ""=""> reflex and alternatively usage AI chatbots.

Search engines, specified arsenic Google, are starting to spot a flimsy year-over-year diminution of 0.51%. True, that's not much, but AI chatbot postulation jumped up pinch a year-over-year maturation of 80.92%. Even pinch that, Google remains nan undisputed leader pinch 87.57% marketplace share, followed by Microsoft Bing and Yandex. AI-first search? It came successful astatine only 2.69%. But it's a harbinger of nan future.

Still, for today, contempt ChatGPT's monolithic maturation and precocious engagement, it receives astir 26 times little regular postulation than Google. No 1 astatine nan Googleplex is going to beryllium losing slumber astir AI-first hunt bots giving Google a tally for its money anytime soon.

Also: I built a business scheme pinch ChatGPT and it turned into a cautionary tale

In nan AI hunt chatbot space, ChatGPT is nan undisputed leader pinch 86.32%. It's followed by DeepSeek pinch 3.15%; Gemini, 3.06%; Perplexity, 2.42%; Claude, 2.10%; and Copilot, 1.67%. It's not a runaway yet, though, by OneLittleWeb's analysis. The patient recovered that smaller players specified arsenic DeepSeek, Gemini, and Perplexity are experiencing notable growth, pinch DeepSeek showcasing an astonishing 113,007% summation successful traffic.

TechGaged

Like OneLittleWeb, TechGaged gathers its AI chatbot marketplace study information by analyzing world web postulation statistics, manufacture datasets, and nonstop measurements of personification interactions from third-party analytics companies and wide cited information aggregators, including Statcounter, Similarweb, and Semrush.

According to its analysis, nan world AI chatbot scenery has been consolidating astir ChatGPT complete nan past 3 months. It sees ChatGPT mirroring what Google erstwhile did for hunt and YouTube for online video: Total marketplace dominance.

Also: How ChatGPT really useful (and why it's been truthful game-changing)

That said, contempt ChatGPT's towering lead, nan competitory section is acold from empty.

Perplexity holds a beardown 2nd position acknowledgment to its hybrid attack of combining conversational AI pinch unrecorded web search. Microsoft Copilot is 3rd acknowledgment to its heavy integration wrong nan Microsoft 365 suite, while DeepSeek has leveraged merchandise invention and differentiation to create a meaningful, if smaller, beingness successful nan market. Gemini follows, acknowledgment to its Google and Android ecosystem ties.

Also: Is ChatGPT Plus still worthy $20 erstwhile nan free type offers truthful overmuch - including GPT-5?

These alternatives beryllium nan marketplace is dynamic, pinch beardown signals that request exists for differentiated AI experiences. Perplexity's real-time information approach, Copilot's productivity integrations, DeepSeek's innovation, and Gemini's ecosystem scope each service arsenic footholds for disruption.

Where nan AI chatbot marketplace goes from here

Yes, correct now ChatGPT has a commanding lead. But we're still very early successful nan AI game. The awesome ChatGPT release, which started nan AI revolution, didn't travel until November 2022. That's not moreover 3 years ago.

Also: ChatGPT conscionable sewage a caller personalization hub. Not everyone is happy astir it

Three years aft the web took off, nan apical web browser was Netscape Navigator, which held astir 88-89% of nan marketplace astatine that time. Friendster, launched successful 2002, followed by MySpace successful 2003, brought societal networking into nan mainstream. In 2006, MySpace, pinch 100 cardinal users, was nan apical societal network.

Notice something? All those sites are gone now. Three years is not capable clip to state a celebrated exertion winner. The apical AI chatbot is astir apt already retired there, but it's hardly clip to state ChatGPT nan winner.

Stay tuned. We're conscionable astatine nan opening of nan AI chatbot revolution.