ChatGPT’s grip on the generative AI market continues to loosen. Similarweb released tracking data on January 22 exhibiting ChatGPT’s worldwide visitors share declined to 64.6% as of January 16, down from 66.8% only one month earlier. Google’s Gemini captured 22% of world AI web site visitors throughout the identical interval, up from 19.5% in mid-December.
The shift marks a major acceleration of aggressive strain on OpenAI’s flagship product. ChatGPT maintained a commanding 86.6% share twelve months in the past, however that dominance has eroded by greater than 22 proportion factors over the course of 2025.
Grok overtook DeepSeek for the primary time within the January 16 measurements, securing 3.5% of visitors in comparison with DeepSeek’s 3.3%. The positioning represents a notable reversal for xAI’s chatbot, which had trailed DeepSeek in earlier tracking periods all through 2025.
Claude held regular at 2.1% whereas Perplexity slipped to 1.9%, down from 2.1% the earlier month. Microsoft’s Copilot declined to 1.1%, persevering with a sample of gradual market share erosion regardless of the corporate’s in depth distribution via Home windows and Workplace integrations.
The information ending January 16, 2026, captures visitors patterns throughout the week following the post-holiday interval when AI device utilization usually rebounds. Similarweb famous on social media that after the end-of-year decline, visitors peaked greater than in all earlier months since August.
Month-to-month trajectory reveals accelerating competitors
The twelve-month comparability reveals the speed of change reshaping the AI chatbot panorama. ChatGPT commanded 86.6% of visitors in January 2025, falling to 78.3% by June, then 72.9% by October. The platform shed roughly 2.2 proportion factors per thirty days through the closing quarter of 2025.
Gemini’s ascent adopted an inverse trajectory. The Google product held simply 5.3% share twelve months in the past, doubling to eight.7% by June, then accelerating to 13.3% in October earlier than reaching 22% in the newest measurements. The expansion represents a 315% improve over the twelve-month interval.
DeepSeek peaked at 4.5% in June earlier than declining to three.3% by January 16. The Chinese language AI mannequin skilled substantial volatility all through 2025, with earlier knowledge exhibiting the platform surged in early 2025 before falling sharply after Q2.
Grok demonstrated restoration after mid-year weak point. The xAI product registered 2.6% in June, dropped to 2.4% in October, then climbed steadily to achieve 3.5% in January. The 17% user surge following the July Grok 4 announcementsupplied momentum that sustained via year-end.
Class visitors patterns reveal shifting dynamics
Similarweb’s broader AI tracker examined visitors throughout a number of classes past normal chatbots. The Normal AIclass, which incorporates the key conversational platforms, registered 2% development within the two-week interval ending January 16, reversing a ten% decline noticed through the vacation interval ending January 2.
Character & Chat instruments confirmed 5% development, whereas Design & Picture Era declined 4% throughout the identical interval. Writing & Content material instruments decreased 5%, and EdTech AI rebounded with 6% development after experiencing sustained declines via late 2025.
The DevOps & Code Completion class surged 19% in the newest interval, pushed primarily by beneficial properties at Lovable, Cursor, Replit, and Base44. Particular person instruments confirmed divergent patterns, with Lovable rising 43% and Base44 climbing 46%, whereas Bolt declined 32% and Windsurf fell 13%.
Video Era instruments grew 10% total, led by Klingai’s 42% improve. Voice Era expanded 20%, with Elevenlabs gaining 34% and Retellai climbing 41%. Music Era elevated 16%, although particular person platforms like Suno (up 26%) and Udio (down 18%) confirmed blended efficiency.
Google’s ecosystem benefit materializes
Gemini’s visitors development displays Google’s systematic integration of AI capabilities throughout its product portfolio. The corporate embedded Gemini into Search, Gmail, Google Workspace, and Android gadgets all through 2025, creating distribution benefits opponents wrestle to match.
The platform’s person base climbed from 450 million monthly active users in July to 650 million in October 2025, coinciding with the Nano Banana picture generator launch. Google’s multi-year partnership with Apple, introduced in January 2026, positions Gemini fashions as the inspiration for Apple Intelligence beginning later this yr.
Microsoft Clarity research published December 18 confirmed visitors from AI platforms together with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini exploded by 155% over an eight-month interval via November 2025. The evaluation examined knowledge from over 1,200 writer and information web sites.
ChatGPT nonetheless generates considerably extra referral visitors to exterior web sites regardless of its declining share. Data from SEO platform Conductor confirmed ChatGPT drove over 1.6 billion visits to exterior web sites between September and November 2025, whereas Gemini generated 287 million website visits throughout the identical interval.
Monetization methods diverge throughout platforms
The aggressive dynamics play out in opposition to totally different income fashions. OpenAI operates ChatGPT via Free, Plus, and Professional subscription tiers whereas constructing inside promoting infrastructure via a newly shaped Development crew. The corporate posted a job itemizing in September 2025 searching for a Development Paid Advertising Platform Engineer.
Google has repeatedly denied plans to introduce promoting inside Gemini regardless of a number of experiences suggesting in any other case. VP Dan Taylor publicly refuted claims in December 2025 after Adweek reported that Google representatives instructed advertisers adverts would come to Gemini in 2026.
xAI pursued a distinct method with Grok, providing free entry to premium options together with real-time net search and X platform integration. The corporate introduced Grok 4 in July 2025, positioning the mannequin as attaining doctorate-level information throughout a number of disciplines.
Microsoft bundles Copilot throughout Home windows and Workplace merchandise, creating distribution via enterprise relationships slightly than standalone shopper adoption. The mixing technique has not translated to equal market share beneficial properties relative to Gemini’s development trajectory.
Advertising implications intensify
The fragmentation creates measurement challenges for advertising professionals monitoring AI platform efficiency. Google Analytics began suggesting custom channel groups for AI chatbot tracking in August 2025, offering regex patterns for figuring out visitors from ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, and Perplexity.
AI referral traffic converts at substantially higher rates than conventional channels. Microsoft Readability knowledge confirmed AI visitors changing to sign-ups at 1.66% in comparison with 0.15% from natural search, representing an eleven-fold conversion benefit. Nevertheless, AI referrals account for lower than 1% of whole visitors throughout most web sites.
The quotation dynamics range considerably throughout platforms. Research published in August 2025 documented how ChatGPT referral visitors declined 52% beginning July 23 as OpenAI adjusted quotation weighting to prioritize Reddit and Wikipedia over industrial web sites.
Content material optimization methods require platform-specific approaches as AI instruments make use of totally different supply choice algorithms. Conventional search engine marketing practices designed for Google’s algorithm face challenges adapting to a number of AI platforms with distinct quotation practices and content material choice standards.
Visitors high quality reveals sectoral variation
E-commerce efficiency presents blended indicators for AI-driven visitors. Research examining 973 websites with $20 billion combined revenue discovered ChatGPT referrals generated decrease conversion charges and income per session than Google’s paid and natural search channels.
Publishers skilled totally different patterns. Microsoft Clarity’s analysis of 1,200 writer and information web sites confirmed 52% transformed visitors from AI fashions into sign-ups or subscriptions through the previous month, indicating widespread adoption past technology-focused properties.
The behavioral variations seem rooted in how AI platforms pre-qualify customers earlier than directing them to web sites. AI-referred guests arrive additional alongside of their analysis journey in comparison with search engine customers, creating what Microsoft characterizes as “agentic net” patterns the place content material reaches audiences via AI intermediaries slightly than direct human navigation.
Disrupted sectors face sustained strain
Conventional serps maintained comparatively secure efficiency through the interval. The Conventional Search class declined 3% year-over-year as of January 16, with Google down 2%, Bing falling 11%, and Yahoo declining 16%. DuckDuckGo dropped 7% whereas Yandex held flat at 0% development.
Shopper EdTech platforms confirmed continued weak point, with the class down 5% year-over-year. Chegg fell 68%, Mathway declined 63%, and Coursehero dropped 48%. Grammarly bucked the pattern with 7% decline, representing relative outperformance in comparison with legacy schooling know-how platforms.
Digital Freelance platforms remained primarily flat at adverse 1% year-over-year development. Upwork gained 1% whereas Freelancer declined 20%, suggesting consolidation round established market leaders slightly than category-wide disruption from AI-powered alternate options.
Design Platforms grew 15% year-over-year, led by Canva’s 19% improve. The sample signifies design instruments efficiently built-in AI options slightly than being displaced by standalone AI picture turbines.
Regulatory and privateness issues
Privateness emerged as a differentiating issue throughout platforms. Gemini mechanically activated Android machine permissions together with telephone and messaging entry in July 2025, drawing criticism from privateness advocates. The automated activation occurred with out express person consent, doubtlessly conflicting with GDPR necessities.
xAI confronted scrutiny after Grok generated prohibited images of minors on December 25, 2025. The incident demonstrated gaps in security filter implementation that competing platforms like Google and Meta addressed via multi-layered moderation techniques.
Reddit filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Anthropic on June 4, 2025, alleging the AI firm violated contractual agreements by utilizing Reddit content material with out authorization to coach its Claude chatbot. The grievance famous discrepancies between Anthropic’s public statements about blocking Reddit content material and audit logs exhibiting continued crawler entry.
Cell adoption drives engagement patterns
Year-over-year analysis from Similarweb revealed cellular app adoption surged previous web site visits for main platforms throughout 2025. Perplexity demonstrated essentially the most dramatic shift, beginning January 2025 with related app utilization and day by day web site visits earlier than exhibiting huge app engagement will increase twelve months later.
The mobile-first habits patterns create distinct utilization profiles in comparison with desktop net entry. Customers reveal greater intent ranges and longer session durations when accessing AI platforms via devoted cellular purposes slightly than net browsers.
ChatGPT reached 700 million weekly active users by July 2025 in response to inside evaluation launched by OpenAI, Duke College, and Harvard College researchers in September. The dimensions demonstrates continued person acquisition regardless of declining market share percentages.
Infrastructure and measurement challenges
Bot visitors has advanced from routine operations into indicators revealing which AI techniques request content material and at what quantity. Microsoft Clarity launched Bot Activity tracking on January 21, 2026, offering web site operators with visibility into automated techniques accessing their content material earlier than any quotation or referral exercise happens.
The AI request share metric reveals the proportion of whole requests originating particularly from AI bots, measured in opposition to each human and automatic visitors. This context helps distinguish between websites the place AI bot exercise represents minimal background entry and people the place automated requests account for important parts of total visitors load.
Research from DataDome published December 11, 2025, documented how xAI’s Grok agent triggered 16 requests from 12 IP addresses utilizing spoofed person brokers when requested to fetch a single webpage. The aggressive ways mirror broader patterns as AI platforms undertake adversarial approaches to make sure dependable knowledge entry whereas web sites more and more block identified AI crawlers.
Outlook stays unstable
Business predictions counsel ChatGPT could potentially overtake Google’s search traffic by 2030, although present visitors share knowledge reveals substantial gaps between conversational AI instruments and conventional serps. ChatGPT captures 0.19% of whole net visitors in comparison with Google’s 41.9% share, regardless of ChatGPT rising 3.8 occasions sooner than Google on a proportion foundation.
The trajectory of AI chatbot adoption has prompted advertising professionals to rethink conventional success metrics. Publishers report Google Search visitors fell 38% in the USA, with Internet Search declining from 51% to 27% of referrals between 2023 and the fourth quarter of 2025.
The aggressive race between ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and different platforms seems removed from settled. Every main participant pursues distinct methods: ChatGPT focuses on conversational versatility and broad shopper adoption, Gemini leverages Google’s infrastructure and enterprise relationships, whereas Grok targets integration with X’s social platform.
Timeline
Abstract
Who: Similarweb launched generative AI web site visitors knowledge monitoring ChatGPT (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), Grok (xAI), DeepSeek, Claude (Anthropic), Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot throughout international markets, documenting aggressive dynamics affecting advertising professionals, content material publishers, and know-how platforms.
What: ChatGPT’s worldwide visitors share declined to 64.6% as of January 16, 2026, down from 86.6% twelve months earlier, whereas Google’s Gemini captured 22% share, up from 5.3% in January 2025. Grok overtook DeepSeek for the primary time with 3.5% versus 3.3%, whereas Claude held 2.1%, Perplexity declined to 1.9%, and Copilot slipped to 1.1%.
When: The information ending January 16, 2026, captures post-holiday visitors patterns when AI device utilization usually rebounds. Visitors peaked greater than in all earlier months since August 2025, in response to Similarweb’s evaluation printed January 22.
The place: The measurements monitor international web site visitors to generative AI platforms, with Similarweb analyzing worldwide patterns throughout desktop and cellular net entry. The information excludes API utilization and cellular app exercise besides the place mirrored in web site referral visitors.
Why: Gemini’s development displays Google’s systematic integration throughout Search, Gmail, Google Workspace, and Android gadgets, creating distribution benefits via present person bases. ChatGPT’s decline coincides with quotation sample modifications favoring Reddit and Wikipedia, mixed with intensifying competitors from platforms pursuing distinct monetization and product methods.
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