Last updated November 2, 2026
This report tracks how usage is divided across the leading AI platforms each month. We define a “generative AI chatbot” as any LLM-powered web or mobile application used by the public to get answers or produce content. All figures are estimates of monthly active users across U.S. web and mobile platforms, expressed as a share of the category total, with the latest readings covering usage measured through October 26, 2026.
The Top Generative AI Chatbots by Market Share
In the table below, we rank the leading chatbots by their estimated share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users in October 2026, along with the models each one currently offers.
Top Generative AI Chatbots by Market Share, 2026
| Rank | Generative AI Chatbot | Description | Included LLMs | AI Chatbot Market Share |
| 1 | ChatGPT | General-purpose AI chatbot | GPT-6 Sol, GPT-6 Luna (Free and Go), GPT-6 Astra (via GPT-6 Pro), GPT-6.1 Sol (ChatGPT Work) | 52.3% |
| 2 | Google Gemini | General-purpose AI assistant | Gemini 4 Argon (AI Pro and Ultra), Gemini 3.8 Flash, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Gemini 3 Deep Think, Gemini 3.8 Live | 26.3% |
| 3 | Claude AI | Business-focused AI assistant | Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Sonnet 5.5, Claude Haiku 5.5, Claude Fable 5.1 | 11.2% |
| 4 | Grok | General-purpose AI assistant | Grok 4.7, Grok 4.6, Grok Build | 3.4% |
| 5 | Other | Specialized, regional, and emerging AI chatbots | Mistral Le Chat, Qwen Chat, Amazon Rufus, Character.AI | 3.2% |
| 6 | Perplexity | Accuracy-focused AI chatbot | Sonar models plus GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, Grok 4.6, DeepSeek V4 Pro, Kimi K3 | 1.8% |
| 7 | Microsoft Copilot | General-purpose AI assistant | GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6 Astra, Claude Sonnet 5.5 | 1.3% |
| 8 | DeepSeek | General-purpose AI assistant | DeepSeek V4.1-Flash, DeepSeek V4 Pro | 0.4% |
| 9 | Meta AI | Social platform-embedded AI assistant | Muse Spark | 0.1% |
ChatGPT added 0.2 points in October to reach 52.3%, its third consecutive monthly gain, in the month GPT-6 Sol became the default chat model for paid ChatGPT plans. Claude posted the largest gain of any platform, up 0.6 points to 11.2%, while Gemini gave back 0.6 points to 26.3%, its second straight decline since its August high. Grok and Microsoft Copilot held flat at 3.4% and 1.3%, and Perplexity slipped 0.1 points to 1.8%.
Many users now keep two or three chatbots in rotation instead of switching outright, limiting how far any single platform can climb or fall. Our projections indicate that ChatGPT is likely to hold in the low 50s through the remainder of 2026, with Gemini and Claude splitting most of the remaining growth.
What Moved the Market in October 2026
October’s releases centered on models reaching more people rather than on new flagships. GPT-6 moved into everyday ChatGPT chat, Gemini 4 Argon reached paying Gemini subscribers, and Anthropic opened its document, slide and design tools to every Claude plan, including Free. In the table below, we list the October releases and announcements from the top platforms that we tracked alongside the usage data.
Releases That Moved the Market, October 2026
| Date | Platform | Release |
| October 5 | Perplexity | Automations, inline visualizations and GPT-6.1 Sol for eligible paid subscribers |
| Early October | Microsoft Copilot | GPT-6.1 Sol and Claude Sonnet 5.5 begin a phased rollout to Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Copilot Chat |
| October 7 | ChatGPT | GPT-6 Sol becomes the default chat model on paid plans, with Intelligent UI responses |
| October 7 | Claude | Claude Haiku 5.5 released |
| October 8 | ChatGPT | GPT-6 Luna and Intelligent UI reach the Free and Go tiers |
| October 8 | Claude | Docs, Slides and Design leave beta on every plan, including Free; Dashboards and Motion enter beta |
| October 12 | Grok | X Subscription launches, bundling Grok, Grok Bot, Cursor and X Premium |
| October 13 | Google Gemini | Gemini 4 Argon rolls out in the Gemini app for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers |
| October 15 | Claude | Code Review becomes generally available on Team and Enterprise plans |
| October 17 | DeepSeek | Updated DeepSeek V4.1-Flash model in the app, on the web and in the API |
| October 21 | Claude | Claude Security enters public beta for Enterprise customers |
| October 28 | Google Gemini | Gemini 4 Carbon announced with limited early access; immersive explorations added to the Gemini app |
| October 29 | Google Gemini | File creation and editing in Gemini app chats |
Several of these releases arrived late in the month, so their effect on usage should begin to appear in next month’s figures. Gemini’s file creation and editing, its immersive explorations and Claude Security in particular arrived too late to significantly affect October, and Gemini 4 Carbon has not yet reached consumers.
The Fastest Growing Generative AI Chatbots
Claude remained the fastest-growing chatbot, with an estimated 22% more monthly active users in August to October 2026 than in May to July. Because the fourth quarter is still in progress, this ranking compares rolling three-month windows rather than calendar quarters; growth is measured on each platform’s estimated monthly active users across all access points, so it does not map one-to-one onto U.S. market share. Launch-driven spikes tend to cool within a quarter, so a high rank here signals momentum rather than a lasting shift.
Fastest Growing Generative AI Chatbots, 2026
| Rank | Generative AI Chatbot | Estimated Three-Month User Growth |
| 1 | Claude AI¹ | +22% ▲ |
| 2 | Google Gemini² | +15% ▲ |
| 3 | ChatGPT | +4% ▲ |
| 4 | DeepSeek³ | +4% ▲ |
| 5 | Microsoft Copilot | +3% ▲ |
| 6 | Grok | +2% ▲ |
| 7 | Perplexity | -6% ▼ |
| 8 | Meta AI⁴ | Verified numbers not available |
¹Claude averaged an estimated 291.1 million monthly active users from August to October, up from 238.2 million from May to July. The window captured a steady run of releases: Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 on September 1, Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 in the last ten days of September, then Haiku 5.5 on October 7 and the move of Docs, Slides and Design to every plan on October 8.
²Gemini’s rolling growth still carries its summer surge, which took the Gemini app past 1 billion monthly active users on August 11, but its U.S. share has eased in each of the last two months as Gemini 4 Argon remains limited to paid tiers.
³DeepSeek’s V4.1-Flash release in September and its October 17 update kept developer interest high, though its U.S. user base remains small compared with the leaders.
⁴Meta AI’s reach cannot be isolated as a standalone chatbot because its totals blend social interactions across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp with deliberate chatbot sessions.
ChatGPT Market Share: 2026 Trend
ChatGPT began 2026 with two-thirds of U.S. web and mobile generative AI chatbot users and lost ground in six of the next seven months, including a 7.3-point drop in July. October’s 52.3% is its third straight monthly gain, though the climb has been gradual, at 0.2 to 0.6 points a month.
In the table below, we show ChatGPT’s estimated monthly share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users for each month of 2026.
ChatGPT Market Share Trend, 2026
| Month | ChatGPT Market Share |
| January 2026 | 67.1% |
| February 2026 | 65.7% |
| March 2026 | 62.6% |
| April 2026 | 61.8% |
| May 2026 | 59.1% |
| June 2026 | 58.6% |
| July 2026 | 51.3% |
| August 2026 | 51.5% |
| September 2026 | 52.1% |
| October 2026 | 52.3% |
GPT-6 Sol replaced GPT-5.6 as the default chat model for paid plans on October 7, and GPT-6 Luna reached the Free and Go tiers a day later. We suspect the rollout helped ChatGPT hold its recovery, though a 0.2-point gain is within the range of normal monthly movement and our dataset cannot isolate the effect of a single release.
Microsoft Copilot Market Share: 2026 Trend
Copilot’s share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users has climbed slowly but steadily since a March low, reaching 1.34% in October, its highest reading of the year. Its +3% rolling growth is modest, yet the trend line has not dipped since spring.
In the table below, we show Copilot’s estimated monthly share for each month of 2026.
Microsoft Copilot Market Share Trend, 2026
| Month | Copilot Market Share |
| January 2026 | 1.15% |
| February 2026 | 1.13% |
| March 2026 | 1.11% |
| April 2026 | 1.17% |
| May 2026 | 1.21% |
| June 2026 | 1.25% |
| July 2026 | 1.30% |
| August 2026 | 1.30% |
| September 2026 | 1.32% |
| October 2026 | 1.34% |
Copilot’s momentum is strongest at work. On its October 28 earnings call, Microsoft reported that Microsoft 365 Copilot daily users rose nearly 50% quarter over quarter, and the newest OpenAI and Anthropic models began reaching Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Copilot Chat in early October. Much of that workplace usage sits outside the consumer chatbot sessions this share measures, which we believe explains why Copilot’s consumer share moves far more slowly than its enterprise numbers.
Google Gemini Market Share: 2026 Trend
Gemini’s share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users held at roughly 13 to 14% from January through May, rose to 18.1% in June and 24.6% in July, and the Gemini app passed a billion monthly active users in August. It has since given back 1.3 points from its August high of 27.6%, ending October at 26.3% of the market.
In the table below, we show Gemini’s estimated monthly share for each month of 2026.
Google Gemini Market Share Trend, 2026
| Month | Gemini Market Share |
| January 2026 | 14.0% |
| February 2026 | 14.1% |
| March 2026 | 13.8% |
| April 2026 | 13.2% |
| May 2026 | 13.5% |
| June 2026 | 18.1% |
| July 2026 | 24.6% |
| August 2026 | 27.6% |
| September 2026 | 26.9% |
| October 2026 | 26.3% |
Gemini 4 Argon reached the Gemini app on October 13, but only for Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers, so most free users did not see it during the month. We suspect this limited its effect on October’s share; file creation and editing, which arrived on October 29 for all users, is more likely to register in November’s data.
Grok Market Share: 2026 Trend
Grok’s share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users held at 3.4% in October, unchanged from September and up from a July low of 3.2%. It peaked at 4.1% in March before sliding through the spring and early summer.
In the table below, we show Grok’s estimated monthly share for each month of 2026.
Grok Market Share Trend, 2026
| Month | Grok Market Share |
| January 2026 | 3.6% |
| February 2026 | 3.9% |
| March 2026 | 4.1% |
| April 2026 | 3.8% |
| May 2026 | 3.5% |
| June 2026 | 3.3% |
| July 2026 | 3.2% |
| August 2026 | 3.3% |
| September 2026 | 3.4% |
| October 2026 | 3.4% |
xAI’s recent releases have leaned toward agents and coding. Grok Bot entered public beta on August 11, Grok 4.6 followed on August 12 and Grok 4.7 on September 21, and on October 12 the new X Subscription bundled Grok and Grok Bot with Cursor and X Premium. Grok’s share began recovering in August, the month those agent releases started; we suspect they have deepened use among existing subscribers more than they have drawn new chatbot users, though our dataset cannot isolate the cause.
Claude AI Market Share: 2026 Trend
Claude’s share of U.S. web and mobile monthly active users rose to 11.2% in October, its second straight monthly gain and its highest reading since June’s 11.5%. October was the first full month for Claude Sonnet 5.5, which launched on September 28, and the month also brought Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7.
In the table below, we show Claude’s estimated monthly share for each month of 2026.
Claude AI Market Share Trend, 2026
| Month | Claude AI Market Share |
| January 2026 | 8.5% |
| February 2026 | 9.6% |
| March 2026 | 8.9% |
| April 2026 | 8.2% |
| May 2026 | 8.9% |
| June 2026 | 11.5% |
| July 2026 | 10.3% |
| August 2026 | 10.2% |
| September 2026 | 10.6% |
| October 2026 | 11.2% |
On October 8, Anthropic moved Docs, Slides and Design out of beta and onto every Claude plan, including Free. We suspect that putting document and presentation tools in front of free users contributed to October’s gain, though our data cannot separate it from the full month of Sonnet 5.5 usage.
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