Saad Ullah
⬤ Fresh web traffic numbers show consumer AI is becoming a winner-takes-most game, and ChatGPT is that winner. SimilarWeb data reveals ChatGPT pulled in 30.6 million more monthly visitors in 2025, pushing its market share from 71.0% in January to 77.3% by November. For most people looking to use AI, ChatGPT has become the automatic choice.
⬤ Here's the interesting part: ChatGPT added millions of users but only gained 6.3 percentage points of market share over the year. That's classic behavior for a dominant platform where growth comes from expanding the entire market, not stealing users from competitors. Meanwhile, Gemini nabbed second place in growth, adding 14.2 million monthly visitors and climbing from 15.1% penetration in January to 24.2% by November.
⬤ The real breakout story is Grok. The data shows Grok rocketing from a tiny 0.2% market share in January to 6.7% by November—that's roughly 33 times its starting position. With 6.5 million new monthly visitors, Grok landed third in overall growth. Other platforms like Claude and Perplexity saw modest but steady gains, while newer tools such as Cursor, Base, and Qwen are still fighting to crack the 1% barrier.
⬤ Why this matters: the consumer AI landscape is settling into a pattern where one platform dominates and breaking in gets harder over time. ChatGPT's hold on users shows people aren't switching once they've picked their AI tool. But Grok proves there's still room to grow fast if you start from scratch and execute well. As the market matures, small shifts in market share could signal bigger changes in how the AI race plays out.
Saad Ullah
