ChatGPT Leads Global AI Race as Gemini, Perplexity, and China-Based Apps Surge

ChatGPT Leads Global AI Rankings as Gemini and Perplexity Narrow the Gap

ChatGPT remains the clear leader in the global AI market, but competitors are catching up, according to a recent report from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The analysis, which used Similarweb website traffic and Sensor Tower app usage data, measured monthly visits to AI websites alongside monthly active users of AI apps.

ChatGPT dominates by a wide margin on both platforms. Google’s Gemini ranks second, drawing about 12% of ChatGPT’s website traffic. On mobile, Gemini’s user base reaches roughly half of ChatGPT’s active users, showing a much smaller gap.

Gemini’s growth is particularly notable. Website visits surged from 284 million in February to 700 million in July, compared to ChatGPT’s 5.72 billion visits. Google also hosts three more AI tools in the top 50 websites: AI Studio (No. 10), NotebookLM (No. 13), and Google Labs (No. 39).

China-based DeepSeek holds third place in website traffic, followed by Elon Musk’s Grok. Although Grok lacked a mobile app at the end of 2024, it has since gained 20 million active users and climbed to No. 23 in mobile rankings. The release of Grok 4 in July contributed to a 40% jump in app users.

Meta's AI offerings continue to lag behind. Meta AI ranked just No. 46 in website visits and didn't break into the top 50 mobile apps. Meanwhile, Claude and DeepSeek experienced declines on mobile, with DeepSeek’s active users dropping 22% and website visits falling 40% since February. In contrast, Claude and Perplexity grew on desktop, with Perplexity making the biggest gains on mobile—rising from No. 50 in March to No. 10 recently.

China’s Growing Influence in Mobile AI

Chinese companies are making strong moves in the AI space, especially on mobile. Three primarily China-focused platforms rank in the top 20 websites:

• Quark by Alibaba (No. 9 web, No. 47 mobile)
• Doubao by ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company (No. 12 web, No. 4 mobile)
• Kimi from Moonshot AI (No. 17 web)

China’s presence is particularly noticeable in mobile AI apps. Of the top 50 globally ranked apps, 22 were developed in China, though only three mainly serve Chinese users. Many focus on image and video applications, an area where Chinese firms hold an advantage due to strong research foundations and more flexible copyright policies.

Web coding tools are also gaining traction. Bolt, which entered the rankings at No. 48 in March, slipped just outside the top 50 this time to No. 52. Meanwhile, Lovable jumped from No. 55 to No. 23, and Replit climbed to No. 41.

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