ChatGPT currently dominates the AI assistant market, capturing 81.4% of global traffic. According to data from Graphite and Similarweb, its closest competitors remain far behind: Claude accounts for 6.8%, Google Gemini for 5%, DeepSeek for 4%, Grok for 1.9%, and Perplexity for 0.9%. These figures cover website and mobile app visits from July to September 2026.
Following a seven-month period of stagnation, ChatGPT has returned to growth. In September 2026, the service reached a record 61.35 billion visits, a nearly 20% increase. The platform also reports a weekly active user base of 1.2 billion people. Overall, the leading AI services generate over 76 billion monthly visits, marking a 37% year-over-year increase.
AI assistants are increasingly acting as traffic drivers for external websites, with referral traffic from these services rising by 92% over the past year. ChatGPT is responsible for 60% of these outgoing clicks. While the US is a primary hub for AI development, it accounts for only 8.8% of global traffic, meaning over 90% of usage originates internationally.
The landscape of search is also shifting. In the US, AI Overviews now appear in 62% of search queries. Furthermore, the conversational AI Mode within Google search recorded 491 million visits to its US web version in August 2026.
