The market for AI-powered chatbots is seeing some fierce competition! While apps like ChatGPT and Claude continue to dominate app stores, a closer look at web traffic analytics reveals a much more dynamic picture of who's really leading the race among the major players.
According to a report from SimilarWeb, Google's Gemini chatbot recorded the fastest user growth rate in February 2026. Its website visits shot up by an amazing 643% compared to the same period last year, leaving its direct competitors behind. Coming in second was xAI's Grok chatbot, with a solid 480% growth, followed by Anthropic's Claude at 297%.
On the flip side, ChatGPT saw a more modest annual growth of just 39%, which is pretty much the same as the AI-powered search engine Perplexity. But the biggest drop was for the Chinese chatbot DeepSeek, which lost about 56% of its website traffic during the same period.
The report does point out that this data only covers visits to the chatbots' websites. It doesn't include usage on smartphone or desktop apps, or interactions with AI summaries within Google Search results. So, the full picture might look a bit different if all usage platforms were counted.
Observers believe that Gemini's rapid growth shows how much Google has improved its position in the chatbot race, especially after being a bit behind at the start of the AI boom compared to rivals like ChatGPT and Claude. Plus, the ease of switching between different AI services across the web and apps gives users a more flexible experience. Google's global reach also helps boost Gemini's user base gradually, especially as it gets integrated into the company's complete digital ecosystem.
It looks like the smart chatbot market is heading into a new phase of competition. Innovation and seamless integration with a company's digital infrastructure will be key to attracting and keeping users. This makes Gemini a fantastic example to follow in this exciting stage of the AI race!
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