Head to head
ChatGPT vs Claude: Market Share and Users
By share of AI chatbot referrals worldwide, ChatGPT leads Claude in September 2026: 80.5% to 1.0%, a gap of 79.5 points. Compared with September 2025, the gap has narrowed (80.1 points then). Official user counts use different definitions and dates, so read them side by side and not as one ranking.
By Essentras Editorial Team. Data: StatCounter Global Stats. Figures and sentences on this page are computed from the data at every refresh.
Updated October 13, 2026. Data through September 2026.
October 2026 is still in progress (13 days in). It is shown separately as month to date and is not used in headline figures.
What this measures. Share of AI chatbot referrals: of all website visits that arrive from an AI chatbot, the percentage that came from each assistant. It measures traffic sent to websites. It is not a count of users.
ChatGPT and Claude market share over time
- ChatGPT
- Claude
Dashed line: October 2026, month to date. Provisional until the month closes.
View data table
| Month | ChatGPT | Claude |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 26 month to date | 70.2% | 1.4% |
| Sep 26 | 80.5% | 1.0% |
| Aug 26 | 79.4% | 2.5% |
| Jul 26 | 77.9% | 3.2% |
| Jun 26 | 76.9% | 3.7% |
| May 26 | 79.1% | 3.0% |
| Apr 26 | 76.9% | 2.7% |
| Mar 26 | 78.2% | 2.9% |
| Feb 26 | 80.0% | 1.4% |
| Jan 26 | 80.5% | 0.9% |
| Dec 25 | 79.7% | 1.1% |
| Nov 25 | 81.8% | 1.1% |
| Oct 25 | 81.4% | 1.0% |
| Sep 25 | 81.1% | 1.0% |
| Aug 25 | 80.9% | 0.9% |
| Jul 25 | 82.7% | 0.9% |
| Jun 25 | 79.9% | 1.1% |
| May 25 | 79.8% | 0.5% |
| Apr 25 | 84.2% | 0.3% |
The gap over time
ChatGPT minus Claude, in percentage points of AI chatbot referrals worldwide.
- Gap
ChatGPT vs Claude by region
Share of AI chatbot referrals, September 2026.
| Region | ChatGPT | Claude | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | 80.5% | 1.0% | +79.5 |
| United States | 74.9% | 1.9% | +73.0 |
| Europe | 78.8% | 1.4% | +77.4 |
| United Kingdom | 79.8% | 1.6% | +78.3 |
| India | 77.3% | 1.4% | +75.9 |
| Brazil | 76.5% | 1.1% | +75.4 |
| Germany | 78.9% | 1.4% | +77.5 |
| France | 79.0% | 1.8% | +77.2 |
| Spain | 77.6% | 1.1% | +76.5 |
| Italy | 69.6% | 1.3% | +68.3 |
| Poland | 80.6% | 0.7% | +79.9 |
| Canada | 71.1% | 2.2% | +69.0 |
| Australia | 78.1% | 1.8% | +76.3 |
| United Arab Emirates | 80.7% | 1.3% | +79.4 |
| Saudi Arabia | 74.7% | 1.0% | +73.6 |
| Mexico | 70.9% | 0.5% | +70.4 |
| Japan | 74.1% | 0.9% | +73.2 |
Official and third-party user numbers
| Product | Measure | Figure | As of | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Weekly active users | 900M | February 27, 2026 | OpenAI, "Scaling AI for everyone" |
| ChatGPT | Paid subscribers | 50M | February 27, 2026 | OpenAI, "Scaling AI for everyone" |
| ChatGPT | Share of AI assistant app audience | 46.4% | May 2026 | Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch) |
| ChatGPT | Monthly active users | 1.1B | May 2026 | Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch) |
| OpenAI | Share of enterprise LLM API usage | 25% | July 2025 | Menlo Ventures, 2025 Mid-Year LLM Market Update |
| Claude | Share of AI assistant app audience | 10.3% | May 2026 | Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch) |
| Claude | Monthly active users | 245M | May 2026 | Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch) |
| Anthropic | Share of enterprise LLM API usage | 32% | July 2025 | Menlo Ventures, 2025 Mid-Year LLM Market Update |
How ChatGPT and Claude answer
| Assistant | Answers | Names the brand checked | Companies per answer | Citations per answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 319 | 16.6% | 5.8 | 6.8 |
| Claude | 319 | 25.7% | 7.7 | 6.6 |
ChatGPT
- en.wikipedia.org29
- support.google.com20
- reddit.com16
- techradar.com11
- aad.org9
- bbb.org9
- gartner.com8
- angi.com7
- apps.apple.com7
- clutch.co7
Claude
- yelp.com14
- apps.apple.com9
- forbes.com7
- heygen.com7
- play.google.com7
- angi.com6
- clutch.co6
- en.wikipedia.org6
- techradar.com6
- amazon.com5
FAQ
ChatGPT vs Claude: frequently asked questions
Which is bigger, ChatGPT or Claude?▾
By referral share, ChatGPT is bigger: 80.5% vs 1.0% worldwide in September 2026. By official user counts, see the table: the figures use different definitions, so they are not directly comparable.
How many users do ChatGPT and Claude have?▾
ChatGPT: 900M weekly active users (February 27, 2026, per OpenAI, "Scaling AI for everyone"). ChatGPT: 50M paid subscribers (February 27, 2026, per OpenAI, "Scaling AI for everyone"). ChatGPT: 1.1B monthly active users (May 2026, per Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch)). Claude: 245M monthly active users (May 2026, per Sensor Tower, State of AI 2026 (reported by TechCrunch)).
Is the gap between ChatGPT and Claude closing?▾
The gap was 83.9 points in April 2025 and is 79.5 points in September 2026. It has narrowed over the series. Month to date for the current month is provisional and we do not use it.
Which is better, ChatGPT or Claude?▾
This page measures usage, not quality. Share of referrals tells you how much traffic an assistant sends to websites. Which assistant is better depends on the task, so test both on your own work.
Data: StatCounter Global Stats, AI Chatbot Market Share, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. Derived tables and charts on this page are shared under CC BY-SA 3.0. StatCounter CC BY-SA 3.0
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