ChatGPT is still the biggest name in generative AI chatbots but the gap is closing fast. The mobile app has lost US daily active users (DAU) for four consecutive months and global DAUs for three consecutive months. Between August 2025 and February 2026, ChatGPT’s share of daily active users among the top seven AI chatbot apps fell from 57% to 42% in the US and from 73% to 57% globally.
The biggest beneficiary is Google Gemini. Its US DAU market share doubled from about 13% to 25% over the period, while its worldwide share nearly tripled from 9% to 25%. Gemini is now the clear number two globally. Google’s distribution advantage, baked into Android and Search, could create a ceiling for everyone else.
Claude had the most dramatic February. Its US DAU market share roughly tripled in a single month, jumping from about 1.5% in January to nearly 4% in February. Worldwide, it doubled over the same stretch. Claude’s churn rate tells an even more compelling story: it fell from 55% in August to just 36% in February, the largest churn improvement of any app in the dataset. Claude had the highest churn rate of any app in August and is now tied for 2nd lowest (36%) with Grok, after ChatGPT (25%).
On Saturday February 28th, Claude hit #1 Overall in the US iOS App Store for the first time. Its daily US downloads on that day and March 1 were above all other Gen AI Chatbot apps with the exception of ChatGPT. While acceleration of its Rank and Downloads did occur as the intensity of Anthropic’s disagreements with the Pentagon came to light, the app had been steadily increasing its performance since late January. Its success is largely a case of product advancement and app install campaigns, not necessarily consumer support in the face of government scrutiny.
“The churn data is the real signal here,” said Tom Grant, VP of Research at Apptopia. “Downloads can spike from a product launch or a viral moment, but a 20 percentage point improvement in churn over seven months means users are finding sustained value. Claude’s February surge looks less like a novelty bump and more like an inflection point.”
Grok, Elon Musk’s AI tied to the X ecosystem, also gained share steadily. In the US, Grok moved from 12% to over 15%, and globally from 4% to 6%. The US skew makes sense given X’s user base, but the worldwide growth suggests Grok is finding new audiences. Its churn rate dropped seven percentage points to about 36%, and Average Time Spent per DAU jumped from under 14 minutes to nearly 22.
Meanwhile, some apps that surged earlier in this window are giving back share. Perplexity peaked at about 6% US share in October but has since fallen below 2%, while its worldwide share held up relatively better, declining from a peak near 8% to about 4%.
Microsoft Copilot held steady in the US at around 10% share but saw its global share dip slightly, the only app where US and worldwide trends diverged in direction. This is the consumer facing app, not the enterprise integrated app, Microsoft 365 Copilot.
The through line across this data is that the AI chatbot market is fragmenting. Six months ago, ChatGPT commanded a near-supermajority of daily usage. Today, no single app has a share of over 50% in the US. Gemini’s distribution, Grok’s engagement gains, and Claude’s retention improvements are all credible threats to the status quo. We’ll continue updating these numbers each month.
