The Gen AI Chatbot mobile market just registered its most significant share shift in months. In March, Claude surged to 10% of daily active user share among the top seven apps, up from roughly 4% in February and under 2% as recently as December. The move was driven by a 167% month-over-month jump in DAU and 7.4 million downloads, nearly triple its February total and more than 14x what it was pulling in September.
At the other end of the spectrum, ChatGPT saw its DAU market share fall to 38.7% in March, the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the first time it has broken below 40%. Just six months ago, it held almost 52% of DAU share. Downloads ticked up 8% from February, but DAU continued to shrink, due to increased competition.
“Claude’s DAU tripling in a single month looks like a step function, not a trend line,” said Tom Grant, VP of Research at Apptopia. “What makes the March data interesting is the engagement quality underneath it. Claude’s power users are now spending 139 minutes per day in the app, up from 98 in February, and its power user churn dropped to 12%. That combination of rapid user acquisition and deepening engagement among heavy users is exactly what you’d want to see if you’re underwriting Anthropic’s $61.5 billion valuation.”
Google Gemini [NASDAQ: GOOGL] held steady at roughly 25% DAU share and continues to sit comfortably in second place overall. DAU grew modestly month-over-month, and downloads ticked up 7%. The app has been remarkably stable since December, which is noteworthy given the turbulence around it. Gemini’s biggest advantage remains Android distribution, where it reaches users who never download a standalone app.
Grok gave back some gains in March, with DAU share slipping from 15.3% to 13.5% and downloads falling 13%. After a strong run from September through February that took it from 8% to over 15% share, March may be the first sign of a plateau. Churn ticked higher as well. Still, for an app that barely existed a year ago, Grok’s position is substantial, and power user time spent actually increased to 120 minutes.
Microsoft Copilot [NASDAQ: MSFT] has quietly stabilized after a rough stretch last fall. DAU share has held near 10% for three consecutive months, and downloads, while down 17% from February, remain well above the sub-million levels seen in November. Copilot power users spend 154 minutes daily in the app, the highest of any app tracked. The question for investors is whether Microsoft can convert that engagement depth into a broader user base.
Perplexity continues to lose share on a DAU basis, down to 2.1%, but March showed the first signs of a recovery. Downloads grew 39% month-over-month, and average time spent per user increased from 13 to 15 minutes. Power user churn dropped sharply to 11.7%, the lowest in the dataset. It remains a niche product, but one with an increasingly loyal core.
DeepSeek continued its steady decline to about 1% DAU share and 114,000 daily users, down from 179,000 in September. The app appears to be fading from the U.S. competitive set.
The Gen AI Chatbot market grew 5% from February to March and 22% from September. That expansion is being driven almost entirely by challengers eating into ChatGPT’s share rather than by ChatGPT’s own growth. The market is still growing, but the distribution of value within it can shift fast.
