Despite being the most popular chatbot app, OpenAI's ChatGPT is facing increasing competition from rival services, according to recent data from analytics firms Similarweb and Sensor Tower. While ChatGPT still surges ahead with over 500 million weekly active users, other chatbots like Google's Gemini, Microsoft's Copilot, and Anthropic's Claude are gaining traction and vying for the number two spot.

Similarweb's data shows that Gemini's web traffic grew to 10.9 million average daily visits worldwide in March, a 7.4% increase from the previous month. Meanwhile, daily visits to Copilot increased to 2.4 million, up 2.1% from February. Anthropic's Claude also saw significant growth, reaching 3.3 million average daily visits in March. Chinese AI lab DeepSeek's chatbot and xAI's Grok, which only gained a web app several months ago, both averaged 16.5 million daily web visits in March.

David Carr, editor at Similarweb, noted that the competition for the number two chatbot spot is fierce, with DeepSeek currently holding the position despite a 25% drop in traffic from February. However, xAI's Grok is gaining momentum, with traffic up nearly 800% month-over-month. Carr attributed Grok's growth to its recent web app launch and Elon Musk's involvement with the company.

In addition to web traffic, mobile chatbot apps are also seeing significant growth. According to Sensor Tower, the Claude app saw a 21% week-over-week increase in weekly active users during the week of February 24, coinciding with the release of Anthropic's latest flagship AI model Claude 3.7 Sonnet. Similarly, the number of Gemini app weekly active users grew by 42% two weeks prior, shortly after Google made its Gemini 2.0 Flash model generally available.

Abraham Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower, attributed the growth to the rollout of new AI models, heightened consumer interest, and the introduction of new features and functions. For example, Google recently brought a "canvas" feature to Gemini, allowing users to preview the output of coding projects, while Anthropic has steadily added tools to its Claude client.

Despite the growing competition, OpenAI's ChatGPT remains the dominant player in the chatbot market. As of March, ChatGPT had 10 times more mobile app weekly active users compared to Gemini and Claude combined. While rival chatbots are gaining traction, OpenAI's lead is still significant, and it's unlikely to be overtaken anytime soon.

The growing competition in the chatbot market is a positive sign for the industry, driving innovation and improvement in AI technology. As AI models continue to evolve and new features are introduced, it will be interesting to see how the landscape shifts and which chatbots emerge as leaders in the coming months.