Every month, over 60,000 people search for terms like “best AI chatbot,” “top AI chatbots,” or “what is the best AI chatbot?” — and the number keeps rising.
In many ways, we’re living through AI’s version of the Big Bang. What started as a handful of tools has rapidly expanded into a vast, ever-evolving universe of thousands of AI platforms — each claiming to be the next breakthrough.
With so many tools available and countless generic lists floating online, it’s no surprise users feel overwhelmed trying to choose the right AI chatbot.
Professionals, students, educators, marketers — people from all walks of life are searching for tools that actually work. Many are exploring ChatGPT alternatives, while industry observers are asking:
Is ChatGPT still the undisputed leader, or are serious challengers gaining ground?
This data-backed study provides the answer.
Just as the cosmic Big Bang gave rise to the universe, we’re now witnessing an AI chatbot explosion that’s reshaping how the world interacts with technology.
From a market of over 10,500 AI tools generating nearly 100 billion estimated web visits, we analyzed the top 10 chatbots that have emerged from this expanding AI cosmos.
Using 12 months of traffic, growth, and engagement data — from August 2024 to July 2025 — we studied the gravitational pull of each top-performing chatbot across 8 core metrics, grouped under visibility, momentum, and user experience.
Together, these 10 chatbots account for 58.8% of all AI web traffic — proving that in this fast-expanding AI universe, a small group of platforms now dominate the orbit of user attention.
What This Study Offers:
Whether you’re chasing hard data or just looking for a smarter chatbot, this study helps you cut through the noise — and make informed decisions in a booming space.
Note: Market share percentages are based on June 2025 data, while web traffic volumes reflect July 2025 figures. This one-month difference may create minor discrepancies between market share and traffic volume percentages. All data represent the closest available estimates for our study period.
Master infographic that summarizes the complete study findings, key metrics, and insights from our analysis of the top 10 AI chatbots.
Our methodology using 8 key indicators across 3 categories, with data from Semrush, aitools.xyz, MuckRack, and app stores.
The comprehensive data table ranking the top AI chatbots by weighted score across all performance metrics and indicators.
Data on media citations vs chatbot growth, year-over-year visits comparison, and analysis of which chatbots are gaining or falling behind.
Visual rankings of top AI chatbots by web visits, media citations, app store reviews, and average usage duration.
Detailed stats, insights, trends, and data presented in beautiful infographics for each of the top 10 chatbots individually.
With so many AI chatbots out there, finding the best one can feel like a guessing game. But we’ve made sure this isn’t just another random list.
Rather than relying on subjective opinions, we studied over 10,500+ AI tools on the market.
We ranked the top 10 AI chatbots of 2025 based on real, measurable data from trusted sources like Semrush, Muckrack, aitools.xyz, and app stores.
We focused on three key areas that matter most:
By using these indicators, we were able to dig deeper than just popularity. We looked at how engaged users are, how quickly these tools are growing, and how they stack up in the market.
Why does this matter? This approach helps cut through the noise, giving you a clear picture of which chatbots are truly leading the pack, based on data, not hype.
If you want more details on how we calculated these rankings, see our detailed methodology at the end of this study. It’ll give you a complete breakdown of how we arrived at these results.
|
|
|
|
Visibility & Awareness
|
Momentum
|
User Experience
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Rank
|
Tool Name
|
Final Score
|
Annual Web Visits
|
Media Citations
|
Visits YoY Growth (%)
|
Visits MoM Growth (%)
|
Traffic Market Share (%)
|
Avg. Session Duration (Min.)
|
App Store Reviews
|
App Store Ratings
|
|
1
|
ChatGPT
|
0.81
|
46.59B
|
2.4M
|
106%
|
12.27%
|
48.36%
|
15:25
|
26.2M
|
9.70
|
|
2
|
Grok
|
0.42
|
686.91M
|
319.5K
|
1,343,408%
|
37.32%
|
1.17%
|
15:43
|
1.4M
|
9.70
|
|
3
|
Gemini
|
0.32
|
1.66B
|
1.8M
|
156%
|
7.65%
|
1.74%
|
11:13
|
9.4M
|
9.30
|
|
4
|
Claude
|
0.27
|
1.15B
|
1.0M
|
201%
|
17.73%
|
1.07%
|
16:44
|
118.9K
|
9.40
|
|
5
|
DeepSeek
|
0.24
|
2.74B
|
1.4M
|
48848%
|
-4.76%
|
3.96%
|
12:54
|
186.1K
|
8.00
|
|
6
|
Perplexity
|
0.23
|
1.47B
|
215.0K
|
227%
|
21.99%
|
1.42%
|
13:14
|
1.1M
|
9.60
|
|
7
|
Microsoft Copilot
|
0.20
|
957.19M
|
113.1K
|
348%
|
15.81%
|
0.86%
|
09:04
|
1.7M
|
9.60
|
|
8
|
Poe
|
0.18
|
378.05M
|
39.6K
|
-46%
|
-3.37%
|
0.00%
|
13:56
|
479.1K
|
9.30
|
|
9
|
Mistral
|
0.18
|
101.39M
|
199.6K
|
420%
|
-0.80%
|
0.07%
|
11:34
|
10.2K
|
9.50
|
|
10
|
Meta AI
|
0.17
|
130.35M
|
197.6K
|
468%
|
0.80%
|
0.16%
|
12:36
|
38.3K
|
8.20
|
|
Total
|
55.88B
|
7.7M
|
123.35%
|
11.85%
|
58.81%
|
Avg. 13:14
|
40.6M
|
Avg. 9.23
|
||
Throughout our study period, media coverage of the top AI chatbots played a visible role in shaping public engagement.
In January and February 2025 — when media citations peaked at 817.6K and 1.1M, respectively — AI chatbot traffic surged, reaching 4.3B visits in January and 4.4B visits in February, followed by a sharp climb to 5.8B visits in March.
This trend is especially notable for DeepSeek. After hitting its traffic peak in February 2025, it faced a steady decline in both media mentions and usage, with monthly visits dropping by 39.5% over five months, mirroring its fall in citation volume.
While correlation does not confirm causation, this trend suggests that sustained media visibility may play a reinforcing role in maintaining public interest and usage — especially in an increasingly crowded AI chatbot space.
For clarity, here is the raw data behind the trend — monthly web visits and media citations for the top 10 AI chatbots.
|
Month
|
AI Chatbots Media Citations
|
AI Chatbots Web Visits
|
|---|---|---|
|
Aug
|
463.1K
|
2.7B
|
|
Sep
|
491.2K
|
3.3B
|
|
Oct
|
545.2K
|
3.8B
|
|
Nov
|
401.5K
|
3.8B
|
|
Dec
|
450.9K
|
3.8B
|
|
Jan
|
817.6K
|
4.3B
|
|
Feb
|
1.1M
|
4.4B
|
|
Mar
|
805.5K
|
5.8B
|
|
Apr
|
701.6K
|
5.5B
|
|
May
|
695.8K
|
6.4B
|
|
Jun
|
631.3K
|
5.7B
|
|
Jul
|
636.2K
|
6.4B
|
|
Total
|
7.7M
|
55.88B
|
The top 10 AI chatbots have experienced a dramatic surge in web traffic, growing from 25.0 billion visits (Aug 2023 – Jul 2024) to 55.9 billion visits (Aug 2024 – Jul 2025)—a 123.35% YoY increase.
What’s driving this wave? Beyond generative improvements, the period from March to July 2025 reveals the most aggressive growth, with May alone reaching a record 6.4 billion visits—up from just 2.4 billion the year before.
March 2025 marked the inflection point, with a 140.76% YoY jump likely fueled by ChatGPT platform improvements, DeepSeek’s aggressive media rollout, and the rise of multimodal capabilities across several tools.
As these AI platforms evolve from simple chat interfaces to full-fledged AI agents, web traffic is increasingly becoming a proxy for both user adoption and daily reliance.
|
Month
|
Aug 2023 – Jul 2024
|
Aug 2024 – Jul 2025
|
YoY Change
|
YoY Change %
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Aug
|
1.4B
|
2.7B
|
1.3B
|
94.03%
|
|
Sep
|
1.5B
|
3.3B
|
1.8B
|
114.65%
|
|
Oct
|
1.8B
|
3.8B
|
2.0B
|
111.91%
|
|
Nov
|
1.9B
|
3.8B
|
1.9B
|
97.85%
|
|
Dec
|
1.9B
|
3.8B
|
1.9B
|
98.21%
|
|
Jan
|
2.1B
|
4.3B
|
2.2B
|
102.50%
|
|
Feb
|
2.1B
|
4.4B
|
2.3B
|
107.91%
|
|
Mar
|
2.4B
|
5.8B
|
3.4B
|
140.76%
|
|
Apr
|
2.4B
|
5.5B
|
3.1B
|
128.44%
|
|
May
|
2.4B
|
6.4B
|
4.0B
|
167.42%
|
|
Jun
|
2.5B
|
5.7B
|
3.2B
|
132.39%
|
|
Jul
|
2.5B
|
6.4B
|
3.8B
|
149.97%
|
|
Total
|
25.0B
|
55.88B
|
+ 30.88B
|
123.35%
|
Looking at the individual chatbot journeys over the past year reveals some fascinating patterns in adoption and usage.
At the top, ChatGPT continues its reign with 48.36% of all web visits across 10,500+ AI tools, reinforcing its role as the default interface for AI use globally.
But it’s not just dominance—it added 24 billion visits YoY, accounting for nearly 77.83% of the total growth across the top 10.
The real outlier, though, is Grok. Fueled by platform-native distribution (like X.com), it grew from just 51K visits to 687M—a staggering +1,343,408% increase year-over-year. This type of leap is rare, even in emerging tech.
Gemini, on the other hand, shows the cleanest and steadiest growth trajectory, more than doubling from 650M to 1.7B visits, largely thanks to improved Google integration and UI. Claude and Perplexity have also more than doubled their traffic, each crossing the billion mark.
On the downside, Poe saw a drop of -46% YoY, suggesting either stagnation or churn, while Mistral and Meta AI have remained relatively flat despite launches and rebranding efforts.
|
Tool Name
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Total Visits Aug 23 – Jul 24
|
Total Visits Aug 24 – Jul 25
|
YoY Change
|
YoY Change %
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ChatGPT
|
2.4B
|
2.9B
|
3.4B
|
3.3B
|
3.4B
|
3.7B
|
3.4B
|
4.6B
|
4.5B
|
5.2B
|
4.6B
|
5.2B
|
22.6B
|
46.6B
|
24.0B
|
106%
|
|
DeepSeek
|
1.5M
|
1.7M
|
2.2M
|
2.9M
|
8.1M
|
206.4M
|
520.2M
|
508.3M
|
418.8M
|
426.1M
|
330.4M
|
314.6M
|
5.6M
|
2.7B
|
2.7B
|
48,848%
|
|
Gemini
|
94.4M
|
98.8M
|
102.2M
|
96.0M
|
92.4M
|
91.3M
|
91.5M
|
124.8M
|
133.3M
|
186.9M
|
265.7M
|
286.0M
|
650.5M
|
1.7B
|
1.0B
|
156%
|
|
Perplexity
|
72.7M
|
85.8M
|
105.1M
|
110.6M
|
108.2M
|
120.3M
|
119.9M
|
159.7M
|
125.4M
|
153.0M
|
141.3M
|
172.4M
|
450.8M
|
1.5B
|
1.0B
|
227%
|
|
Claude
|
69.3M
|
76.2M
|
92.9M
|
89.5M
|
82.8M
|
89.2M
|
76.3M
|
119.0M
|
96.2M
|
114.7M
|
113.8M
|
134.0M
|
382.9M
|
1.2B
|
771.1M
|
201%
|
|
Microsoft Copilot
|
34.1M
|
42.3M
|
81.6M
|
94.2M
|
96.1M
|
84.2M
|
69.5M
|
98.9M
|
88.1M
|
92.8M
|
81.3M
|
94.2M
|
213.7M
|
957.2M
|
743.5M
|
348%
|
|
Grok
|
6.3K
|
0.7K
|
0.6K
|
2.5K
|
151.3K
|
1.1M
|
37.0M
|
141.9M
|
117.5M
|
125.7M
|
111.1M
|
152.5M
|
51.1K
|
686.9M
|
686.9M
|
1,343,408%
|
|
Poe
|
36.6M
|
41.7M
|
44.0M
|
38.1M
|
35.7M
|
30.0M
|
31.1M
|
33.8M
|
25.4M
|
24.6M
|
18.8M
|
18.1M
|
699.6M
|
378.0M
|
-321.5M
|
-46%
|
|
Meta AI
|
7.7M
|
7.0M
|
8.7M
|
7.3M
|
9.5M
|
8.1M
|
8.4M
|
11.4M
|
12.9M
|
17.1M
|
16.1M
|
16.2M
|
22.9M
|
130.3M
|
107.4M
|
468%
|
|
Mistral
|
3.6M
|
3.9M
|
4.2M
|
5.8M
|
8.7M
|
8.7M
|
14.8M
|
16.8M
|
10.1M
|
9.8M
|
7.5M
|
7.5M
|
19.5M
|
101.4M
|
81.9M
|
420%
|
|
Total
|
2.7B
|
3.3B
|
3.8B
|
3.8B
|
3.8B
|
4.3B
|
4.4B
|
5.8B
|
5.5B
|
6.4B
|
5.7B
|
6.4B
|
25.0B
|
55.88B
|
30.9B
|
123.35%
|
From August 2024 to July 2025, media coverage of the top 10 AI chatbots totaled 7.73 million citations, reflecting an 11.16% year-over-year increase. While modest in growth, the distribution of these citations reveals shifting media priorities and evolving brand momentum within the AI space.
February 2025 stands out as a peak moment — with 1.1 million citations, the highest monthly volume across the year. This spike was largely driven by DeepSeek, which surged past all competitors with an unprecedented 500K+ citations that month.
However, that attention proved temporary: over the next five months, DeepSeek’s mentions dropped by over 88%, reflecting one of the sharpest post-peak declines in the dataset.
In contrast, Grok, Claude, and Perplexity each demonstrated steady, upward trends in media visibility. Notably, Grok achieved a 224.74% YoY increase, jumping from 98.4K to 319.5K annual mentions — a sign of its growing relevance in tech discourse. Claude (+9.22%) and Perplexity (+202.49%) also maintained positive momentum throughout the year.
ChatGPT and Gemini, while still leading in overall citation volume, experienced notable declines. ChatGPT fell from 2.9M mentions to 2.4M (–19.66%), and Gemini dropped from 2.4M to 1.8M (–25.42%). Despite this dip, both showed signs of recovery in the final months, with citations inching upward again in June and July.
|
Tool Name
|
Total Citations (Aug 24 – Jul 25)
|
Total Citations (Aug 23 – Jul 24)
|
YoY Change
|
YoY Change %
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
ChatGPT
|
2.4M
|
2.9M
|
-576.5K
|
-19.66%
|
|
Gemini
|
1.8M
|
2.4M
|
-620.4K
|
-25.42%
|
|
DeepSeek
|
1.4M
|
6.4K
|
1.4M
|
22,141.88%
|
|
Claude
|
1.0M
|
947.4K
|
87.4K
|
9.22%
|
|
Grok
|
319.5K
|
98.4K
|
221.1K
|
224.74%
|
|
Perplexity
|
215.0K
|
71.1K
|
143.9K
|
202.49%
|
|
Mistral
|
199.6K
|
188.9K
|
10.7K
|
5.67%
|
|
Meta AI
|
197.6K
|
95.9K
|
101.8K
|
106.12%
|
|
Microsoft Copilot
|
113.1K
|
128.3K
|
-15.2K
|
-11.83%
|
|
Poe
|
39.6K
|
42.7K
|
-3.0K
|
-7.10%
|
|
Total
|
7.73M
|
6.95M
|
776.14K
|
11.16%
|
While our weighted scoring provides a comprehensive ranking of the top AI chatbots, examining individual metrics reveals a more nuanced picture. Rankings shift dramatically depending on which lens you use to evaluate performance.
Take DeepSeek, for example. It ranks #5 in our overall weighted score, but jumps to #2 when ranked purely by annual web visits. This highlights how different success metrics can tell vastly different stories about chatbot performance.
The beauty of multi-metric analysis lies in these perspective shifts. A chatbot that dominates in raw traffic might lag in user engagement. A platform with modest visitor numbers could excel in user retention. Each viewpoint offers unique insights into what makes these AI tools successful.
Below, we break down the top performers across four critical dimensions: web visits (reach), media citations (buzz), app store reviews (mobile adoption), and usage duration (engagement depth). These individual rankings reveal the specialized strengths that our weighted scoring alone cannot capture.
ChatGPT dominates with an unmatched 46.6 billion visits, far ahead of DeepSeek (2.7B) and Gemini (1.7B). While ChatGPT leads in raw popularity, competitors like Perplexity and Claude are building strong user bases. This chart reveals who’s truly getting the most clicks in the chatbot world.
Media buzz is a strong indicator of public relevance. ChatGPT leads again with 2.4M citations, but Gemini (1.8M) and DeepSeek (1.4M) show growing traction. Surprisingly, Claude ranks 4th with 1M citations, despite lower traffic—making it one of the best AI chatbots to watch in thought leadership.
App store reviews act as a proxy for mobile adoption and user sentiment. ChatGPT’s 26.2M reviews confirm its mainstream reach. Gemini, with 9.4M, is a strong mobile-first contender, while Copilot, Grok, and Perplexity form a tight mid-tier. DeepSeek’s relatively low number may hint at lower mobile stickiness.
Who are users spending the most time with? Claude takes the top spot with 16 minutes 44 seconds per session, edging out Grok (15:43) and ChatGPT (15:25). This metric ranks the best AI chatbots based on depth of interaction — a strong sign of user trust and satisfaction.
Now that we’ve examined how chatbots perform across different metrics, let’s dive deeper into what makes each platform unique. The following in-depth analysis profiles all 10 chatbots individually, revealing the stories behind the numbers.
From ChatGPT’s sustained dominance to Grok’s explosive debut, each chatbot has carved its own path in the AI landscape. These detailed breakdowns explore the strategies, strengths, and growth patterns that define each platform’s position in our rankings.
Each profile includes comprehensive statistics, growth trend analysis, strategic insights, and visual infographics that illuminate why these chatbots succeeded—or struggled—in 2025’s competitive AI market.
ChatGPT leads the global AI chatbot race by every measurable standard. Over the 12-month period from August 2024 to July 2025, it consistently pulled in unmatched web traffic, media attention, and user engagement — earning the #1 spot in our weighted ranking.
The infographic’s growth acceleration chart reveals ChatGPT’s most impressive feat: maintaining momentum at scale. While the 106% year-over-year growth line shows consistent upward movement, the recent quarterly surge to 5.01 billion monthly visits demonstrates that even market leaders can accelerate.
ChatGPT isn’t just a household name — it’s a habit. With deep integration across OpenAI’s ecosystem and Microsoft products, its relevance stayed steady even as new competitors emerged. The media citations visualization shows why: sustained press attention creates a reinforcing cycle of awareness and adoption.
While others had standout months, ChatGPT maintained one thing they didn’t: consistency at scale.
Grok, developed by xAI and integrated into X (formerly Twitter), is the breakout star of this year’s AI Big Bang. Backed by Elon Musk, Grok entered the market late but scaled faster than any other chatbot in our study.
Throughout our study period, it achieved unprecedented growth across traffic, citations, and engagement — earning the #2 spot in our ranking.
The infographic’s explosive growth trajectory tells Grok’s remarkable story: it didn’t just enter the market — it disrupted it. The X-factor advantage visualization shows how platform-native distribution created instant reach that standalone chatbots could never achieve.
Grok’s integration with X gave it unprecedented real-time context and viral distribution, while Elon Musk’s backing brought massive visibility. The engagement metrics chart reveals that users aren’t just trying Grok — they’re staying, with session times rivaling established players.
Among all chatbots analyzed in this study, Grok showed the sharpest rise in momentum — making it the most significant breakthrough of the past 12 months.
Gemini, developed by Google DeepMind, has cemented itself as one of the fastest-scaling AI chatbots in the industry.
Backed by Google’s ecosystem and integrated directly into products like Search and Android, Gemini showed impressive performance over the 12-month study window — especially in its recent growth surge.
The infographic’s consistent upward trajectory reveals Gemini’s methodical approach to market capture. Unlike the explosive spikes of newcomers, Gemini’s growth curve shows sustainable scaling — the Google ecosystem advantage in action.
The quarterly acceleration chart demonstrates Gemini’s recent momentum shift, with 246M monthly visits signaling serious competitive intent. Its integration across Google properties creates a distribution advantage that standalone chatbots cannot match.
For a platform that entered the chatbot race late, Gemini is gaining ground fast. At this pace, our market share projection suggests it could challenge for the #2 position by 2026.
Anthropic’s Claude has built a reputation as one of the most thoughtful and safety-conscious AI chatbots on the market.
While not as widely used as some competitors, Claude’s user base is steadily growing — and the data shows it’s building real traction with deeply engaged users.
The infographic’s engagement depth chart tells Claude’s unique story: what it lacks in volume, it makes up for in user devotion. The session duration bar towers above all competitors, revealing that users turn to Claude for thoughtful, extended conversations rather than quick queries.
Claude’s steady growth trajectory shows sustainable scaling driven by word-of-mouth and user satisfaction rather than viral marketing. The user retention visualization demonstrates that once people discover Claude, they stay — building the foundation for long-term market expansion.
The chatbot continues to grow steadily, driven by Anthropic’s focus on alignment, safety, and reliability. With deeper integrations ahead and this solid engagement foundation, Claude could be poised for a significant breakout in 2026.
DeepSeek recorded the most explosive rise in our entire AI chatbot study. But while it outpaced everyone in YoY growth, the second half of its story is more complicated.
Our study period captured both DeepSeek’s meteoric rise starting in late 2024 — and its gradual decline since its peak in February 2025.
The infographic’s dramatic peak-and-valley pattern tells DeepSeek’s complete story. The explosive growth curve shows it could break into a crowded market and capture serious attention, driven by strong performance in Chinese markets and rapid model development.
However, the declining trend line reveals the challenge of maintaining viral momentum. The traffic mountain visualization shows a classic hype cycle: rapid ascent, peak attention, then gradual decline as novelty wears off.
Still, with nearly 3 billion visits in just one year and growing brand recognition, DeepSeek remains a serious player. Whether the downward slope continues or levels off will determine if this was a temporary surge or the foundation for sustained growth.
Perplexity AI ranks #6 in our 2025 study, making a name for itself with a minimalist interface, rapid-response web results, and research-style output.
Between August 2024 to July 2025, it steadily grew across web visits, engagement, and recognition — positioning itself as a favorite among users who prefer factual, citation-backed answers over conversational fluff.
The infographic’s steady climbing trend reveals Perplexity’s methodical approach to market capture. Unlike competitors chasing general conversation, the engagement metrics chart shows users treat Perplexity differently — they come with specific research goals and stay to get comprehensive answers.
The citation-to-traffic ratio visualization demonstrates Perplexity’s media efficiency: it generates substantial press coverage relative to its user base, indicating strong thought leadership positioning. The consistent growth curve shows sustainable scaling built on product-market fit rather than viral marketing.
While it doesn’t dominate in scale like ChatGPT or Gemini, Perplexity’s clear purpose and fast-growing audience have made it the go-to AI tool for users who value accuracy over chit-chat. This focused positioning suggests strong potential for continued growth in 2026.
While it doesn’t dominate in scale like ChatGPT or Gemini, Perplexity’s clear purpose and fast-growing audience have made it one of the most promising AI tools to watch in 2025.
Microsoft Copilot takes the #7 spot in our 2025 rankings, showing exceptional growth across enterprise-facing use cases. Over the 12-month period, it surged in web visibility and app reviews — driven largely by its seamless integration across Microsoft 365 and Windows platforms.
Copilot’s metrics tell a different success story. While it ranks lowest in our session duration chart at 9:04 minutes, this reflects efficient workplace usage rather than poor engagement. The 348% growth visualization shows steady enterprise adoption, not viral consumer spikes.
The productivity integration advantage is clear: Copilot doesn’t compete for attention—it’s embedded in Office 365 workflows that 1.3 billion users access daily. The enterprise scaling pattern demonstrates consistent growth through corporate rollouts rather than social media buzz.
Microsoft’s quiet expansion strategy builds sustainable business usage. In enterprise AI, consistent integration across workflows matters more than lengthy chat sessions. The data shows Copilot succeeding where it counts: inside the productivity tools that run modern workplaces.
Poe ranks #8 in our 2025 study — not for its web dominance, but for its surprisingly strong footprint in the mobile app ecosystem. Built by Quora, Poe once surged with momentum in earlier months but has since seen a steep drop in web visibility. Still, it maintains relevance thanks to strong app reviews and above-average user engagement time.
Poe’s story is a tale of two platforms: a fading presence on the open web, and a surprisingly loyal mobile user base. While it now holds virtually no share of AI tool web traffic, its position on app stores remains competitive.
In fact, its app store review volume places it among the top half of AI chatbots in our study — beating bigger names that lead in media buzz or web visits. Despite losing momentum on the web, Poe hasn’t vanished. It has simply shifted platforms.
Mistral ranks #9 in our study, riding on impressive growth and widespread media visibility, particularly across the European market.
While its overall usage remains modest, its rapid rise reflects growing interest from developers, researchers, and enterprises exploring open-source alternatives.
The infographic’s growth acceleration curve reveals Mistral’s developer-first strategy paying off. While the market share visualization shows a tiny slice, the media coverage comparison demonstrates outsized attention relative to user base — indicating strong thought leadership in the open-source AI community.
The European scaling pattern suggests Mistral is building regional strength before global expansion. The steady engagement metrics show that while fewer people use Mistral, those who do find real value in its open-source approach and transparency.
With broader accessibility and platform integration on the horizon, Mistral’s combination of rapid growth and high media interest positions it to translate developer popularity into mainstream adoption — especially in privacy-conscious European markets.
Mistral is clearly gaining momentum, especially in Europe and among open-source communities. While its market share is still small, the surge in growth and high media interest point to a tool that’s rapidly moving up the AI leaderboard.
With broader accessibility and platform integration, it could soon translate its developer popularity into mainstream adoption.
Meta AI ranks #10 in our weighted score-based list of the best AI chatbots of 2025. Despite being backed by one of the world’s most resource-rich tech giants—Meta Platforms Inc.—its presence and adoption have not lived up to expectations.
With access to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and a world-class engineering and marketing ecosystem, Meta AI had every advantage. But in real-world usage, it trails far behind.
Meta AI’s underperformance highlights a mismatch between resources and real-world impact. While Meta has the infrastructure, funding, and platforms (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) to scale any product overnight, its AI assistant has struggled to generate buzz or user loyalty.
In contrast, Grok—launched much later—has outpaced Meta AI in nearly every metric: media visibility, user growth, and app market dominance.
In many ways, Meta AI shows that success in the AI chatbot race isn’t just about who’s backing you—it’s about how quickly you can capture public imagination and prove usefulness at scale. And by that standard, Meta still has a long way to go.
After examining each chatbot’s individual journey, from ChatGPT’s sustained dominance to Meta AI’s resource-rich struggles, the data tells a clear story about winners, losers, and market dynamics.
After analyzing 55.88 billion visits across the top 10 AI chatbots over 12 months, one thing is clear: we’re witnessing a genuine AI chatbot “Big Bang” — but the winners aren’t necessarily who you’d expect.
ChatGPT remains the undisputed champion, capturing nearly half of all AI tool traffic (48.36%) and proving that first-mover advantage, when executed well, creates lasting dominance. With 46.59 billion visits and sustained 106% year-over-year growth, it’s not just leading — it’s pulling away from the competition.
The real surprise? Grok’s meteoric rise. From virtually zero to 687 million visits in a single year represents the fastest growth story in our entire dataset. Its 1,343,408% year-over-year surge proves that with the right platform integration (X/Twitter) and high-profile backing, newcomers can still break into this crowded market.
Google’s Gemini is the steady climber to watch. With 156% growth and 1.66 billion visits, it’s methodically building the foundation to challenge ChatGPT’s dominance. Its recent acceleration to 246 million monthly visits suggests the race for #2 is far from over.
The enterprise story runs parallel. Microsoft Copilot’s 348% growth and 957 million visits prove that B2B success follows different rules — shorter sessions (9:04 minutes) but consistent workplace integration beats viral consumer adoption.
The concerning trend? Inconsistent momentum. While some platforms like Claude and Perplexity show steady, sustainable growth, others like DeepSeek demonstrate that viral attention doesn’t guarantee lasting success — dropping 39.5% from its February peak of 520M visits. Meanwhile, platforms like Poe show the web-to-mobile migration, maintaining app strength despite declining web presence.
For users seeking the best AI chatbot in 2025:
The AI chatbot market is splitting into three tiers: dominant generalists (ChatGPT), rising challengers with specific strengths (Grok, Gemini, Claude), and specialized tools serving niche markets (Perplexity, Mistral). Success increasingly depends on platform integration and solving specific user problems exceptionally well, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
The AI chatbot landscape of 2025 tells a clear story: explosive growth, fierce competition, and the birth of digital essentials.
The numbers are staggering. Nearly 100 billion visits across 10,500+ AI tools, with the top 10 chatbots capturing 58.8% of that traffic. Year-over-year growth hit 123.35%. AI chatbots have evolved from experimental toys to essential digital infrastructure.
Platform integration drives success. ChatGPT thrives through Microsoft, Gemini grows via Google, and Grok explodes through X. Distribution strategy matters as much as technology. Quality also beats quantity—while ChatGPT dominates by volume, Claude’s 16:44 average session time proves users stay longer with tools that think deeper.
The market is consolidating. A handful of major platforms will dominate general use while specialized tools carve out profitable niches. Geography matters too, as we see different regions favoring different approaches to AI interaction.
The bottom line? 2025 marked the year AI chatbots went from novelty to necessity. For businesses and users, it’s no longer about if you’ll use these tools—it’s about which ones fit your needs.
The AI revolution isn’t coming. It’s here. And these 10 chatbots are leading us into a future where human-AI collaboration becomes as natural as texting.
The AI chatbot Big Bang continues expanding. We’ve only seen the beginning.
This study evaluates the top AI chatbots of 2025 based on comprehensive data collected over the period of August 2024 to July 2025. The chatbot performance data was gathered from trusted sources, including Semrush, Muckrack, aitools.xyz, Apple App Store, and Google Play Store.
This study is part of our broader AI market research series. In our earlier report, Are AI Chatbots Replacing Search Engines? A 2-Year Data Study on Web Traffic Trends, the total web traffic and YoY growth figures for the top 10 AI chatbots differ from what you’ll see here.
That’s because the earlier analysis covered April 2023–March 2025 and ranked purely on web visits, while this report focuses on August 2024–July 2025, features some new entrants in the top 10, and uses a broader eight-indicator scoring system.
To ensure a well-rounded assessment of each AI chatbot, we collected eight key indicators from trusted sources over the past 12 months. These indicators cover three broad categories, measuring the chatbot’s visibility, growth, and user satisfaction:
Visibility & Awareness: Measures the chatbot’s recognition and reach in the market.
Momentum: Measures the chatbot’s growth trajectory and market penetration.
User Experience: Measures user satisfaction, including engagement and reviews.
These indicators were selected to represent three crucial aspects of AI chatbot performance:
To ensure comparability across different metrics, we normalized all the data. This step was essential because each indicator is measured on a different scale (e.g., web visits vs. ratings).
Here’s how we normalized the data:
This step ensured all data points were on a common scale, allowing for fair comparison and aggregation.
Each indicator was assigned a weight based on its relative importance in determining the chatbot’s overall performance. The weights reflect how critical each factor is to understanding the chatbot’s position in the market.
The weight distribution is as follows:
Visibility & Awareness: 30%
Momentum: 35%
User Experience: 35%
Each metric was multiplied by its corresponding weight, and the results were summed to calculate the final score for each AI chatbot.
The final score was determined by aggregating the weighted scores from all indicators. The AI chatbots were then ranked based on their final score, with the highest-scoring chatbot occupying the top position in the list.
This methodology allows us to provide a fair and transparent ranking of the top AI chatbots of 2025, based on objective data. By focusing on visibility, growth, and user experience, we ensure that the ranking reflects a balanced view of each chatbot’s overall performance.
This approach:
This methodology offers a holistic view of each AI chatbot, providing readers with actionable insights on the tools driving the AI revolution.
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