ChatGPT claws back web traffic share to 55.5 percent as Gemini's brief comeback fades

September 7, 2026 | Source: THE DECODER

Tags: ChatGPT, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic, Claude, DeepSeek, Similarweb, market share

ChatGPT climbed from 52.7% to 55.5% of AI chatbot web traffic over the past three months per Similarweb, halting Gemini's brief comeback. The year-over-year picture is starker: Claude nearly quintupled its share from 1.9% to 9.3% as OpenAI's lead shrank from 73.3% to 55.5%.

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Similarweb data published September 7 shows ChatGPT holding 55.5% of AI chatbot website traffic, recovering from a low of 52.7% three months ago. Google Gemini, which had surged to 27.8%, is now slipping back to 25.6%. The rebound suggests ChatGPT's losses may be stabilizing after a year of sustained erosion. The year-over-year comparison tells a more dramatic story. In the same period a year ago, ChatGPT commanded 73.3% of traffic — a 17.8-point drop in twelve months. Gemini roughly doubled its share over that period. Anthropic's Claude grew from 1.9% to 9.3%, a nearly fivefold increase, establishing it as a real third contender. The remaining players — DeepSeek (3.4%), Grok (2.4%), Copilot (1.6%), and Perplexity (0.9%) — remain niche. These numbers measure website traffic only, systematically excluding mobile apps and desktop clients. Google's Android ecosystem funnels millions of Gemini interactions through push notifications that never register as web visits. OpenAI's ChatGPT mobile app and ChatGPT Work desktop client are also excluded. The true competitive landscape, especially on mobile, likely looks quite different from what Similarweb captures.