ChatGPT accounted for 64% of worldwide traffic share among gen AI chatbot websites as of January, while Google’s Gemini reached 21%, according to Similarweb’s Global AI Tracker.
Similarweb’s tracker (PDF link) measures total visits at the domain level, so it reflects people who go to these tools directly on the web. It doesn’t capture API usage, embedded assistants, or other integrations where much of the AI usage occurs now.
ChatGPT Down, Gemini Up In A Year Of Share Gains
The share movement is easiest to see year-over-year.
A year ago, Similarweb estimated ChatGPT accounted for 86% of worldwide traffic among tracked chatbot sites. Now, that figure is 64%. Over the same period, Gemini rose from 5% to 21%.
Other tools are much smaller by this measure. DeepSeek was at 3.7%, Grok at 3.4%, and Perplexity and Claude both at 2.0%.
Google has been promoting Gemini through products like Android and Workspace, which may help explain why it’s gaining share among users who access these tools directly.
Winter Break Pulled Down Total Visits
Similarweb pointed to seasonality during the holiday period:
Similarweb wrote on X:
“Driven by the winter break, the daily average visits to all tools dropped to August-September levels.”
That context matters because it helps distinguish overall category softness from shifts in market share.
Writing Tool Domain Traffic Declines
Writing and content generation sites were down 10% over the most recent 12-week window in Similarweb’s category view.
At the individual tool level, Similarweb’s table shows steep drops for several writing platforms. Growthbarseo was down 100%, while Jasper fell 16%, Writesonic dropped 17%, and Rytr declined 9%. Originality was up 17%.
These are still domain-level visit counts, so the clearest takeaway is that fewer people are going directly to specialized writing sites online. That can happen for several reasons, including users relying more on general assistants, switching to apps, or using these models through integrations.
Code Completion Shows Mixed Results
The developer tools category looked more mixed than the writing tools.
Similarweb’s code completion table shows Bolt down 39% over 12 weeks, while Cursor (up 8%), Replit (up 2%), and Base44 (up 49%) moved in different directions.
Traditional Search Looks Close To Flat
In Similarweb’s “disrupted sectors” view, traditional search traffic is down roughly 1% to 3% year-over-year across recent periods, which doesn’t indicate a sharp drop in overall search usage in this dataset.
The same table shows Reddit up 12% year-over-year and Quora down 53%, consistent with the idea that some Q&A behavior is being redistributed even as overall search remains relatively steady.
Why This Matters
When making sense of how AI is changing discovery and demand, these numbers can help you understand where direct, web-based attention is concentrating. That can influence which assistants you monitor for brand mentions, citations, and referral behavior.
Though you should treat this a snapshot, not the full picture. If your audience is interacting with AI through browsers, apps, or embedded assistants, your own analytics will be a better barometer than any domain-level tracker.
Looking Ahead
The next report should clarify whether category traffic rebounds after the holiday period and whether Gemini continues to gain share at the same pace. It will also be a useful read on whether writing tools stabilize or whether more of that usage continues to consolidate into general assistants and bundled experiences.
Featured Image: vfhnb12/Shutterstock
