ChatGPT falls to all-time low as AI chatbot referral market continues to fragment
Google Gemini continues to grow, reaches all-time high of 9% share
Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot both bounce back after months of decline
Claude's March spike cools as “QuitGPT” wave subsides
San Francisco, CA and Dublin, Ireland; Thursday, 7th May, 2026: ChatGPT's share of AI chatbot referrals to websites worldwide has fallen to its lowest level on record, dropping to 76.85% in April 2026, according to independent web analytics company Statcounter.
Statcounter Global Stats data for April 2026 shows ChatGPT declined by 1.3 percentage points month-on-month, down from 84.21% a year ago. Google Gemini continues to grow in second place at 9% (+0.4pp), with Perplexity recovering to third at 7.73% (+0.7pp), Microsoft Copilot fourth at 3.76% (+0.6pp) and Claude fifth at 2.66% (-0.3pp).
Chart: https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#monthly-202604-202604-bar
“The AI chatbot referral market is entering a new phase,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, Statcounter. “ChatGPT's share has now fallen for three consecutive months to a record low. A year ago it stood at over 84% – today it is below 77%. The challengers are collectively gaining ground.”
Gemini continues to grow
Google Gemini's rise continues. The chatbot's referral share rose to 9% in April, up from 8.65% in March and just 2.31% twelve months ago. Gemini is now approaching 10% share and has held second place for two consecutive months since overtaking Perplexity in March 2026.
“Gemini's growth has been the most consistent story in this data over the past year,” said Cullen. “Google's strategy of embedding Gemini across Search, Android, Workspace and Chrome is clearly paying off. The question now is whether it can break the 10% barrier.”
Perplexity and Copilot bounce back
After months of declining share, both Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot recorded gains in April. Perplexity rose to 7.73% from 7.07% in March, while Copilot climbed to 3.76% from 3.19%. Both remain well below their respective peaks of 12.07% (Perplexity, April 2025) and 5.18% (Copilot, May 2025), but the data suggests their earlier declines may have stabilised.
Claude's March spike cools
Claude's referral share fell back to 2.66% in April, down from 2.91% in March. Last month's surge, which saw Claude more than double its share in a single month, was widely attributed to the “QuitGPT” movement that followed OpenAI's Pentagon deal. Weekly data had already indicated the spike was cooling, with Claude's share peaking at 3.6% in week 12 before falling back.
“The Claude data is a useful case study in news-driven adoption,” said Cullen. “The initial spike was dramatic, but some pullback was expected – we flagged this in our March release. That said, at 2.66% Claude remains significantly above where it was at the start of the year (0.92% in January), so it has clearly retained a proportion of those new users.”
Cullen concluded: “The bigger picture is that ChatGPT's dominance continues to erode gradually, with traffic spreading across an increasingly competitive field. For website owners and digital marketers, the message is clear: optimising for a single AI chatbot is no longer sufficient. Generative Engine Optimization across multiple platforms should be part of every digital strategy.”
| Date | ChatGPT | Google Gemini | Perplexity | Microsoft Copilot | Claude | DeepSeek |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-04 | 84.21 | 2.31 | 12.07 | 0.23 | 0.3 | 0.88 |
| 2025-05 | 79.79 | 1.95 | 11.83 | 5.18 | 0.46 | 0.8 |
| 2025-06 | 79.86 | 2.19 | 11 | 4.83 | 1.11 | 1.02 |
| 2025-07 | 82.65 | 2.19 | 8.03 | 4.59 | 0.91 | 1.63 |
| 2025-08 | 80.92 | 2.19 | 8.12 | 5.17 | 0.89 | 2.7 |
| 2025-09 | 81.12 | 2.82 | 10.85 | 4.04 | 0.99 | 0.18 |
| 2025-10 | 81.35 | 3.02 | 11.13 | 3.47 | 1.02 | 0.01 |
| 2025-11 | 81.84 | 2.97 | 11.06 | 3.06 | 1.06 | 0.01 |
| 2025-12 | 79.74 | 4.74 | 10.83 | 3.6 | 1.07 | 0.02 |
| 2026-01 | 80.51 | 7.2 | 7.87 | 3.5 | 0.92 | 0.01 |
| 2026-02 | 79.98 | 7.5 | 7.88 | 3.26 | 1.37 | 0.01 |
| 2026-03 | 78.16 | 8.65 | 7.07 | 3.19 | 2.91 | 0.02 |
| 2026-04 | 76.85 | 9 | 7.73 | 3.76 | 2.66 | 0.01 |
Chart: https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#monthly-202504-202604
Notes to Editors:
Statcounter Global Stats data is based on over 3 billion page views per month to over 1 million websites. Further information: https://gs.statcounter.com/faq
Note: Grok cannot be included in the data, as unlike the other chatbots, it does not provide referral data in its header.
Statcounter's core business is to provide website owners and marketers with an easy to use web analytics, session replay and heatmap service for their websites.
Ends
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