OpenAI’s ChatGPT is still the world’s most widely used generative AI service, but Cloudflare data shows the competitive gap has narrowed sharply over the past year.
In a new analysis of global internet traffic patterns, Cloudflare says ChatGPT remained the top-ranked generative AI platform throughout 2025, but rivals including Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini posted faster growth and gained share as the year progressed.
“[ChatGPT] now faces serious all-purpose chatbot competitors, including Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini, which saw more growth as the year went on.”
The firm says the market has shifted away from niche tools toward broad, all-purpose chatbots, reshaping the leaderboard from just a year earlier. In 2024, services like Character.AI, QuillBot, and Codeium ranked closest behind ChatGPT. In 2025, those platforms slipped as users gravitated toward general-purpose assistants.
Cloudflare highlights Google’s Gemini as one of this year’s most notable movers.
“The biggest jump came from Google’s Gemini. It began 2025 outside the top 10 but climbed steadily and, from mid-September onward, held the #2 position on most days. In our year-end weighted ranking, it finished at #4.”
Claude, developed by Anthropic, also delivered a strong year. Cloudflare says the chatbot rose from the lower end of the top 10 early in 2025 to challenge ChatGPT for the number two spot during the summer.
“Consistent with its enterprise positioning, Claude showed markedly stronger weekday usage.”
Perplexity followed a similar upward trajectory.
“Perplexity climbed from #7 to secure #3 from September onward, while Grok (the chatbot from xAI) entered the top 20 in mid-February and reached #9 by the end of the month, later peaking at #6 on several weekends in October and November.”
Cloudflare adds that one of the year’s most striking developments came from DeepSeek, a Chinese chatbot and open-source model developer, which surged from outside the top 20 to the number three position in late January before stabilizing among the top 10.
The data also reveals clear behavioral patterns. Cloudflare found that ChatGPT and Claude dominated weekday usage, reflecting workplace adoption, while services such as Grok, Perplexity, and DeepSeek performed better on weekends, pointing to stronger consumer and hobbyist demand.
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