ChatGPT—The Fastest-Growing App Ever—Is Losing Downloads As Claude Surges

BreakingBusinessChatGPT—The Fastest-Growing App Ever—Is Losing Downloads As Claude SurgesByConor Murray,Forbes Staff. Murray is a Forbes news reporter covering entertainment trends.Follow AuthorMay 28, 2026, 02:07pm EDTToplineOpenAI’s ChatGPT, still the clear leader among AI chatbots, has lost a chunk of its market share in terms of global app downloads over the past year as fast-growing competitor Claude has surged, according to data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower shared with Forbes.Leading AI chatbot ChatGPT still dominates, but has lost ground to rivals like Claude in recent months. (Photo Illustration by Matteo Della Torre/NurPhoto via Getty Images)NurPhoto via Getty ImagesKey FactsSensor Tower, which measured downloads of six leading AI apps, found ChatGPT accounted for 47% of downloads of all these apps globally in the second quarter of 2026 so far, below its prior level of dominance—in the second quarter of 2025, ChatGPT accounted for 67% of all AI app downloads, according to insights analyst Kara Lee.In its infancy, ChatGPT quickly became the fastest-growing consumer app within two months of launch, garnering 100 million users by January 2023.Google’s Gemini remains second behind ChatGPT, accounting for 22% of AI app downloads in Q2 2026 so far, but below its peak market share of 34% of AI app downloads in the fourth quarter of 2025.Anthropic’s Claude has shown the most dramatic growth in recent months, accounting for 14% of AI app downloads in Q2 2026 so far, whereas it only accounted for 1% of AI app downloads for each quarter of 2025.ChatGPT’s monthly active users are up 67% year-over-year as of the second quarter of 2026 so far, Sensor Tower found, but its growth is much lower than Claude, which has surged 627% year-over-year in terms of monthly active users, according to Sensor Tower.Though ChatGPT is still the clear leader in terms of overall AI chatbot usage, Sensor Tower said its data suggests consumers this year “may be more open to expl...