4 Minutes
Something interesting is happening in the AI chatbot race—and it isn’t where most people are looking. While the spotlight often stays fixed on ChatGPT or the latest viral AI tool, a different contender has been quietly pulling ahead in one specific arena: the web.
Google’s AI chatbot, Gemini, is seeing explosive growth on its website, leaving several well‑known rivals scrambling to keep pace. According to a recent SimilarWeb analysis, Gemini’s web traffic in February 2026 skyrocketed by an astonishing 643% compared with the same month last year.
That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident.
Behind Gemini were two other fast‑rising platforms—xAI’s Grok and Anthropic’s Claude. Their growth numbers are impressive on their own: Grok’s web visits jumped 480% year over year, while Claude expanded by 297%. In the broader AI conversation these tools often feel like challengers trying to catch OpenAI. But on the web traffic chart, they’re already moving at remarkable speed.
Then there’s ChatGPT.
The OpenAI chatbot still dominates mindshare and app store rankings, yet its website growth tells a different story. The SimilarWeb report shows ChatGPT’s web visits rising by just 39% over the past year—solid, but far from the runaway expansion seen by Gemini and its closest competitors.
Even Perplexity, the AI-powered search assistant that has steadily built a reputation for fast answers and citations, matched that same 39% annual growth rate.
At the opposite end of the spectrum sits DeepSeek. The Chinese AI chatbot saw its web traffic collapse by nearly 56%, marking the steepest decline among the platforms analyzed.
Why Gemini’s growth actually matters
There’s an important nuance hiding in these numbers: the data only reflects traffic to chatbot websites. It does not include activity from mobile apps or desktop applications, where usage patterns can look very different.
That caveat matters—because ChatGPT’s app ecosystem is massive.
Still, the web data reveals something meaningful. Visiting a chatbot website usually represents deliberate intent. Users are actively choosing to open the tool, type a prompt, and interact with it. And when that intentional traffic jumps more than sixfold in a year, it signals genuine momentum.
What the numbers don’t count is equally fascinating. Google’s AI-generated summaries that appear directly inside search results—used by millions—aren’t included in Gemini’s traffic totals. In other words, the surge comes from people explicitly seeking out Gemini itself, not just encountering Google’s AI passively through search.
For Google, that’s a major shift. Early in the generative AI boom, the company appeared to be playing catch‑up as ChatGPT captured the public imagination. Now the trend line suggests Gemini is carving out a powerful foothold of its own.
And there’s a simple explanation behind part of that momentum: convenience.
For most casual users, switching between AI chatbots requires almost no effort. Open a browser tab. Type a question. Try another tool. The barrier is practically zero. When a company like Google—already woven into everyday internet habits—pushes its chatbot more prominently, people naturally give it a try.
That familiarity can turn curiosity into routine.
Many users who experiment with multiple AI assistants end up keeping several in rotation. Gemini might handle quick searches, ChatGPT might tackle longer tasks, and another tool might specialize in research or coding. The ecosystem isn’t a winner‑takes‑all battle—at least not yet.
Still, traffic trends tell stories about momentum. And right now, the numbers suggest that Gemini is moving faster than anyone expected.
Quietly, but unmistakably, Google’s chatbot is gaining ground.
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