According to novel data from a market research firm, ChatGPT’s growth is starting to decline Sensory Tower. Today, OpenAI’s proprietary AI chatbot remains a leader in the field, accounting for 50% of global mobile downloads and 55% of monthly lively users worldwide. However, Google Gemini has started to overtake ChatGPT in terms of growth in downloads, growth in monthly lively users and growth in time spent in the app, the company said.
Over time, this increased adoption rate could aid Gemini narrow the gap with ChatGPT. This is something OpenAI is concerned about now because it is novel “Code red” note. indicated. The letter, written by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, instructed employees to focus on improving the company’s AI products, particularly in areas such as personalization, reliability, image generation and more.
Looking at the latest data, it’s clear that the race is far from over: both ChatGPT and Gemini continue to see significant growth.
As of November 2025, ChatGPT’s global lively users have grown 180% year-over-year, while Gemini’s monthly lively users have grown 170%.
However, novel data shows that ChatGPT’s global monthly lively users only increased by about 6% from August to November, reaching about 810 million. (Monthly lively users in the chart above are rounded, the company notes.) This number may suggest that the AI chatbot is approaching market saturation, according to Sensor Tower.
Meanwhile, the number of Google Gemini monthly lively users worldwide increased by approximately 30% over the same period as the release of a novel image generation model, Nano Banana, resulted in a surge in popularity.
Additionally, the report indicated that approximately twice as many Android users in the U.S. now utilize Gemini directly through the Android operating system compared to using the standalone Gemini mobile app. This could give Google a competitive advantage in a global market where Android dominates, as it means Gemini isn’t solely confined to utilize in a mobile app or web interface.
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Gemini is also increasing its share of the overall AI chatbot market compared to all the most popular applications such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity and Grok. The company estimates that over the last seven months (May-November 2025), Gemini has increased its share of global monthly lively users by three percentage points.
However, in comparison, ChatGPT’s share of global monthly lively users has declined by three percentage points over the last four months (August-November 2025).
Challenges from Perplexity and Claude could also impact ChatGPT, as both rivals saw triple-digit growth in their chatbot numbers in 2025, with the former growing 370% year-over-year and the latter growing 190%.
Global downloads increased 85% year-over-year in November, but this performance lagged the cohort’s average growth of 110%.
Perplexity and Gemini saw the highest growth, up 215% and 190% year over year, respectively.
Finally, the time Gemini users spend on the app has more than doubled over the past few months, according to Sensor Tower. Since November, Gemini users spent 11 minutes a day on the app, an raise of 120% compared to March. This is likely due to the popularity of the Nano Banana image generation model in September.
Daily time spent by ChatGPT users increased by only 6% over the same period. Additionally, the time spent by ChatGPT users dropped by 10% in November compared to July.
While current data indicates that Google may be catching up to the market leader, much of its recent gains have to do with the success of the Nano Banana. OpenAI may accelerate development again by releasing novel products of its own if they make a similar impact.