Business and economy·June 3, 2026, 19:55

Apptopia: Claude grew more than the entire AI market in the first quarter

AI-generated and checked against the sources listed below.

According to Apptopia, Claude grew by about 6.75 million from January to March. That is more than the entire market for AI chatbot apps, which grew by about 6.46 million.

Claude, the AI assistant from Anthropic, grew more in the first quarter of 2026 than the entire market for AI chatbot apps combined. That is according to a note from the analytics firm Apptopia, which tracks app usage.

From January to March, Claude's mobile app grew by about 6.75 million. The entire AI chatbot market grew by about 6.46 million over the same period. In other words, Claude alone accounted for more than the whole industry's combined growth.

Note that I have not been able to confirm in Apptopia's own texts whether the figure covers downloads or daily active users. The page I could read describes it as growth in daily active users. Other sources use different metrics, so the figures cannot simply be compared.

What drove the growth?

Apptopia points out that Claude's share of daily users among the major AI apps in the US rose from about 1.5 percent in January to almost 4 percent in February. At the same time, the share of users who stopped again (churn) fell sharply: from 55 percent in August to 36 percent in February.

Several media outlets have linked the growth to Claude's Super Bowl ad in February and to coverage of Anthropic's conflict over a deal with the Pentagon. Other analytics firms, including AppMagic, have measured record numbers of Claude downloads in February and March.

What is happening to ChatGPT?

Apptopia has also measured that ChatGPT's mobile app has lost share. From August 2025 to February 2026, ChatGPT's share of daily users among the seven largest AI apps fell from 57 to 42 percent in the US and from 73 to 57 percent globally. According to Apptopia, Google's Gemini has been the biggest winner and is now clearly number two worldwide.

What does it mean for you?

The figures show that the market for AI assistants is still in flux. Many users are switching or adding more tools, and ChatGPT no longer has the market to itself. As an ordinary user, you can easily try several assistants and choose the one that best suits your tasks.

Remember that the figures come from an analytics firm that estimates usage, and that they only concern mobile apps. Use via browser and computer is not included.