ChatGPT remains the world’s most widely used AI chatbot, but its user growth is beginning to slow as Google’s Gemini gains traction, according to new data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.
ChatGPT continues to dominate the mobile AI chatbot market, accounting for about 50% of global downloads and 55% of global monthly active users. However, Sensor Tower’s latest report shows that Google Gemini is now growing faster than ChatGPT across several key metrics, including downloads, monthly active users, and time spent in the app.
ChatGPT’s global monthly active users rose 180% year over year as of November 2025, while Gemini’s user base grew 170% over the same period. Despite similar annual growth rates, recent short-term data shows a clear divergence. From August to November, ChatGPT’s monthly active users increased by only about 6%, reaching roughly 810 million. Sensor Tower notes that this modest growth could signal that ChatGPT is approaching market saturation.
By contrast, Gemini’s global monthly active users surged about 30% during the same period. The acceleration followed the launch of Google’s new image generation model, Nano Banana, which drove increased engagement and adoption.
The report also highlights Google’s advantage in distribution. Around twice as many U.S. Android users now interact with Gemini directly through the Android operating system rather than through the standalone Gemini app. Because Android dominates global smartphone markets, this system-level integration gives Gemini broader reach than competitors that rely primarily on apps or web access.
Gemini has also been expanding its share of the overall AI chatbot market. Between May and November 2025, Gemini’s share of global monthly active users increased by three percentage points. Over a shorter window from August to November, ChatGPT’s share declined by a similar three percentage points.
Rival platforms are also gaining ground. Perplexity posted 370% year-over-year growth in 2025, while Anthropic’s Claude grew 190%. During the same period, ChatGPT’s global downloads increased 85%, trailing the overall cohort’s average growth rate of 110%. Gemini and Perplexity led download growth at 190% and 215%, respectively.
Engagement trends further illustrate shifting user behavior. Gemini users’ daily time spent in the app more than doubled to 11 minutes per day by November, up 120% from March. Sensor Tower attributes much of this rise to the popularity of Nano Banana following its September release.
ChatGPT’s engagement, meanwhile, showed limited improvement. Daily time spent rose just 6% over the same timeframe and declined 10% in November compared with July.
The changing metrics come as OpenAI signals internal concern over rising competition. A recent internal “code red” memo from CEO Sam Altman urged staff to double down on improving personalization, reliability, image generation, and other product areas.
Despite Gemini’s momentum, ChatGPT still holds a commanding lead in absolute user numbers. Whether Google’s recent gains represent a sustained trend or a temporary boost driven by a viral feature remains to be seen. Future product launches from OpenAI could quickly reshape the competitive landscape once again.
Featured image credits: Flickr
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