Report: ChatGPT's User Expansion Shows Signs of Slowing

New data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower indicates that ChatGPT's rapid growth is beginning to slow. While OpenAI's AI chatbot currently leads the market, capturing 50% of global mobile downloads and 55% of global monthly active users, Google's Gemini is now growing faster in key areas. Sensor Tower's analysis shows Gemini is outpacing ChatGPT in download growth, monthly active user expansion, and user engagement time within the app.

This accelerated adoption rate could allow Gemini to close the gap with ChatGPT over time—a concern for OpenAI, as highlighted by a recent internal "code red" memo. In the memo, CEO Sam Altman directed staff to prioritize enhancements to the company's AI products, with a focus on personalization, reliability, image generation, and other critical areas.

Recent figures confirm the competition remains fierce, with both ChatGPT and Gemini continuing to experience substantial growth.

As of November 2025, ChatGPT's global monthly active user base increased by 180% year-over-year, while Gemini's rose by 170%.

However, the latest data reveals that ChatGPT's global monthly active users grew by only about 6% between August and November, reaching approximately 810 million. (The firm notes that the monthly active user figures in the chart above are rounded.) Sensor Tower suggests this slow growth may indicate the AI chatbot is approaching market saturation.

In contrast, Google Gemini's global monthly active users surged by roughly 30% during the same period, driven largely by the launch of its new image generation model, Nano Banana.

Additionally, the report highlighted that nearly twice as many U.S. Android users now interact with Gemini directly through the Android OS rather than via the standalone mobile app. This integration could give Google a significant edge in the global market, where Android is the dominant mobile platform, by allowing Gemini to be accessed beyond just a dedicated app or web interface.

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Gemini is also capturing a larger portion of the overall AI chatbot market when measured against leading apps such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity, and Grok. According to Sensor Tower's estimates, Gemini's share of global monthly active users grew by three percentage points over the past seven months (May to November 2025).

Meanwhile, ChatGPT's share of global monthly active users fell by three percentage points over the past four months (August to November 2025).

Competitive pressure from Perplexity and Claude may also be affecting ChatGPT, as both competing chatbots recorded triple-digit year-over-year growth in 2025—Perplexity surged by 370%, and Claude increased by 190%.

While ChatGPT's global downloads grew by 85% year-over-year as of November, this was below the overall group's average growth rate of 110%.

Perplexity and Gemini showed the strongest download growth, rising 215% and 190% year-over-year, respectively.

Sensor Tower also reported that the time users spend in the Gemini app has more than doubled in recent months. By November, Gemini users were averaging 11 minutes per day in the app—a 120% increase since March—likely fueled by the popularity of its Nano Banana image generation model released in September.

During the same period, daily time spent by ChatGPT users grew by only 6%. Moreover, time spent in ChatGPT fell by 10% in November compared to July.

Although current trends suggest Google is gaining ground on the market leader, much of its recent success is tied to Nano Banana. OpenAI could reignite its growth trajectory by launching new products that generate comparable user interest.