QuestMobile Data: Doubao Leads AI Apps With 3.8B Users, Qianwen Surges Nearly 58x
QuestMobile has published its 2026 Mid-Year AI Application Market Development Insight Report. The data reveals that by May, monthly active users of AI-native applications hit 499 million, marking an 85.4% year-over-year increase. This surge has shifted the market dynamic, moving away from the previous dominance of terminal manufacturer AI apps and plugins. Furthermore, average monthly usage time for these apps reached 183 minutes, a 40% year-over-year rise, firmly establishing AI-native apps as essential daily tools.

The top-tier market structure is stabilizing, with the Matthew effect becoming more pronounced.
The top 10 rankings are solidifying, led by Doubao, Qianwen, and DeepSeek, which recorded 382 million, 167 million, and 130 million monthly active users, respectively. Driven by the Matthew effect, year-over-year growth is heavily concentrated in this top tier, with Doubao growing by 172.1% and Qianwen soaring by 5792.9%. Regarding user retention, 27.5% of Doubao users, 30.0% of DeepSeek users, and 26.1% of Kimi users spent over 10 minutes per session, indicating substantial improvements compared to the same period last year.
Doubao’s user base exhibits remarkable resilience.
As of June, activity levels across Doubao’s three application types remained steady. The app version gained 13.78 million users compared to May, confirming that its “universal access + value-added” model did not trigger user churn. Despite payment pressures, the user base demonstrated strong resilience. Among the five categories of AI applications, terminal manufacturer AI apps led with 755 million monthly active users, followed by AI app plugins at 644 million, and AI-native apps at 499 million. However, AI-native apps are experiencing the fastest growth, rapidly reshaping the competitive landscape.
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QuestMobile has published its 2026 Mid-Year AI Application Market Development Insight Report. The data reveals that by May, monthly active users of AI-native applications hit 499 million, marking an 85.4% year-over-year increase. This surge has shifted the market dynamic, moving away from the previous dominance of terminal manufacturer AI apps and plugins. Furthermore, average monthly usage time for these apps reached 183 minutes, a 40% year-over-year rise, firmly establishing AI-native apps as essential daily tools.

The top-tier market structure is stabilizing, with the Matthew effect becoming more pronounced.
The top 10 rankings are solidifying, led by Doubao, Qianwen, and DeepSeek, which recorded 382 million, 167 million, and 130 million monthly active users, respectively. Driven by the Matthew effect, year-over-year growth is heavily concentrated in this top tier, with Doubao growing by 172.1% and Qianwen soaring by 5792.9%. Regarding user retention, 27.5% of Doubao users, 30.0% of DeepSeek users, and 26.1% of Kimi users spent over 10 minutes per session, indicating substantial improvements compared to the same period last year.
Doubao’s user base exhibits remarkable resilience.
As of June, activity levels across Doubao’s three application types remained steady. The app version gained 13.78 million users compared to May, confirming that its “universal access + value-added” model did not trigger user churn. Despite payment pressures, the user base demonstrated strong resilience. Among the five categories of AI applications, terminal manufacturer AI apps led with 755 million monthly active users, followed by AI app plugins at 644 million, and AI-native apps at 499 million. However, AI-native apps are experiencing the fastest growth, rapidly reshaping the competitive landscape.
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