ChatGPT’s user growth has slowed, report finds

According to new data from a market intelligence firm, ChatGPT’s growth is starting to slow Sensor tower. Today, the OpenAI-owned AI chatbot remains the leader in this space, accounting for 50% of global downloads on mobile devices and 55% of global monthly active users. However, Google’s Gemini is starting to surpass ChatGPT in terms of download growth, growth in monthly active users and growth in time spent in the app, the company found.

Over time, this higher adoption rate could help Gemini close the gap with ChatGPT. That’s something OpenAI is concerned about now, since it’s recent “code red” memo indicated. The letter, written by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, instructed staff to focus on improving the company’s AI products, especially in areas such as personalization, reliability, image generation and more.

Looking at the recent data, it’s clear that the race is not over yet: both ChatGPT and Gemini continue to see significant growth.

ChatGPT has seen its global monthly active users increase 180% year-over-year as of November 2025, while Gemini’s monthly active users are up 170%.

But the new data indicates that ChatGPT’s global monthly active users grew only about 6% between August and November, to about 810 million. (The monthly active user counts in the chart above have been rounded, the firm notes.) This figure could indicate that the AI ​​chatbot is approaching market saturation, Sensor Tower says.

Meanwhile, Google Gemini’s global monthly active users rose by about 30% over the same period as the release of its new image generation model, Nano Banana, drove greater adoption.

Additionally, the report noted that approximately twice as many US Android users now interact directly with Gemini through the Android operating system, compared to using the standalone Gemini mobile app. This could give Google a competitive advantage in the global market, where Android dominates, because it means Gemini isn’t limited to use only within a mobile app or web interface.

Gemini is also increasing its share of the overall AI chatbot market compared to all the top apps such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity and Grok. Over the past seven months (May-November 2025), Gemini has increased its share of global monthly active users by three percentage points, the company estimates.

But ChatGPT saw its share of global monthly active users drop by three percentage points over the past four months (August-November 2025).

Challenges from Perplexity and Claude could also impact ChatGPT, as both rivals saw triple-digit growth for their respective chatbots in 2025, with the former increasing 370% year-over-year and the latter increasing 190%.

ChatGPT also saw its global downloads grow 85% year-on-year from November, but this lagged behind the overall cohort’s average growth of 110%.

Perplexity and Gemini saw the biggest growth, up 215% and 190% year-over-year respectively.

Finally, the time Gemini app users spend in the app has more than doubled in recent months, according to Sensor Tower. As of November, Gemini users spent 11 minutes per day in the app, a 120% increase from March. This is likely due to the popularity of the image generation model, Nano Banana, in September.

ChatGPT users’ daily time spent only increased by 6% over the same period. Additionally, ChatGPT users’ time spent fell 10% in November compared to July.

While current data suggests that Google could overtake the market leader, much of the recent gains have to do with the success of Nano Banana. OpenAI could accelerate growth again with the introduction of its own new products, if they have a similar impact.