- ChatGPT recorded its weakest referral market share since industry tracking officially began
- Google Gemini continued to expand through integration across Android, Chrome, Search and Workspace
- Confusion regained traffic share after months of declining referral activity across platforms
New market figures have suggested that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is gradually losing referral share as competitors gain ground across the increasingly competitive AI chatbot industry.
The latest data from Statcounter claims that ChatGPT accounted for 76.85% of AI chatbot referrals in April 2026 – which may sound high, but actually marks the platform’s lowest share on record after three consecutive months of losses for OpenAI, which was over 84% just a year ago.
Google Gemini continues to grow, reaching a record high of 9%, holding second place for two consecutive months, with Perplexity and Copilot also both returning after months of decline, while a recent surge for Claude has begun to cool.
Rivals grow as OpenAI crashes
Aodhan Cullen, CEO of Statcounter, said the AI chatbot referral market is entering a whole new phase of competition.
Google’s strategy of integrating Gemini across Search, Android, Workspace and Chrome is clearly paying off in terms of user adoption – with the question now being whether Gemini can break through the 10% barrier in the coming months.
Confusion rose to 7.73% from 7.07% in March 2026, regaining some of the share it lost over the past year.
Copilot rose to 3.76% from 3.19%, although both remain well below their respective 2025 peaks.
Claude’s referral share fell back to 2.66% in April, down from 2.91% in March this year, a period in which it more than doubled its share in a single month and which was widely attributed to the “QuitGPT” movement.
This followed OpenAI’s controversial Pentagon deal, which prompted many users to seek alternatives.
Weekly data had already shown the rise was cooling, with Claude’s share peaking at 3.6% in week 12 before falling back.
Cullen said the Claude data serves as a useful case study in news-driven adoption patterns, as the initial surge was dramatic, but some decline was expected given the nature of such moves.
At 2.66%, Claude remains significantly above where it was at the start of the year with only 0.92% in January.
What this means for website owners and marketers
OpenAI’s ChatGPT’s dominance is gradually eroding over time, and traffic is spreading across an increasingly competitive field.
For website owners and digital marketers, optimizing for a single AI tool is no longer a sufficient strategy.
Generative engine optimization across multiple platforms should become part of any digital marketing plan going forward.
The AI chatbot market is fragmented and no single player can claim permanent dominance.
ChatGPT still leads by a wide margin, but its share has fallen nearly 8 percentage points in a single year.
Google Gemini is closing in on double-digit share, and the combined challengers now have more than 23% of the referral market.
Website owners who rely on ChatGPT-driven traffic must also diversify their generative engine optimization strategies across Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot and Claude.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews and opinions in your feeds.
