ChatGPT breaks records with 3.905 billion visits in February 2025
ChatGPT achieved a remarkable milestone in February 2025 by attracting a record-breaking 3.905 billion visits, as reported by Similarweb. Despite a slight monthly growth rate of 1.44% compared to January, the year-over-year growth was a robust 137% compared to February 2024.
Surge in Global Rankings
The data revealed a notable surge in visits to ChatGPT.com from the summer to fall of 2024, followed by a period of stabilization in recent months. This surge propelled ChatGPT to ascend in global rankings, securing the fifth spot among the most visited websites on computers and the seventh position when considering mobile visits.
Global Internet Traffic and Subscriber Base
Currently, ChatGPT accounts for 1.86% of total internet traffic worldwide, with a staggering 4 billion monthly visits. However, it still trails behind established giants like Google. By the end of 2024, ChatGPT boasted 15.5 million subscribers across various subscription plans, marking a substantial increase from the beginning of the year.
Competition and Referral Trends
Despite facing competition from the Chinese chatbot Deepseek, which recorded 6.2 million daily visits in January, ChatGPT's figures remained significantly ahead, with 117.5 million daily visits during the same period. Notably, ChatGPT directs minimal traffic to the news sites and sources it relies on, as indicated by Similarweb data.
Impact on Information Sources
In the United States, ChatGPT referred only a modest number of visits to news sites, with Reuters receiving 50,900 visits, followed by the New York Post with 42,800 visits, and the New York Times with 31,600 visits over the last six months. Collectively, the top 10 news sites received fewer than 300,000 referred visits over the same period.
ChatGPT functions differently from traditional search engines, and its low referral rates raise concerns about the future of digital information sources. A recent study highlighted that 96% of AI chatbot users do not click on source links, leading to issues such as lack of information verification and potential spread of errors.
With the emergence of AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT Search and Google's new AI-based search engine, there are growing concerns about the potential disruption to the traditional web system.
