Google Gemini overtakes Perplexity to become second largest source of AI chatbot referrals to websites
Gemini's referral share quadruples in under a year as Google ramps up AI integration
Claude doubles share from February to March
ChatGPT still dominant but dips below 80% for first time
San Francisco, CA and Dublin, Ireland; Thursday, 2nd April, 2026: Google Gemini has overtaken Perplexity to become the second largest source of AI chatbot referrals to websites worldwide for the first time, according to independent web analytics company Statcounter.
Statcounter Global Stats data for March 2026 shows that Google Gemini accounted for 8.65% of all AI chatbot referrals globally, surpassing Perplexity which fell to 7.07%. ChatGPT continues to lead at 78.16%, while Microsoft Copilot (3.19%), Claude (2.91%) and DeepSeek (0.02%) remain further behind.
Chart: https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#monthly-202603-202603-bar
"This is a significant milestone in the AI chatbot landscape. Google's massive investment in Gemini is now paying dividends in terms of driving traffic to websites," commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO, Statcounter. "This is a significant change in the ranking of the challengers behind ChatGPT."
Gemini's rise has been dramatic. In April 2025, Google's chatbot accounted for just 2.31% of referrals. Its share has nearly quadrupled in under twelve months, with particularly sharp growth since December 2025 when it jumped from 4.74% to 7.20% in January 2026.
Perplexity, which held a comfortable second place at 12.07% in April 2025, has seen its share erode steadily, dropping to 7.07% in March 2026 – a decline of over 40% from its peak.
Cullen added: "Google has the advantage of integrating Gemini across its ecosystem – Search, Android, Workspace and Chrome. This distribution advantage appears to be translating into growing website referral traffic. However, the broader story is that the AI chatbot referral market is shifting rapidly. Claude has seen remarkable growth, while Microsoft Copilot has lost ground despite its early promise."
Anthropic's Claude jumped from 1.37% in February to 2.91% in March 2026 – more than doubling its share in a single month. Since April 2025, Claude's referral share has grown nearly tenfold from just 0.30%. Claude's recent surge in referral traffic comes amid a widely reported wave of users switching from ChatGPT.
However, Cullen struck a note of caution. Weekly data shows that Claude's referral share peaked at 3.6% in week 12 (mid-March) before falling back to 2.49% in week 13. This suggests the initial wave of users switching from ChatGPT may have been driven in part by the news cycle, and it remains to be seen whether Claude can sustain its gains.
Chart: https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#weekly-202604-202613
"We have seen these kinds of news-driven spikes before in browser and search engine data," said Cullen. "The real test for Claude will be whether it can retain these new users over the coming months. The weekly data suggests some of the initial enthusiasm has cooled, though Claude's share remains well above where it was at the start of the year."
In contrast, Microsoft Copilot has seen a significant decline. From a high of 5.18% in May 2025, Copilot's share has fallen to 3.19% in March 2026 – a drop of nearly 40% from its peak. The decline comes despite Microsoft's heavy investment in AI across its product suite.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT's share fell below 80% for the first time in the data, declining from 84.21% in April 2025 to 78.16% in March 2026. Despite this, ChatGPT remains the overwhelmingly dominant source of AI chatbot referrals to websites worldwide.
"While ChatGPT remains far ahead, the data shows the AI referral market is maturing and fragmenting," said Cullen. "Website owners and digital marketers need to optimise for multiple AI chatbots, no longer just one. The era of Generative Engine Optimization is well and truly here."
| Date | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Google Gemini | Microsoft Copilot | Claude | Deepseek |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-04 | 84.21 | 12.07 | 2.31 | 0.23 | 0.3 | 0.88 |
| 2025-05 | 79.79 | 11.83 | 1.95 | 5.18 | 0.46 | 0.8 |
| 2025-06 | 79.86 | 11 | 2.19 | 4.83 | 1.11 | 1.02 |
| 2025-07 | 82.65 | 8.03 | 2.19 | 4.59 | 0.91 | 1.63 |
| 2025-08 | 80.92 | 8.12 | 2.19 | 5.17 | 0.89 | 2.7 |
| 2025-09 | 81.12 | 10.85 | 2.82 | 4.04 | 0.99 | 0.18 |
| 2025-10 | 81.35 | 11.13 | 3.02 | 3.47 | 1.02 | 0.01 |
| 2025-11 | 81.84 | 11.06 | 2.97 | 3.06 | 1.06 | 0.01 |
| 2025-12 | 79.74 | 10.83 | 4.74 | 3.6 | 1.07 | 0.02 |
| 2026-01 | 80.51 | 7.87 | 7.2 | 3.5 | 0.92 | 0.01 |
| 2026-02 | 79.98 | 7.88 | 7.5 | 3.26 | 1.37 | 0.01 |
| 2026-03 | 78.16 | 7.07 | 8.65 | 3.19 | 2.91 | 0.02 |
Chart: https://gs.statcounter.com/ai-chatbot-market-share#monthly-202504-202603
Notes to Editors:
Statcounter Global Stats data is based on over 3 billion page views per month to over 1 million websites. Further information: https://gs.statcounter.com/faq
Note: Grok cannot be included in the data, as unlike the other chatbots, it does not provide referral data in its header.
Statcounter's core business is to provide website owners and marketers with an easy to use web analytics, session replay and heatmap service for their websites.
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For press queries: globalstats@statcounter.com