Include bullet points
90.5% ↑
AI Visibility Statistics & Benchmarks
Benchmark data from rocketblue's monitoring of AI-generated responses, brand mentions, citations, and source behavior across major AI search platforms.
AI Assistant Market Share · October 2026
Estimated monthly active users across major AI assistants. This is usage share, not the citation behavior below.
Current Snapshot
- Microsoft Copilotest. 150–420M · 3%
- Claudeest. 19–245M · 2%
- Grokest. 60–150M · 2%
- Perplexityest. 45–230M · 1%
Share Over Time
Data table and sources
| Platform | Estimated MAU | Share | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Overviews | 2.5B+ | 42% | Sundar Pichai, Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings call (carried forward — Q3 2026 call not yet reported) |
| Google AI Mode | 1B+ | 16% | Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings call remarks (carried forward — Q3 2026 call not yet reported) |
| Gemini | 950M | 15% | Alphabet Q2 2026 earnings call remarks (carried forward — Q3 2026 call not yet reported) |
| ChatGPT | 1.2B+ | 19% | OpenAI DevDay 2026 (Sam Altman/OpenAI: "our collective 1.2B weekly users") |
| Microsoft Copilot | 150–420M | 3% | StackMatix, Microsoft Copilot adoption statistics (420M across all surfaces, Q1 2026) (est.) |
| Claude | 19–245M | 2% | Demandsage, Claude AI statistics (est.) |
| Grok | 60–150M | 2% | SpaceX Q1 2026 filing (via Demandsage) (est.) |
| Perplexity | 45–230M | 1% | Margen.net, Perplexity statistics (230M MAU surpassed in Q1 2026, +184% YoY) (est.) |
Google's three surfaces are carried forward unchanged from Alphabet's Q2 2026 earnings call (Aug 21, 2026) — the Q3 2026 call is scheduled for ~Oct 28, 2026 and had not yet reported as of this compile. ChatGPT uses OpenAI's own DevDay 2026 disclosure (Sept 29, 2026) of 1.2B weekly users — the most recent official figure available, though it is weekly rather than monthly active users, so the true MAU figure is likely somewhat higher. Copilot, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity remain undisclosed on a comparable monthly basis by their companies; third-party trackers continue to show wide, sometimes contradictory ranges (e.g. Copilot ranges from a Microsoft-cited ~150M 'Copilot products' figure to a ~420M 'all surfaces' estimate), so point estimates lean toward the more recent, named-source end of each range. Figures are directional, not audited; platforms that don't publish comparable MAU figures (Copilot, Claude, Grok, Perplexity) are shown as ranges compiled from third-party trackers, with the percentage share based on a point estimate within that range. Updated monthly.
Most Cited Domains
Share of cited links from major global platforms over the last four months. Pick an AI model to see the weekly trend. ChatGPT is shown first.
Share of cited links, weekly
Properties of websites that AI chatbots choose to cite
Citation Characteristics
Current benchmark profile for pages cited by tracked AI platforms.
Include visual data
64.7% ↓
Include author credentials
70.0% ↑
Include empirical evidence
55.8% ↑
Include FAQs
46.8% ↑
Include original research
6.3% ↑
Types of Websites AI Cites
- corporate website35.8%
- blog34.2%
- news outlet15.8%
- non-profit organization8.4%
- government website5.3%
- forum0.5%
Content Formats AI Cites
- article63.2%
- listicle31.6%
- multimedia2.1%
- opinion piece1.6%
- press release1.6%
Types of Content AI Cites
- Blog19.8%
- Article19.7%
- Guide/Tutorial14.6%
- Product page8.2%
- Unknown5.9%
- Wiki/Knowledge base5.0%
- Marketplace listing4.7%
- Homepage4.5%
- Youtube3.4%
- Other14.1%
Latest Benchmark · Sep 28, 2026 – Oct 4, 2026
Current benchmark values from the newest available reporting period, with change vs the immediately previous reporting period when that comparison exists.
Average response citation rate (across tracked platforms)
80.1% ↓
Average citations per cited response (across tracked platforms)
8.24 ↑
Average brands mentioned per response
4.35 ↓
ChatGPT responses with citations
95.0% ↓
What websites do LLMs choose to cite?
Citation Behavior by AI Platform
| Platform | % responses with citations | Avg citations per cited response | Avg brands per response |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 95.0% | 6.53 | 4.27 |
| Gemini | 76.5% | 4.33 | 5.03 |
| Claude | 52.6% | 9.02 | 5.48 |
| Perplexity | 95.5% | 10.04 | 3.62 |
| Google AI Overview | 69.2% | 8.97 | 2.55 |
| AI Mode | 92.1% | 10.53 | 5.13 |
What's Changing in AI Search?
These findings show change based on the most recent monthly report (Sep 28, 2026 – Oct 4, 2026) .
corporate website share among cited websites: 35.8% (previous: 60.8%, change: -25.0 pp).
corporate website accounted for a smaller share of cited websites.
ChatGPT citation rate: 95.0% (previous: 98.4%, change: -3.4 pp).
ChatGPT cited sources less often.
Average response citation rate: 80.1% (previous: 81.0%, change: -0.8 pp).
Tracked platforms cited sources in a smaller share of responses.
Average brands mentioned per response: 4.35 (previous: 4.42, change: -1.7%).
Responses mentioned fewer brands on average.
Methodology
rocketblue monitors prompts that map to brand discovery and purchase-intent questions, then collects AI-generated responses, citations, and brand mentions on a recurring reporting schedule.
The current benchmark includes tracked responses from ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overview, and Google AI Mode, based on the prompts and sampling windows in each reporting period.
A citation is counted when the model response includes a referenced source URL or an inline source reference that maps to a source document captured in the dataset.
Reporting periods are defined by each monthly snapshot's period start and end dates. New monthly reports are added as new snapshots become available.
This dataset reflects rocketblue's monitoring methodology, reporting schedule, and tracked prompt mix. It should not be interpreted as AI platform market share, real-world usage share, or representative of all AI conversations on the internet.
Based on about 2.2 million response links from United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, Australia, France, India, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and 51 more.