No matter how you look at it, ChatGPT has had a transformative impact on web usage trends, and the broader tech industry as a whole.
Because while generative AI tools in a similar vein to ChatGPT have been in development for years, with Meta, Google, and many others exploring the possibilities of AI tech, no one had launched a user-friendly, conversational AI interface like ChatGPT, and that quickly made the app synonymous with the new tech.
And while other AI models are improving, and likely already surpass ChatGPT in capacity and capability, that first-mover advantage has been huge for the platform, as you can see in this latest overview from Visual Capitalist.
The chart below compares the web traffic data of the top 10 websites in April, as recorded by SimilarWeb.
As per Visual Capitalist:
“The ChatGPT.com site saw a 13% increase in monthly traffic in April 2025, with features like image generation picking up popularity. Meanwhile, other most-visited websites like Google, YouTube, and Facebook all saw their monthly traffic decline in April. Wikipedia saw the sharpest fall at -6.1%, potentially signaling a slowdown in research activity or competition from AI-powered tools like ChatGPT. Social media site X.com (formerly Twitter) followed with a -5.2% change in monthly traffic.”
So even though many other AI alternatives are now available, ChatGPT is still gaining traffic, and becoming a key source of information for many users.
That points to the shifting paths of online discovery, and the rising use of AI, for many purposes.
It’s worth considering what that means for user behaviors, and how that relates to marketing approaches.
