According to data from SensorTower, six AI products were tracked for their average daily usage from May 2023 to March 2026. It's not just about who has the most users; it's about who keeps users "hooked."
This metric is a much more authentic reflection than DAU (Daily Active Users).
The standout here is DeepSeek.
By the end of 2024, it was hovering around 5 minutes, but then it took off in early 2025 and skyrocketed to 25 minutes. Right now, it boasts the highest user engagement among all AI products—hands down.
Going from 5 minutes to 25 in under a year is a fivefold increase. This growth curve is something that the others simply haven't achieved.
Gemini is another player to watch.
It started off slow, with just 3-4 minutes in mid-2024, but began gaining momentum by the end of that year and is now nearing 24 minutes of engagement—almost neck-and-neck with DeepSeek.
Don’t underestimate Google’s staying power. Once Gemini integrates into search, Gmail, and Workspace, its usage scenarios multiply, making increased user engagement just a matter of time.
What about ChatGPT?
It has grown from 6 minutes in May 2023 to around 18 minutes now, consistently increasing, but the pace is clearly not on par with DeepSeek or Gemini. In fact, the growth has flattened out in recent months.
Interestingly, as one of the earliest AI products, ChatGPT has seen its user engagement caught up by newcomers.
Claude’s situation is a bit unique.
It shot up to 16 minutes by early 2025, almost matching ChatGPT. However, its growth curve has shown some fluctuations since then.
Considering that Claude has a much smaller user base than ChatGPT, achieving similar user engagement indicates a very loyal core audience.
Perplexity remains steady.
It has consistently hovered between 5-8 minutes, with a slow but steady climb. Positioned as an AI search tool, it doesn’t require long stays—this data actually reflects a healthy usage pattern.
Grok had a rapid rise but has since declined.
It surged past 20 minutes thanks to traffic from the X platform but has recently dropped back down to around 17 minutes.
In simple terms, this chart tells us something significant:
The competition among AI products has entered a phase of "competing for user time." Whoever can get users to spend a few more minutes each day will establish a real barrier to entry.
And surprisingly, the products that are currently best at "hooking" users aren't the early starters like ChatGPT, but rather the latecomers, DeepSeek and Gemini.
The advantage of being first is losing its effectiveness in the face of user engagement.
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