As we dive into 2026, the battle for traffic among the second wave of AI platforms is officially underway.
Check out this chart from SimilarWeb, which tracks daily visits to Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek from early January to the end of February.
Here’s the bottom line: Claude is pulling ahead.
At the beginning of January, all three platforms were pretty much neck and neck, with daily visits ranging between 9 million and 11 million. Grok even had a slight edge.
But by the end of February, everything shifted:
Claude: It surged from around 4 million to an impressive 14 million, peaking close to 15 million. The growth trend is crystal clear, with weekly highs consistently breaking previous records.
Grok: It has remained stable between 9 million and 11 million, resembling a flat line. There’s been no significant growth or decline. It seems the traffic boost from Elon has plateaued, leaving them with little organic growth.
DeepSeek: This platform experienced the most volatility. It saw a spike to 13 million in early February but quickly dropped back down to 9 million. Its traffic is heavily event-driven—rising quickly with news but fading just as fast.
These three trajectories tell very different stories:
Claude is experiencing product-driven growth. Users are sticking around, indicating that it’s becoming an essential tool for many rather than just a one-time visit.
Grok relies on platform-driven growth. It draws users through X (formerly Twitter), but the ceiling is evident. People aren’t coming because Grok is particularly useful; they’re just finding it there.
DeepSeek is seeing event-driven growth. Each news cycle brings a wave of traffic, but once the news fades, so does the interest. The product hasn’t yet built enough user loyalty.
In 2026, the AI competition isn’t about who has the largest model parameters anymore. It’s about who can cultivate the habit of daily engagement among users.
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