OpenAI’s ChatGPT experienced significant growth in the latter half of 2024, doubling its weekly active users in under six months, according to a report from Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) published on Thursday.
ChatGPT’s user growth surges to 400 million by early 2025
After reaching 100 million weekly active users in November 2023, ChatGPT took nine months to grow to 200 million by August 2024. However, it achieved a remarkable increase to 400 million weekly active users by February 2025, having reached 300 million by December 2024.
Initially, consumer interest in ChatGPT stemmed from novelty, as users were eager to explore the app without knowing how it would integrate into their daily routines. More recently, growth has been attributed to new model releases and functionalities, starting with the launch of GPT-4o, which provided multimodal capabilities. Following this launch, usage surged from April through May 2024.
The introduction of Advanced Voice Mode further boosted usage from July to August 2024, and the o1 model series contributed to increased activity during September to October 2024.
The growth of ChatGPT on mobile has been consistent, with monthly user increases ranging from 5% to 15% over the past year. As of now, 175 million of ChatGPT’s total 400 million weekly active users engage with the app via mobile devices.
The report also highlighted the competitive landscape, noting the rapid rise of rival app DeepSeek, which reached the No. 2 position globally within ten days of its launch and captured 15% of ChatGPT’s mobile user base by February. DeepSeek users exhibit slightly higher engagement compared to users of Perplexity and Claude, although it remains behind ChatGPT in overall user engagement.
A16z’s report included additional analyses such as recommendations for AI development tools, rankings of top AI applications by category and revenue, and listings of the leading generative AI applications across mobile and web. Notably, ChatGPT ranks first for unique monthly visits on the web and for monthly active users on mobile, according to data from Similarweb.
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