How many people use ChatGPT, how often U.S. adults report using it, and how OpenAI has disclosed growth over time. Figures below are taken from OpenAI posts and Pew Research Center survey releases—not third-party estimates without a primary source.
Last updated: · 10 sourced statistics
800M
OpenAI stated that ChatGPT has 800 million weekly active users, according to OpenAI’s August 4, 2025 company post “800 million weekly ChatGPT users.”
Source: OpenAI
Data as of:
Note: Company-disclosed weekly active users (WAU); methodology not fully public.
400M+
OpenAI said ChatGPT had over 400 million weekly active users as of February 2025, according to OpenAI’s February 20, 2025 post “Introducing next-generation audio models in the API.”
Source: OpenAI
Data as of:
Note: As of February 2025 per OpenAI; later posts cite higher WAU—do not mix dates.
34%
34% of U.S. adults say they have ever used ChatGPT, about double the share in 2023, according to Pew Research Center (June 25, 2025).
Source: Pew Research Center
Data as of:
Note: U.S. adult survey; see Pew for sample size and margins of error.
23%
23% of U.S. adults said they have ever used ChatGPT as of February 2024, according to Pew Research Center’s March 26, 2024 short read on ChatGPT use.
Source: Pew Research Center
Data as of:
Note: Survey fielded around February 2024; as of that period—older than the 34% 2025 figure above.
100M
ChatGPT was estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January 2023, two months after launch, according to reporting by Reuters citing industry sources (February 2, 2023).
Source: Reuters
Data as of:
Note: As of early 2023; historical growth milestone, not a current WAU figure. Attribution via analyst note as reported by Reuters.
~50%
ChatGPT accounted for over half of AI chatbot referral traffic in Ahrefs’ study of about 3,000 sites, according to Ahrefs’ February 6, 2025 post “63% of Websites Receive AI Traffic.”
Source: Ahrefs
Data as of:
Note: Among AI referral traffic in the studied site sample, not share of all web traffic.
2.7M
ChatGPT sent about 2.7 million visitors in March 2026 across 74,752 tracked websites—roughly ten times more than any other AI chatbot in that panel—according to Ahrefs’ May 15, 2026 post “AI Chatbot Traffic,” citing chatgpt-vs-google.com data.
Source: Ahrefs
Data as of:
Note: Referral visits across an opt-in/tracked domain panel (74,752 sites), not global internet population.
~60%
After ChatGPT introduced clickable brand links in answers, homepage landings rose to roughly 60% of ChatGPT referrals (from about 26–32% before), according to Similarweb’s May 28, 2026 “Gen AI Stats 2026” analysis.
Source: Similarweb
Data as of:
Note: Similarweb referral analysis around a May 7 product change; see article for window.
+157.7%
Total ChatGPT referrals increased 157.7% week over week around the introduction of clickable brand links in answers, according to Similarweb’s May 28, 2026 Gen AI Stats post.
Source: Similarweb
Data as of:
Note: Week-over-week change in Similarweb’s measured ChatGPT referral traffic.
+85%
ChatGPT’s outbound referral contribution grew 85% since January in Ahrefs’ mid-2025 AI traffic update, according to Ahrefs’ June 26, 2025 post “AI Traffic Has Increased 9.7x in the Past Year.”
Source: Ahrefs
Data as of:
Note: Growth of ChatGPT as a referrer in Ahrefs’ multi-site sample, not OpenAI WAU.
Deduplicated publishers used on this page, alphabetized.
Changelog: Updated 2026-07-18: initial publication of 10 sourced ChatGPT usage statistics (OpenAI disclosures and Pew Research Center surveys).
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