The competitive landscape of AI platforms is quietly changing: Claude's monthly traffic surged by 63%, but Google's moat remains unfathomably deep

Wallstreetcn
2026.03.09 12:47
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On the web: In February, Claude ranked first with a month-on-month growth of 63% due to model upgrades, ChatGPT grew by 7% month-on-month, and Gemini grew by 17% month-on-month. On mobile: Claude grew by 54% month-on-month, ChatGPT grew by 4% month-on-month, and Gemini grew by 12% month-on-month. Bank of America believes that AI is driving the expansion of complex search demand, placing Alphabet in a favorable competitive position

The traffic competition for generative AI showed clearer differentiation in February, with Claude significantly increasing its volume driven by functional updates, Gemini continuing a steady upward trend, but Google still maintaining an advantage in user scale and search share.

According to the Chasing Wind Trading Desk, Bank of America released a report on March 6 titled "Claude Performs Well, Gemini Continues to Grow," which cited Similarweb data showing that in February, Claude's global average daily web visits increased by 63% month-over-month, significantly outpacing Gemini's 17% and ChatGPT's 7%, while Google's web visits grew by 4% month-over-month.

Mobile penetration is also accelerating. According to Sensor Tower, in February, Claude's global mobile daily active users increased by 54% month-over-month to 4.2 million, Gemini grew by 12% to 82 million, and ChatGPT increased by 4% to 440 million, indicating that AI capabilities are continuously driving incremental usage.

As competition intensifies, Statcounter data shows that Google's global search share rose by 14 basis points month-over-month to 90.0% in February. BofA Securities believes that AI is driving more complex and longer query flows and expanding search opportunities, maintaining a buy rating on Alphabet with a target price of $370.

Web: Claude Leads Growth in February

According to Similarweb data, in February, all major global AI platforms saw varying degrees of month-over-month growth in average daily web visits.

Google led with 290 million daily visits, a year-over-year increase of 6% and a month-over-month increase of 4%; ChatGPT had an average daily visit of 197 million, a year-over-year increase of 42% and a month-over-month increase of 7%; Gemini had an average daily visit of 79 million, with a year-over-year increase of 667% and a month-over-month increase of 17%.

Claude's performance was particularly outstanding. In February, its global average daily visits reached 11 million, a year-over-year increase of 308% and a month-over-month increase of 63%.

The trend continued in the U.S. market: Claude's average daily visits in the U.S. reached 3.3 million, a year-over-year increase of 353% and a month-over-month increase of 67%. Bank of America Securities attributed this explosive growth to the new Claude Code feature and model upgrades launched in February.

In a horizontal comparison of emerging AI platforms, Grok, Perplexity.ai, and Claude.ai are relatively leading in traffic rankings. In February, Perplexity.ai had an average daily visit of about 6 million, a year-over-year increase of 44%; Grok had an average daily visit of about 11 million, a month-over-month increase of 9%.

It is worth noting that the total traffic of all the aforementioned emerging AI platforms is still less than 1% of Google's average daily visits, indicating a significant scale disparity.

Mobile: Gemini and Claude Both Make Strides

Mobile data also corroborates the above trends. According to Sensor Tower statistics, in February, among the major global AI platforms' mobile DAUs, ChatGPT continued to lead with 440 million users, a year-over-year increase of 193% and a month-over-month increase of 4%; Gemini's global mobile DAU reached 82 million, a year-on-year increase of 328% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12%, with a net increase of approximately 9 million in a single month.

Claude's growth on mobile is also impressive. In February, global mobile DAU reached 4.2 million, a year-on-year increase of 407% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 54%, with a net increase of 1.4 million in a single month.

In the U.S. market, Claude's mobile DAU reached 1.3 million, a year-on-year increase of 394% and a quarter-on-quarter increase of 52%. In comparison, Grok's mobile DAU is 12 million, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 3%; Perplexity's global mobile DAU is approximately 9 million, a year-on-year increase of 191%.

Despite the impressive growth rates, Claude and Perplexity's DAU absolute figures still lag significantly behind ChatGPT and Gemini. Google's own global mobile DAU reached 2.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 12%, maintaining an unmatched scale advantage.

Search Share: Google's Position Remains Solid, Bing Quietly Gains Ground

In terms of search market share, according to Statcounter data, Google's global search share slightly rebounded by 14 basis points to 90.0% in February, but still decreased by 14 basis points year-on-year. Bing, on the other hand, increased by 55 basis points quarter-on-quarter and 103 basis points year-on-year to 5.0%, continuing its upward trend.

Regional data shows a divergent trend. In the U.S. market, Google's search share rebounded by 26 basis points quarter-on-quarter to 84.2%, but still declined by 311 basis points year-on-year; Bing's share in the U.S. increased by 57 basis points quarter-on-quarter and 300 basis points year-on-year to 10.5%, showing significant growth.

By device, Google's advantage is more pronounced on mobile. In February, global mobile search share increased by 82 basis points year-on-year to 95.2%; desktop share increased by 305 basis points year-on-year to 83.0%. In the U.S. desktop market, Google's share increased by 181 basis points year-on-year to 77.4%, while Bing's U.S. desktop share decreased by 77 basis points year-on-year to 16.7%.

Investment Logic: AI-Driven Search Expansion, Alphabet Maintains Buy Rating

Bank of America maintains a buy rating on Alphabet with a target price of $370, based on a 27 times expected core Google GAAP earnings per share and cash valuation for 2027.

The report points out that Alphabet is in a favorable long-term competitive position, with the core logic being:

  1. AI Drives Expansion of Search Usage: Continuous user growth and strong fourth-quarter search performance indicate that AI is fostering an expansionary cycle of search usage, with user queries becoming more complex and query flows lengthening, overall search opportunities are expanding rather than being replaced.

  2. Enhanced Search Monetization Potential: AI integration is expected to assist search monetization by improving intent understanding and increasing the monetization rate of zero-click queries (currently still in a neutral phase); Agentic capabilities may also significantly enhance effectiveness measurement.

  3. Valuation is relatively reasonable: The current stock price of approximately $300 corresponds to a 24 times price-to-earnings ratio for 2027 GAAP earnings per share, while the S&P 500 corresponds to about 20 times, with the premium being within an acceptable range

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