Claude is the fastest-growing major AI assistant of 2026, and Perplexity is the one losing ground. Claude’s share of AI referral traffic to websites grew 320% in a year, while Perplexity’s share of US AI referrals fell from about 20% to under 7%.
Both are still small next to ChatGPT, but they matter to marketers for different reasons: Claude users skew toward work and technical tasks, and Perplexity was built as an answer engine that cites its sources. Below are the verified Perplexity and Claude statistics for 2026, with every number linked to its source.
- Top Perplexity and Claude Statistics for 2026
- Perplexity vs. Claude: Market Share and Traffic
- Perplexity Statistics
- Claude Statistics
- What This Means for Marketers
- Perplexity and Claude Statistics FAQ
- Related Reading
Top Perplexity and Claude Statistics for 2026
- Perplexity sends 7.23% of all AI referral traffic to websites, and Claude sends 2.62%. (Source: SE Ranking, 2026)
- Claude’s AI referral traffic grew 320% year over year, the fastest of any major assistant. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Perplexity’s share of US AI referrals fell from 19.73% to 11.42% to 6.85% over the study period. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Claude’s share of generative AI web visits rose from about 2% to about 9% between June 2025 and May 2026. (Source: Similarweb)
- Claude’s worldwide app monthly active users grew 1,318% between June 2025 and May 2026. (Source: Similarweb)
- 6% of US adults say they use Claude. (Source: Pew Research Center, 2026)
- Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate reached about $65 billion at the end of July 2026, roughly seven times a year earlier. (Source: IBTimes, citing CNBC and Bloomberg)
- Perplexity was valued at $20 billion in its September 2025 round and has raised about $1.72 billion in total. (Source: Tracxn)
- Computer and math tasks make up 35% of Claude.ai conversations. (Source: Anthropic Economic Index, March 2026)
- Perplexity’s web visits peaked around October 2025 and have mostly declined since. (Source: Similarweb)
Perplexity vs. Claude: Market Share and Traffic
SE Ranking measured AI referrals across 101,574 websites from January 2025 to April 2026. It is the best public view of which assistants actually send visitors to websites.
| Metric | Perplexity | Claude | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of AI referrals, worldwide (2026) | 7.23% | 2.62% | SE Ranking |
| Year-over-year change in AI referrals | Slight decline | +320% | SE Ranking |
| Share of genAI web visits (May 2026) | Not broken out | About 9% | Similarweb |
| App stickiness (daily vs. monthly users) | Lowest of the big four | Slightly above Gemini | Similarweb |
| US adults who use it | Not measured | 6% | Pew Research Center |
Both are still far behind ChatGPT, which sends about three-quarters of AI referrals. See our ChatGPT statistics for the leader’s numbers, and our list of AI search engines like Perplexity for the wider field.
Perplexity Statistics
Traffic and users
- Perplexity’s share of all website traffic slipped from 0.0245% to 0.0230%, so its absolute traffic declined slightly while rivals grew. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Gemini overtook Perplexity as the second-largest AI referral source in January 2026. (Source: SE Ranking)
- In the EU, Perplexity holds 9.02% of AI referrals, just behind Gemini at 9.8%. (Source: SE Ranking)
- In the UK, Perplexity has 3.06% of AI referrals and its referral traffic fell 33%. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Perplexity’s app user base grew faster than ChatGPT’s and Gemini’s over the past year, second only to Claude. (Source: Similarweb)
- Perplexity handled about 780 million queries a month by mid-2025. (Source: Hustle Fund)
Funding and revenue
- Perplexity has raised about $1.72 billion across 11 funding rounds. (Source: Tracxn)
- Its September 2025 round raised $200 million at a $20 billion valuation; Tracxn lists a $22.6 billion valuation as of January 2026. (Source: Tracxn)
- In August 2026, Reuters reported that Nvidia was discussing an investment at a valuation of more than $30 billion. (Source: Reuters, citing The Information)
- Annualized revenue passed $450 million in March 2026 and was estimated at about $500 million in April, up from roughly $100 million a year earlier. (Source: Hustle Fund, citing Sacra)
- Perplexity dropped its advertising plans in February 2026 to focus on subscriptions. (Source: Hustle Fund)
Perplexity is private, so its revenue and valuation figures come from investors and press reports, not audited accounts.
Claude Statistics
Users and traffic
- Claude’s share of all website traffic quadrupled, from 0.0021% to 0.0084%. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Claude’s AI referrals jumped 159% in a single month, March 2026. (Source: SE Ranking)
- In the US, Claude holds 3.70% of AI referrals, higher than its worldwide share. (Source: SE Ranking)
- Claude’s unique web visitors grew 180% in the second half of the study period compared with the first. (Source: Similarweb)
- Claude’s web visits broke upward in February 2026 and roughly doubled in each of the next two months. (Source: Similarweb)
- Claude has the fastest growth rate of the four big assistants, and its usage leans more toward work and technical topics than ChatGPT’s. (Source: Similarweb)
What people use Claude for
Anthropic publishes its own usage research, the Anthropic Economic Index, based on privacy-preserving analysis of Claude conversations.
| Use of Claude.ai | November 2025 | February 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | 19% | 12% |
| Personal use | 35% | 42% |
| Top 10 tasks as a share of all use | 24% | 19% |
- Computer and math tasks were 35% of Claude.ai conversations in February 2026. (Source: Anthropic)
- Fixing software errors was the single most common task, at 6% of usage. (Source: Anthropic)
- Coding-related use on Claude.ai fell from a 40% peak in March 2025 to 34%, as use spread to other tasks. (Source: Anthropic)
- On the API, which businesses use, 74% of use is work-related and 46% is computer and math. (Source: Anthropic)
- Claude succeeded at 67% of tasks on Claude.ai versus 49% on the API, where tasks are often automated and harder. (Source: Anthropic)
- 49% of jobs now have at least a quarter of their tasks done with Claude. (Source: Anthropic)
- Users who have been on Claude for six months or more have a 10% higher success rate. (Source: Anthropic)
- Among paid users, the top model, Opus, accounts for 51% of usage. (Source: Anthropic)
Where Claude is used
- The top countries by Claude usage are the US, India, Japan, the UK and South Korea. (Source: Anthropic)
- The top 20 countries account for 48% of per-capita usage, up from 45%. (Source: Anthropic)
- Five US states hold 50% of US Claude usage but only 38% of the working-age population. (Source: Anthropic)
Anthropic revenue
- Anthropic’s run rate rose from $47 billion in May 2026 to about $65 billion at the end of July. (Source: IBTimes)
- Second-quarter 2026 revenue was $11.5 billion, up about 14 times year over year. (Source: IBTimes)
- Anthropic’s 2025 revenue was about $10 billion. (Source: IBTimes)
- Anthropic filed confidentially for an IPO in June 2026 and is reportedly seeking a valuation of about $965 billion. (Source: IBTimes, citing Bloomberg)
What This Means for Marketers
- Do not ignore Claude because it is small. It sends only 2.62% of AI referrals, but it is growing faster than any rival and its users are often professionals researching work tools, which makes it relevant for B2B and SaaS brands.
- Perplexity still matters in Europe. It holds about 9% of AI referrals in the EU, almost level with Gemini.
- Optimise for all assistants, not one. Market share moved by tens of points in a year. A brand that is cited across trusted sites shows up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity alike.
Track where you appear with one of the best AI search monitoring tools, check that AI crawlers can reach your site with our robots.txt AI bot checker, and read how to optimize brand visibility for AI chatbots. If you want help, our AI search optimization service and brand mention campaigns are built for this.
Perplexity and Claude Statistics FAQ
How many people use Claude?
Anthropic does not publish a user count. Pew Research Center found 6% of US adults used Claude in February 2026. Similarweb data shows Claude’s share of generative AI web visits grew from about 2% to about 9% in the year to May 2026, the fastest growth among major assistants.
Is Perplexity losing users?
Its share is falling and its traffic is roughly flat to slightly down. SE Ranking found Perplexity’s share of US AI referrals dropped from 19.73% to 6.85%, and Similarweb says its web visits have mostly declined since October 2025. Its app audience, however, is still growing.
Which sends more traffic to websites, Perplexity or Claude?
Perplexity, for now. It sends 7.23% of AI referral traffic worldwide versus 2.62% for Claude, according to SE Ranking. But Claude’s referrals grew 320% in a year, so the gap is closing, and in the US Claude already holds 3.70%.
What is Claude mostly used for?
Work. Anthropic’s data shows computer and math tasks are 35% of Claude.ai conversations, and fixing software errors is the top single task. Personal use is rising, from 35% to 42%, while coursework fell from 19% to 12%.
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