Google's Gemini AI Assistant Is Closing In on One Billion Users
The app hit 950 million monthly users in Q2 2026, tripling its audience in a year, and is now directly chasing ChatGPT's lead.
Key points
- Google's Gemini AI assistant reached 950 million monthly active users as of Q2 2026.
- That figure has tripled compared to the same period in 2025.
- ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, crossed 1 billion monthly active users in June 2026.
- Gemini's share of the AI assistant market rose to 27.7% in the first half of 2026, per analytics firm Sensor Tower.
- Google's AI Mode in Search separately crossed 1 billion users this quarter.
Google is close to adding Gemini, its AI assistant (a chatbot you can ask questions, hand tasks to, and get summaries from), to a club that already includes Search, Gmail, Drive, YouTube and Chrome. During its Q2 2026 earnings call, Alphabet confirmed Gemini now has 950 million monthly active users, up from 750 million in February 2026. A year before that, the number was roughly a third of today's figure.
How does Gemini stack up against ChatGPT?
ChatGPT still leads: it hit 1 billion monthly active users in June 2026. But the gap's shrinking fast. Analytics firm Sensor Tower reported that ChatGPT's share of the AI assistant market fell below 50% for the first time in H1 2026, while Gemini's climbed to 27.7%.
| Product | Monthly active users | Period |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT (OpenAI) | 1 billion | June 2026 |
| Gemini (Google) | 950 million | Q2 2026 |
| Gemini (Google) | 750 million | February 2026 |
| Gemini's market share | 27.7% | H1 2026 |
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai pointed to features like Daily Brief and Gemini Spark, a personalised AI agent (software that handles multi-step tasks on your behalf, like planning your week or sorting your inbox), now live in the US and internationally. On iPhone, the app has been downloaded over 137 million times in the last 12 months, according to app intelligence firm AppFigures. That iOS traction matters: it's growth Google can't take for granted, given the EU ruling we covered on 16 July that could let ChatGPT and Claude sit just as deeply inside Android as Gemini does now.
Does this mean Google Search is fading?
Not according to Google's own numbers. AI Mode, a question-and-answer version of Search powered by AI, crossed 1 billion users this quarter and is driving more queries, not fewer. We looked at how AI Mode is expanding its app connections in our story from 16 July 2026, "Google's AI Mode can now connect to your shopping and design apps".
Google also said hardware engineering has cut the internal cost of running AI Mode, even as new features roll out. That cost reduction links directly to the custom chip project we reported on 22 July: "Google Is Building a Chip Designed Specifically for Its Gemini AI".
Two AI assistants are pulling clear of the rest of the field. The number to watch isn't whether Gemini crosses a billion; it's whether the cost-per-query keeps falling fast enough for Google to stay profitable while giving the thing away.
