Last year, I dove into the growing buzz surrounding AI-powered tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, Google’s Gemini, and others. Despite the excitement, data suggested that AI wasn’t as integrated into daily lives as the buzz implied. It seemed the enthusiasm for AI was mistaken for genuine public interest.
Fast forward to this year, and everything seems to have changed. AI has reached new levels, becoming smarter, more intuitive, and even capable of remembering earlier conversations. These advancements suggest a shift from AI as a fleeting trend to a potentially revolutionary technology.
A recent report from aitools.xyz challenges the notion of generative AI as a passing fad. In February 2025, they analyzed usage data from over 10,500 AI tools.
Unsurprisingly, OpenAI continues to lead the pack, likely due to its two-year head start with ChatGPT, which allowed it to develop without significant competition, as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pointed out. The report revealed that in February 2025, ChatGPT had over 52 times more visits than Microsoft Copilot. To put it in perspective, ChatGPT boasted 173.3 million daily visits in February, far outpacing Copilot’s 98.9 million monthly traffic.
While ChatGPT maintains its lead over Microsoft Copilot, the latter did experience a substantial growth of 6811% year-over-year in 2024. This indicates a growing interest and traction among users.
In a direct comparison, ChatGPT dominates the metrics for February 2025. It holds the top spot with a market share of 43.16%, compared to Copilot’s 0.82%. ChatGPT had a staggering 40 billion visits in 2024, while Copilot managed 677.3 million, despite Copilot’s impressive growth rate.
Interestingly, Microsoft announced during last year’s Ignite event that “nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 now use Microsoft 365 Copilot.” While this statement lacks specific numbers, it does highlight that the tool is gaining a foothold in boosting productivity across organizations.
Copilot has consistently been playing catch-up to ChatGPT. Toward the end of 2023, Microsoft launched Copilot’s mobile apps, aiming to compete more directly with ChatGPT. Despite offering free access to features like DALL-E 3 image generation and GPT-4, users still leaned towards ChatGPT, even though it required a paid subscription.
Appfigures reported that this mobile push by Microsoft didn’t affect ChatGPT’s downloads or revenue. Copilot’s slower mobile adoption was linked to ineffective promotional efforts, particularly a lack of search ads to enhance visibility on major app platforms.
Recently, Microsoft faced backlash following an overhaul of Copilot, with many users feeling the update worsened the experience. Some insiders at Microsoft even referred to it as “a step backward.” However, in celebration of Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, they introduced several new Copilot features, like Copilot Vision and Avatars, which might breathe new life into its user interest.
Interestingly, there’s a widespread user sentiment that Copilot doesn’t match ChatGPT’s quality. Microsoft, however, counters that claim, suggesting instead that users are not utilizing Copilot’s features as intended.
