So a16z released its latest ranking of the top 100 consumer AI apps across mobile and desktop, and the results are pretty fascinating. This data is based on SimilarWeb website traffic ranking, so it’s based on what actual consumers are actually using. Let’s dive in.
The big takeaway: The Wild West days are over. Only 11 new apps crashed the web party this time compared to 17 last time, suggesting the ecosystem is stabilizing. Meanwhile, mobile saw 14 newcomers after app stores finally cracked down on those lazy “ChatGPT copycats.” Good riddance!
Google’s making serious moves: For the first time, Google has four products on the list. Gemini snagged the #2 spot behind ChatGPT, with approximately 12% of ChatGPT’s web traffic. On mobile, it’s much closer, with nearly half of ChatGPT’s traffic. Not too shabby for the search giant that everyone thought was sleeping on AI. Google’s other babies made the cut, too:
- AI Studio hit the top 10 (#10 to be exact).
- NotebookLM landed at #13 (remember when that went viral?).
- Google Labs rolled in at #39 (it spiked 15% the month Veo 3 dropped).
Grok 4 came out of nowhere: It went from no mobile app at the end of 2024 to #4 on web and #23 on mobile with 20m+ monthly active users. In fact, the July launch of Grok 4 drove a 40% usage spike, followed by that spicy anime avatar feature. Believe it or not, that drove serious growth. Why do you think Elon keeps tweeting about it?
The vibe coding explosion is real: Lovable jumped from the “almost made it” list to #22, and hit $100M ARR already. These platforms are seeing 100%+ revenue retention in the first three months. That’s unheard of for consumer products. But here’s the weird part: Traffic to vibe coding platforms is way higher than traffic to the apps people build with them.
Either everyone’s buying custom domains (doubt it), nobody’s shipping anything, or we’re witnessing the birth of “personal software” AKA tools you build and use just for yourself.
The AI agent tool Manus also made the cut for the first time, ranking #27 on the web list with its #1 traffic source coming from Brazil followed by the US. Manus also just announced it hit a $90M annualized run rate.
Check the report for the full list of all 100 AI tools, and watch for the next edition to see if Google keeps its momentum, and whether any Western video models can finally compete with China’s dominance. Spoiler: Veo 3 might be the first real contender.
Editor’s note: This content originally ran in the newsletter of our sister publication, The Neuron. To read more from The Neuron, sign up for its newsletter here.