ChatGPT hits record: 2.5 billion queries per day amid rapid user expansion

ChatGPT surpasses 2.5 billion daily queries. Usage soars 150% as OpenAI’s model reshapes the search landscape.

New figures reveal that ChatGPT now processes over 2.5 billion user prompts every day, representing a 150% increase in volume since late 2024. With more than half a billion weekly active users and an expanding global footprint, ChatGPT stands as the second most popular text-based search platform after Google, fueling debates about infrastructure, cost, and the future of information access.

The daily traffic volumes set new records and challenge the digital status quo

ChatGPT’s updated usage numbers are striking: with 2.5 billion prompts submitted every day, the platform now handles traffic on a scale that places it just behind Google Search, which manages roughly 14 billion daily queries worldwide. To put this in perspective, ChatGPT receives as many requests each day as three times the population of Europe. Since the end of 2024, the volume of daily interactions has grown by approximately 150%, a surge that is fundamentally altering the hierarchy of the search and generative AI sectors.

The vast majority of users access the free version, highlighting ChatGPT’s global reach

The overwhelming majority of ChatGPT’s traffic comes from users on the free tier. OpenAI reports that weekly active users now exceed 500 million, a figure that underscores the platform’s extraordinary appeal to a diverse and international user base. Usage remains highly globalized, with the United States accounting for about 330 million daily prompts—roughly 13% of the overall volume. These statistics confirm that the platform’s impact is not limited to a single market but reflects its adoption on every continent.

The scale of usage puts OpenAI’s infrastructure and operational costs to the test

Supporting 2.5 billion daily queries is an immense technical undertaking. OpenAI continues to invest in expanding its computing infrastructure, optimizing inference pipelines, and developing more efficient models. Each prompt incurs a nontrivial hardware and energy cost; as a result, OpenAI’s biggest operational expenses now stem from GPU consumption and the need to expand its global cloud inference regions. The company is experimenting with compact model architectures and advanced response caching in an ongoing effort to sustain this explosive growth while controlling costs.

The gap with Google Search is shrinking as AI-powered search reshapes industry priorities

Although ChatGPT remains some distance from Google’s daily volume, its rapid growth signals a new competitive reality. Industry analysts suggest that, if current trends persist, ChatGPT could reach 4 billion daily requests by the end of 2026—potentially capturing a significant share of the digital advertising and information retrieval market. The ongoing shift toward “AI-first browsing” is already prompting search incumbents to accelerate the integration of generative AI features into their own platforms.

OpenAI’s “democratic” strategy raises questions about monetization and long-term sustainability

Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, recently reiterated his commitment to maintaining free access to ChatGPT “for as long as it is sustainable,” while developing premium subscription plans and enterprise APIs to help finance the massive usage base. The company’s challenge is to strike a balance between inclusivity and financial sustainability, gradually guiding free-tier users toward paid applications and business solutions. This dual strategy underpins OpenAI’s ambition to remain the central hub of digital conversation and information retrieval in the coming years.

The latest usage data cements ChatGPT’s central role in the digital landscape of 2025. In just 18 months, the platform has evolved from a viral experiment into an essential tool that shapes the priorities of both users and industry giants.

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