ChatGPT’s rivals, Kwai’s quiet rise: the top Internet services of 2025

In 2025, the internet became even more central to daily life, with a wide range of online services used for productivity, connection, and entertainment. A report on the Top Internet Services of 2025 explores how the connected world interacted throughout the year, drawing on observations and analysis of DNS trends.

This report focuses on shifts in the popularity of internet services. The findings offer insights into trends across nine major categories, identifying which services gained traction, which experienced declines, and which maintained their strong positions.

These rankings indicate relative popularity within each category, derived from anonymized DNS query data from the 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver and a machine-learning-assisted ranking method introduced in 2022. A lower rank does not necessarily mean reduced traffic, but rather that other services may have grown at a faster rate.

Categories

• Generative AI
• Social Media
• E-commerce
• Video Streaming
• News
• Messaging
• Metaverse & Gaming
• Financial Services
• Cryptocurrency Services

Key trends and takeaways

From the widespread use of social media and streaming to the rapid expansion of AI chatbots, the data reveals an internet that continuously adapts to user demands and new technologies. Some observed shifts align with news events, such as the brief Israel-Iran conflict and Donald Trump’s inauguration, as well as global events like Eurovision and Black Friday.

• Asian e-commerce platforms saw growth: Shopee and Temu joined Amazon in the global e-commerce top 3.

• ChatGPT maintained its lead, but new competitors emerged: Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and DeepSeek made Generative AI a competitive sector, with Gemini securing the #2 spot by year-end.

• Instagram gained popularity, while TikTok and X saw declines: Instagram climbed to #5 overall (from #7) and #2 in Social Media, while TikTok dropped to #8 and X fell outside the Top 20.

• Kwai experienced a quiet rise in emerging markets: The Chinese short-video app improved its global social ranking and is now #3 in Brazil, with strong performance in several other emerging markets.

• Roblox continued to dominate gaming, and PlayStation surpassed Xbox: Roblox held the #1 position in Metaverse & Gaming, while PlayStation moved past Xbox to #2.

• Stripe and Nubank led digital-first finance: Stripe remained #1 in Financial Services, and Brazilian neobank Nubank highlighted the surge in digital banking across Latin America.

• Crypto stabilized, with OKX surging: Binance retained the top spot, but OKX jumped to #2 as crypto traffic increased around Trump’s inauguration and market rallies.

• News faced pressure from AI: Globo and ESPN led the News category, but most traditional outlets saw a decline in the Overall ranking as AI platforms reshaped how people access information.

A by-country and by-region perspective on the most popular internet services is also available on the Year in Review microsite. This includes Top 10 lists for Overall, Generative AI, Social Media, and Messaging across over 100 countries and regions. Key trends from this localized data are highlighted later in this post.

Methodology

The analysis relies on anonymized DNS query data from the 1.1.1.1 public DNS resolver, which is used by millions globally. Domains associated with each service (e.g., twitter.com, t.co, and x.com are grouped as “X”) are aggregated, focusing on services accessed by end users and excluding infrastructure domains like root-servers.net.

Google is still #1, while Instagram and YouTube move up

Since the current ranking method was introduced in 2022, Google (encompassing services like Google Maps and Google Calendar) has consistently been the #1 most popular internet service worldwide. Facebook maintained its #2 position for the third consecutive year.

Apple and Microsoft exhibit a similar pattern to Google, with their primary domains (apple.com and microsoft.com) powering numerous services. Other services with distinct domains, such as Outlook or iCloud, are tracked separately.

In these rankings, ▲▼ symbols indicate changes from 2024.

Top 10 most popular Internet services in 2025, overall

1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Apple
4. Microsoft ▲
5. Instagram ▲
6. AWS ▼
7. YouTube ▲
8. TikTok ▼
9. Amazon
10. WhatsApp

Apple held the #3 position for most of the year, though Microsoft briefly challenged it in late 2025, reaching that spot on several days. Apple ultimately finished the year at #3. Microsoft’s tools generally performed better than in 2024, with Outlook and Microsoft 365/Office just outside the Top 10.

Instagram was a strong performer in 2025. It began the year at #7, matching its 2024 position, but climbed to #5 by year-end, even reaching #4 on multiple days in May and June. YouTube also improved, moving up one place to #7. WhatsApp, another Meta service, remained at #10 but frequently appeared at #9 in late 2025 and even reached #7 during parts of May and June.

TikTok saw a decline in the Overall ranking following a challenging start to the year, which included a temporary ban in the U.S. It dropped from #4 in late 2024 to #8 by the end of 2025, with its lowest performance during and after the summer. Amazon Web Services (AWS), tracked separately from Amazon via the amazonaws.com domain, also slipped one position to #6. Amazon remained at #9 but faced increased competition compared to 2024.

X continued its downward trend. In 2022, it ranked as high as #10, close to Instagram. By 2023, it fell out of the Top 10, and in 2024, it dropped to around #14-15. In 2025, it started at #15 and slid further, finishing the year outside the Top 20. More details on X’s performance are available in the Social Media section.

Generative AI: Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini become serious ChatGPT competitors

Generative AI gained global recognition in late 2022 with the launch of ChatGPT, which became a worldwide phenomenon throughout 2023. In 2025, ChatGPT from OpenAI remained the most popular service in this category, which includes chatbots, coding assistants, and other AI tools. However, it now faces significant competition from all-purpose chatbots like Claude, Perplexity, and Google Gemini, which experienced substantial growth as the year progressed.

Top 10 Generative AI services in 2025

1. ChatGPT / OpenAI
2. Claude / Anthropic ▲
3. Perplexity ▲
4. Google Gemini ▲
5. Character.AI ▼
6. GitHub Copilot ▲
7. Windsurf AI ▼
8. QuillBot ▼
9. Grok / xAI ▲
10. DeepSeek ▲

In 2024, services closest to ChatGPT included Character.AI (role-play chatbots), Codeium (the coding assistant that’s now Windsurf), and QuillBot (writing and paraphrasing). These tools dropped in the 2025 rankings, particularly QuillBot, as users increasingly sought broad, consumer-facing chatbots. Character.AI’s decline also coincided with its October announcement that it would be banning teens from its AI chatbots, leading to its fluctuation between #5 and #7 by November.

Google’s Gemini saw the most significant jump. It began 2025 outside the Top 10 but climbed steadily, holding the #2 position on most days from mid-September onward. In the year-end weighted ranking, it finished at #4.

Claude, Perplexity, Grok, and the explosive entrance of DeepSeek

Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, delivered one of the year’s strongest performances, rising from #8-10 in early 2025 to #2 on most weekdays in July and August, before Gemini surpassed it in mid-September. Consistent with its enterprise focus, Claude showed notably stronger weekday usage.

Perplexity climbed from #7 to secure #3 from September onward, while Grok (xAI’s chatbot) entered the Top 20 in mid-February and reached #9 by the end of the month, later peaking at #6 on several weekends in October and November.

DeepSeek, the Chinese chatbot and open-source model developer, made the year’s most remarkable entrance. Between January 28 and February 3, it surged from outside the Top 20 to #3, illustrating the rapid disruption new entrants can bring to the GenAI landscape. It stabilized between #6 and #10 for the rest of the year.

Clear weekend-versus-weekday patterns emerged: ChatGPT and Claude dominated weekdays, suggesting workplace adoption, while Grok, Perplexity, and DeepSeek performed better on weekends, indicating stronger consumer and potentially hobbyist appeal.

Among coding assistants, GitHub Copilot improved from #7 in 2024 to #6 in 2025, reaching #3 on several days during the first half of the year. Windsurf AI (formerly Codeium) started strong at #4 but declined to #7-8 by year-end as consumer-facing platforms gained prominence.

AI chatbots Doubao and Dola/Cici gaining traction

ByteDance’s Doubao, launched in 2023, performed strongly despite an international naming convention: it operates as Dola (formerly Cici) outside China. While the international version uses its own domains, network patterns suggest a reliance on shared backend infrastructure with Doubao, including endpoints associated with doubao.com. This overlap explains Doubao’s presence in global rankings even in regions where Dola/Cici are the consumer brands. Doubao ranks highly outside China, reaching #7 in the GenAI category in Australia, #8 in New Zealand, and #9 in the UK, and climbing even higher in several African countries (#2 in Angola and Congo).

Among specialized AI services, Hugging Face, the open-source model repository, experienced some of the year’s sharpest spikes, reaching #3 on September 20-21, likely due to model releases. Google’s dedicated AI properties showed more modest traction: DeepMind peaked at #12 in May, while AI Studio briefly entered the Top 20 in mid-September.

ElevenLabs (AI voice generation) reached #13-14 during peak periods, while Poe (Quora’s multi-bot aggregator) declined from #11 to #18. Meta AI remained outside the Top 10, appearing only sporadically in August and again in October–November.

ChatGPT’s growth to the Top 40 of our Overall category

Examining trends for Generative AI services within the broader Overall ranking revealed several notable patterns:

• ChatGPT continued its steady ascent in the Overall domain ranking. After its late 2022 launch, it hovered around #200 in early 2023, nearing the Top 100 by year-end. It then approached the Top 50 in late 2024, boosted by back-to-school and return-to-work patterns. In 2025, it started between #51-60 and peaked at #33 on November 25, consistently ranking higher on weekdays.

• By late November, ChatGPT was positioned just behind X (between #26-29) and ahead of Discord, Pinterest, and Reddit, marking a significant achievement for a service that did not exist three years prior.

• Other GenAI services also climbed the Overall rankings, though none matched ChatGPT’s momentum. Gemini rose quickly after entering the Top 500 in mid-March, peaking at #133 on November 24. Claude, barely inside the Top 500 in January, reached #155 on December 2 and maintained a Top 200 position from August onward. Perplexity surged from around #450 in early 2025 to peak at #155 on October 19, hovering near #160 in November. Grok reached #223 on November 18.

Social media: Instagram and Snapchat up, X down

Reports estimate that over 5 billion people worldwide use social media, and this number continues to grow. Facebook remains the dominant global platform, but the most significant shift in rankings was Instagram displacing TikTok to secure the #2 spot. These platforms, along with Facebook, are all among the Top 10 most popular internet services overall.

Top 10 Social Media services in 2025

1. Facebook
2. Instagram ▲
3. TikTok ▼
4. Snapchat ▲
5. Linkedin ▲
6. X / Twitter ▼
7. Kwai ▲
8. Discord ▼
9. Pinterest
10. Reddit

Instagram and TikTok swapped positions starting in May, with Instagram holding an uncontested #2 from late June onward. Snapchat moved into #4 in March, displacing X, which finished the year at #6, behind LinkedIn for the first time in these rankings. Discord and Reddit both briefly reached #7 before settling at #8 and around #9-10 respectively.

Kwai’s rise in emerging markets

Kwai (known as Kuaishou in China) climbed from #8 in late 2024 to #7 in 2025, driven by growth in Latin America and other emerging markets. The Chinese short-video platform now ranks #2 in Brazil’s social media category (behind Facebook) and #3 in Brazil’s overall ranking.

Kwai achieved Top 10 status in two major emerging markets: Brazil (#3) and Indonesia (#9). It also ranked #15 in Syria, #18 in Colombia, and #20 in Egypt. Beyond these, it showed a notable presence in markets like the Dominican Republic (#25), Guyana (#26), Oman (#28), and Argentina (#30).

The global ranking also highlights several non-Western platforms within the Top 20. Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) held #11 for the second consecutive year. VK (often described as Russia’s Facebook) remained at #12, and SnackVideo, a Southeast Asian TikTok rival also owned by Kuaishou, ranked #13. Xiaohongshu (RedNote), which gained attention during the brief U.S. TikTok ban in January, ranked #14.

Regarding microblogging competitors to X, none gained significant traction. Meta’s microblogging app Threads did not enter the Top 20 at any point, and Bluesky only briefly appeared on January 30, during the U.S. TikTok ban. Tumblr was in the Top 20 for much of the year, and Mastodon servers appeared there through most of October.

OnlyFans, the subscription-based content platform, consistently appeared in the Top 20 between May and early August (around #19) but declined in the second half of the year.

X alternatives in the Overall ranking

Beyond the Social Media category, the performance of these platforms in the Overall ranking revealed larger shifts between services.

X alternatives showed limited DNS presence. Mastodon (aggregated servers) performed best, consistently ranking between #208 and #248, with stronger weekend traffic. Bluesky peaked around #240 in May but declined through most of the year, with a notable spike as the U.S. held off-year, state and local elections on November 4 (#229). This mirrored the pattern seen after the 2024 U.S. presidential election, when Bluesky performed better around election day and peaked on November 14 at #193.

Threads trailed both platforms, peaking at #279 in June but generally ranking around #360. (Note: Threads uses Meta’s shared infrastructure, so some images could load from Facebook/Instagram domains, which may reduce its standalone DNS footprint.)

Usage patterns in the Overall ranking:

• Weekday vs. weekend trends: X, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Discord performed better on weekdays, while Kwai, Pinterest, Tumblr, and OnlyFans peaked on weekends. LinkedIn ranked highest Monday–Wednesday, and Tinder continued its pattern of Sunday peaks.

• Growth stories: Reddit remained in the Top 50 throughout 2025 (an improvement over 2024), stabilizing in the #34-40 range after May and performing strongest Monday-Thursday. Kwai also had a strong second half of the year, peaking at #28 in September.

• Declines: Quora continued the downward trajectory seen in 2024, falling from around #160 to outside the Top 200. Tinder and Tumblr followed similar patterns, both dropping below #200. OnlyFans remained inside the Top 200 from April to June but declined in the second half of the year.

• Event-driven spikes: Instagram reached #4 for several days between mid-May and mid-June. X peaked at #15 on March 2 during the Oscars (compared with a #12 peak in 2024). Pinterest surged on November 30, the Sunday of Black Friday week.

E-commerce: Shopee and Temu rise

Every Cyber Week and Black Friday season underscores the central role of e-commerce in global internet traffic. In this category, Amazon remained the undisputed leader in 2025, but the strongest momentum came from newer players that now complete the top three: Shopee (launched in Singapore in 2015 and popular in Southeast Asia) and China’s Temu (which expanded to the U.S. in 2022). Meanwhile, 2024’s top-three finishers Taobao and AliExpress both moved down the ranking to #5 and #10 respectively.

Top 10 E-commerce services in 2025

1. Amazon
2. Shopee ▲
3. Temu ▲
4. Shopify
5. Taobao ▼
6. eBay ▲
7. Alibaba ▼
8. Shein
9. Mercado Libre
10. AliExpress ▼

Shopee and Taobao began 2025 competing for the #2 position, but from mid-April to early July, Temu temporarily surpassed both. From July onward, Shopee consistently held #2, with Temu settling at #3. In 2024, Shopee was just outside the Top 10, while Temu finished at #5.

Shopify also strengthened its position. It opened the year at #6 and has remained steadily at #4 since July — the same finishing position as in 2024, but now ahead of Taobao and AliExpress and just behind Shopee and Temu.

eBay showed a clear recovery: after ending 2024 at #7 (and 2023 at #3), it moved between #3 and #6 early in the year and ultimately held #6. Shein maintained #8, identical to 2024, and continued to outperform Mercado Libre (#9).

Just outside the Top 10 were Russia’s Wildberries, followed by Walmart and Japan’s Rakuten.

Black Friday impact in the Overall ranking

Looking at the broader Overall ranking, several patterns stood out:

• Amazon followed a trajectory similar to 2024. It hovered between #9 and #10 after July, rose to #8 during Black Friday week, and peaked at #7 on November 29 (the day after Black Friday). It continued to perform better on Sundays.

• Shopee remained around #50 for most of the year, outperforming its Black Friday number on Singles’ Day (November 11), when it reached #46 (vs. #48 on Black Friday). Shopify closed the gap in November: its best day was Black Friday, November 28, and it also hit #49 on November 6. Shopify continued to show stronger weekday performance.

• Temu, known for its low-cost marketplace model, peaked at #36 on May 18 (the day after the 2025 Eurovision final). It began the year near #60 (vs. outside the Top 100 in early 2024) and ended 2025 around #50. Black Friday did not visibly impact its ranking.

• Shein remained more stable this year, holding between #80 and #90 after finishing just outside the Top 100 in 2024. It peaked at #78 on November 29. Temu, which had a similar performance to Shein in 2024, clearly outpaced it in 2025.

• eBay improved its consistency, ranking between #46 and #62 throughout the year (vs. remaining outside the Top 70 in 2024). It peaked at #42 on April 15. As with previous years, Black Friday had little impact, reflecting lower seasonal demand for second-hand marketplaces.

• Mercado Libre grew meaningfully in 2025, entering the Top 100 from September onward. Its best day, as in 2024, was Black Friday (November 28), when it reached #82 (vs. #100 in 2024).

Other retail services also experienced a Black Friday week impact in the Overall category:

• Adidas entered the top 250, reaching #229 on Cyber Monday and #249 on Black Friday (similar to 2024).

• Nike slipped slightly, peaking at #287 on Black Friday.

• Target hit #117 on Cyber Monday, improving on its 2024 high of #127. It performed best on Saturdays.

• Walmart performed slightly better than Target, peaking at #101 on the August 23-24 weekend and reaching #120 ahead of Thanksgiving.

• Ikea showed a nearly identical pattern to 2024, peaking at #242 on June 2-3.

Video streaming: YouTube and Netflix lead, HBO enters Top 10

Video streaming remained one of the most stable categories in 2025, despite intensified industry consolidation. The Top 3 remained unchanged for the third consecutive year: YouTube held #1, followed by Netflix and Twitch.

Top 10 Video streaming services 2025

1. YouTube
2. Netflix
3. Twitch
4. Roku
5. Disney Plus
6. Prime Video
7. Vimeo
8. Pluto TV ▲
9. Plex TV ▼
10. HBO Max ▲

HBO Max was the year’s biggest climber, entering the Top 10 for the first time and reaching #8 on Cyber Monday (December 1), boosted by new episodes of IT: Welcome to Derry. The only other shift in the Top 10 was Pluto TV, a free ad-supported service, moving ahead of Plex TV.

Among paid services, Netflix remained the clear leader, followed by Disney Plus (#5) and Prime Video (#6). Hulu (#11), Peacock (#15), Apple TV+ (#17), and Paramount Plus (#20) stayed outside the Top 10. Roku consistently held #4 and briefly overtook Twitch during Black Friday week. Disney Plus held #5 throughout the year but climbed to #4 on several weekends between March and June, around the time of the premieres of Daredevil: Born Again and later Andor season 2.

Content-driven weekend spikes in the Overall ranking

Throughout the year, major premieres generated clear surges in the broader Overall ranking:

• YouTube peaked at #5 on July 5, the day MrBeast released “

  ”

• Netflix stayed near #11 on weekends from late June and peaked at #10 on November 30, following the release of Stranger Things season 5.

• Disney Plus ranged between #47 and #60, with its strongest spikes possibly tied to Daredevil: Born Again.

• Prime Video reached #53 after the launch of The Family Man season 3 on November 22-23 and again on November 30.

• HBO Max was consistently close to the Top 100 in the Overall ranking and peaked on November 23 during a release of IT: Welcome to Derry. Hulu showed similar Cyber Week behavior, reaching #132. Paramount Plus outperformed Peacock at the end of November on weekends, peaking at #197 on November 23 and 30.

As in previous years, most paid streaming platforms were strongest on weekends, especially Sundays, reflecting global viewing habits.

News: Globo and BBC global perspectives

News organizations continue to inform the public, though their visibility and traffic appear increasingly diminished by AI-powered search and summarization tools (a trend explored in an August 2025 blog post). This category, which includes traditional news outlets and aggregators, highlights several shifts in 2025.

Top 10 News services in 2025

1. Globo
2. ESPN ▲
3. BBC ▼
4. NY Times ▼
5. CNN ▼
6. Fox News ▼
7. Yahoo Finance
8. Google News ▲
9. NewsBreak ▲
10. Times of India ▲

Globo, the Brazilian media giant spanning TV, radio, and print, held the #1 position for the third consecutive year. ESPN moved into #2, surpassing the BBC (#3), which operates globally in 43 languages. The New York Times (#4), CNN (#5), and Fox News (#6) each fell one place due to ESPN’s rise.

Google News rose to #8 (with a clear weekend bias) while NewsBreak, a U.S. local-news aggregator, surged late in the year and reached #7 on several days in November.

Outside the Top 10, The Guardian briefly reached #10 during Canada’s March leadership election, while RT (Russian state media) declined from the Top 10 early in the year to around #20 by year-end. The Financial Times spiked to #4 between July 24-27 during high-stakes U.S.-EU tariffs-related trade negotiations.

Israel–Iran escalation, and Trump’s inauguration and trade deals

Across the broader Overall ranking, major geopolitical, political, and sporting events generated surges in news traffic. Last year, the surge was election-driven.

• Trump inauguration (January 20–21): CNN, New York Times (NYT), and Fox News all spiked prominently.

• U.S.-UK trade deal announced & VE Day 80th anniversary (May 8): The year’s highest peaks: CNN (#126), NYT (#129), Fox News (#164), BBC (#106).

• Israel-Iran conflict (the conflict started on June 13, when Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran, and ended on June 24): BBC reached its yearly peak (#101), with CNN (#125), NYT (#136), and Fox News (#160) showing parallel spikes.

• U.S. off-year Election Day (November 5): CNN (#157), NYT (#169), and Fox News (#191) all saw moderate increases.

Regional dynamics also stood out. Globo peaked during Brazil’s Supercopa do Brasil final on February 2, moving within the #60-77 range. ESPN saw similar event-driven spikes, reaching #82 on April 26 during the NFL Draft and NBA playoffs; and then #79 on September 28, when NFL Week 4 overlapped with the dramatic final day of the MLB regular season; and also at #79 on October 26, as the F1 Mexico City Grand Prix coincided with NFL Week 8 and the first week of the new NBA season, pushing fans to track multiple leagues at once.

Across the second half of 2025, most major U.S. news outlets showed a gradual decline in the Overall ranking, moving from higher early-year positions toward the #200 range. This suggests shifting consumption patterns as AI tools and social platforms increasingly mediate how users access news.

Messaging: WhatsApp dominates, Signal rises

Messaging remains a core component of internet communication, and this category shows continued maturity with stable leaders. WhatsApp remained the clear #1 for the fourth consecutive year, while the standout shift in 2025 was Signal’s move into #5, reflecting growing demand for privacy-focused tools.

Apple’s iMessage is excluded due to its lack of distinct domains. Messaging features within social platforms — Instagram DMs, X messages, Snapchat — are not measurable as distinct from other features of their respective social media platforms.

Top Messaging services in 2025

1. WhatsApp
2. QQ
3. Telegram
4. Rakuten Viber
5. Signal ▲
6. WeChat ▼
7. LINE
8. Messenger ▲
9. Zalo.me ▲
10. KakaoTalk ▲

Chinese service QQ (Tencent QQ) held #2 for the third year, supported by its integrated ecosystem of games, mobile payments, and communication tools. Telegram (#3) and Rakuten Viber (#4) held steady, remaining key platforms across Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Signal, the open-source encrypted messaging service, overtook Chinese app WeChat to secure #5 from October onward, reversing the order seen in 2024. Its rise highlights increasing interest in open-source, end-to-end encrypted messaging, particularly among security-conscious communities. Asian apps also performed strongly: LINE from Japan remained #7, while Vietnam’s Zalo.me reached #9, and South Korea’s KakaoTalk dropped to #10 (it was #8 in late 2024). Meta’s Messenger reached #8 after June.

Patterns in the Overall ranking:

• WhatsApp maintained its #9 Overall position and reached #8 in January and on several days in November.

• Telegram peaked at #56 on July 1, coinciding with major regional unrest in the Middle East.

• WeChat slipped from near the Top 100 early in the year to around #130 by December.

Metaverse & Gaming: Roblox leads, PlayStation overtakes Xbox

Gaming continues to generate substantial internet traffic, even as “metaverse” news fades from public attention. Roblox dominated this category for the third consecutive year, while the biggest shift in 2025 was PlayStation surpassing Xbox to claim the #2 position from May onward.

Top 10 Metaverse & Gaming services in 2025

1. Roblox
2. PlayStation ▲
3. Xbox / Xbox Live ▼
4. Epic Games / Fortnite ▼
5. Steam ▼
6. Electronic Arts
7. Blizzard
8. Minecraft ▲
9. Riot Games / League of Legends ▼
10. Nintendo ▲

Steam held #4, continuing its strong performance after its surprise rise in 2024. It performed best on weekdays and during key release periods, reaching #3 on several days in March, April, and July. Its best day was April 24, when it reached #2, coinciding with the release of Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.

Electronic Arts (#6) and Blizzard (#7) remained steady, while Minecraft climbed to #8 (from #9), showing consistent weekend strength. Riot Games/League of Legends dropped to #9, and Nintendo returned to the Top 10. Meta’s Oculus stayed outside the Top 10 for the second year in a row, slipping from around the Top 100 to closer to #130 in the Overall ranking.

Usage patterns in the Overall ranking:

• Roblox peaked at #15 on July 6 during its annual Hatch event (July 2-12), and consistently was higher on weekends.

• PlayStation reached #30 during Black Friday week (November 22-23 and 29-30), its strongest performance of the year.

• Minecraft remained between #87 and #120, with predictable weekend spikes.

• Oculus declined across 2025, moving from around the Top 100 to roughly #130 by year-end, reflecting slower mainstream VR adoption.

Gaming platforms such as Roblox, Xbox, Epic Games/Fortnite, Steam, and PlayStation all displayed strong weekend effects, with most services ranking 20-40 positions higher on Saturdays and Sundays than during the workweek. This pattern reflects gaming’s role as a leisure-driven category.

Financial services: Stripe keeps lead, with no changes on top

Digital-first financial services maintained their dominance in 2025, even as traditional banks and tax tools remained present. Stripe, the Irish-American payment platform, kept its #1 spot for the third consecutive year after overtaking PayPal in 2023.

Top 10 Financial Services in 2025

1. Stripe
2. TradingView
3. Alipay
4. PayPal
5. Nubank
6. Binance
7. Banco do Brasil ▲
8. Intuit ▲
9. Google Pay ▲
10. OKX ▲

The first six positions in 2025 remained unchanged from late 2024. PayPal, typically #4, briefly reached #1 for a few days in late February and early March. TradingView, a platform for traders and investors, held a steady #2 (performing better on weekdays) and peaked at #1 on January 13, when U.S. markets tumbled after strong December jobs data renewed fears of persistent inflation. Alipay, the Chinese mobile and online payment platform, stayed at #3.

Brazil’s continued expansion in online banking was evident again this year. Nubank, the world’s largest digital bank and a major Latin American financial group, held #5 for the second year in a row. Banco do Brasil entered the Top 10 for the first time, while fellow Brazilian bank Bradesco fell out.

Binance kept its #6 position, while Coinbase fell out of the Top 10. Intuit entered the Top 10 this year, peaking during the U.S. Tax Day period (April 14-15) at #6. Google Pay and the cryptocurrency exchange OKX also reached the Top 10 for the first time, driven by strong end-of-year performance.

Other financial services trends in the Overall ranking:

• Stripe had its best days late in the year, reaching #70 the day after Singles Day (November 12) and #71 on Cyber Monday (December 1). It continued to perform better on weekends and showed a steady upward trend in the Overall ranking, moving from around #80 to near #70.

• PayPal ranked higher during Black Friday week, spiking at #82 on November 29. Its overall peak, however, came earlier in the year on March 2, when it reached #73.

• Nubank performed best a few days before Carnival in Brazil (February 28-March 5), reaching #85 on February 22. It also spiked on Black Friday, November 28, hitting #96.

Cryptocurrency: Binance leads, OKX shines at the end of the year

Alongside the Financial Services category, cryptocurrency-focused services are tracked separately. After several volatile years, the crypto ecosystem was relatively stable in 2025. Binance continued to lead the category, while the strongest momentum came from OKX, which climbed steadily from September onward to finish the year at #2 — overtaking Coinbase, which held that position in 2024.

Top 10 Cryptocurrency services in 2025

1. Binance
2. OKX ▲
3. Coinbase ▼
4. CoinGecko ▲
5. 2miners.com ▼
6. CoinMarketCap ▼
7. Bybit
8. MEXC ▲
9. Exodus ▲
10. Bitget ▲

CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency data platform, rose from #6 to #4, while 2miners.com slipped to #5. The final three entries were all newcomers to the Top 10:

• MEXC (#8): a global cryptocurrency exchange known for spot and futures trading.

• Exodus (#9): a multi-asset crypto wallet focused on ease of use and self-custody.

• Bitget (#10): a cryptocurrency exchange specializing in derivatives and copy-trading (where users automatically replicate the trades of experienced traders) features.

Event-driven spikes in the Overall ranking

The U.S. presidential inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20 produced noticeable traffic surges across crypto platforms, building on the elevated interest that followed the November 2024 election:

• Binance peaked at #95 on January 20.

• Coinbase reached #121 the same day.

• OKX peaked earlier, at #157 on January 19.

CoinGecko showed a clear downward trend in the Overall ranking, starting the year near the Top 200 and ending around #270. Binance and Coinbase remained relatively stable throughout 2025, while OKX showed clear growth beginning in September, rising toward the #150 range.

Beyond the categories: notable spikes and seasonal patterns

Outside the primary categories, several services showed significant traffic spikes tied to major events, cultural moments, and seasonal behaviors:

Crisis and real-time tracking

• FlightRadar24 spiked to #260 on June 13-15 during Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, reflecting heightened global demand for real-time airspace disruption tracking.

• NOAA Tides & Currents reached #300 on October 27 as Hurricane Melissa — an extremely powerful Category 5 storm — intensified and threatened the Caribbean.

Entertainment and media

• Spotify held a stable #16–19 range throughout 2025, similar to 2024. It performed strongest in September and November, spending most of those months at #16. (The dataset ends December 2, so the impact of the December 3 Spotify Wrapped release was not captured.)

• IMDb peaked on September 14, coinciding with the Primetime Emmy Awards.

• Wikipedia typically ranked between #22 and #24 but peaked at #19 on July 5, the same day of this viral moment: a failed “July 5, 2025, disaster prophecy” from a 1999 manga, which caused “Nothing happened in Japan” to trend #1 on China’s Sina Weibo.

Sports

• The NBA reached #237 on April 19, the opening day of the NBA Playoffs, highlighted by a dramatic Nuggets-Clippers overtime game.

• FIFA made a rare appearance in the Top 500, peaking at #373 on November 17 when FIFA and the U.S. State Department announced the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling System (FIFA PASS) for World Cup 2026 ticket holders.

Developer tools

• GitHub remained between #27 and #36 for most of the year, mirroring its 2024 performance and underscoring its status as core development infrastructure.

Insights by country/region

In the country and region-specific Popular Internet Services lists on the Year in Review microsite, Google ranked #1 in almost every location (Libya, dominated by Facebook, was a rare exception). In addition to the Overall list, specific categories shared this year include Social Media, Generative AI, and Messaging.

Several other highlights from the Overall rankings in particular countries:

AI’s strength in emerging markets

ChatGPT performed unexpectedly well outside traditional tech hubs, reaching the Top 30 in countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia — evidence that AI adoption is spreading quickly in a wide range of markets.

Google Gemini also showed notable traction in emerging regions. It ranked highest in Ethiopia (#94), Sri Lanka (#105), Guatemala (#118), Rwanda (#122), and Thailand (#124), with similar patterns across Peru, Taiwan, Nepal, Vietnam, and Malawi (where Gemini ranked #128-137).

Regional fragmentation in social platforms

Facebook held #1-2 in many countries, but regional players established strong footholds. Kwai reached #3 in Brazil and showed significant presence across Latin America and the Middle East. Instagram ranked highest in parts of Central Asia and the Gulf region, while TikTok dominated broad stretches of Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Snapchat performed best in markets such as Iraq, Libya, Palestine, and Pakistan. LinkedIn showed a dual profile, ranking high in advanced economies like Australia and France as well as fast-growing markets including Bangladesh, Peru, and Saudi Arabia.

Entertainment and messaging follow regional lines

Netflix remained strongest in Latin America (#8-10 in multiple countries) but ranked lower in Asia and much of Europe, where Spotify performed best, especially in the Nordics and Southern Europe.

Messaging showed clear geographic divides. WhatsApp led across the Caribbean, Africa, and parts of Asia; Telegram ranked highest in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Signal gained share in privacy-minded markets such as Ukraine and Switzerland; and Viber continued to dominate the Balkans.

ChatGPT dominated everywhere except Venezuela

GenAI highlights by country/region include:

• ChatGPT ranked #1 in the Generative AI category across nearly every country, with one exception: Venezuela, where Google Gemini took the top spot.

• Google Gemini secured #2 across Latin America (including Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia) and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Indonesia), reflecting Google’s platform strength in mobile-first emerging markets.

• Perplexity dominated as the #2 choice across Europe (Germany, France, Spain) and #3 in major English-speaking markets (U.S., UK, Australia), suggesting strong appeal among information-seeking users.

• Claude showed selective strength at #3-5, performing best in Western Europe (Georgia, Switzerland) and developed markets like Germany, France or Japan, aligning with its enterprise and developer focus.

• Lovable, the Swedish vibe coding platform, reached #10 in the GenAI category in one country: Angola. It reached #16 in Sweden and Slovenia, and #17 in Brazil.

ChatGPT remains the clear global leader, yet the contest for second place is highly regional: Google Gemini in emerging markets, Perplexity across Europe, and Claude in more technologically advanced economies. This serves as a reminder that the internet encompasses a multitude of local behaviors shaped by culture, infrastructure, and economic context.

2025 on the Internet: AI competition heated up as platforms saw fragmentation

The internet’s evolution in 2025 demonstrated both stability and disruption. Google, Facebook, and Instagram remained dominant in the Overall rankings, but the year’s defining story was generative AI’s rapid maturation. ChatGPT climbed into the global Top 40, while Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and DeepSeek became credible challengers in a category that barely existed three years ago. By late November, Gemini had secured the #2 spot in the GenAI rankings, directly contesting ChatGPT’s lead.

Social media continued to fragment: Instagram rose to #5 overall while X fell outside the Top 20, and emerging platforms like Kwai gained meaningful traction across Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. In e-commerce, Shopee and Temu joined Amazon in the global top three, displacing long-established Chinese marketplaces. Cryptocurrency stabilized after earlier volatility, with traffic surging around events such as the U.S. presidential inauguration.

Global developments triggered coordinated spikes across news and other real-time information services, underscoring how quickly real-world events shape online behavior.

These rankings reflect continued data validation and methodological refinement. Feedback and suggestions for categories to explore in future editions are welcome.

Thanks to data scientist Sabina Zejnilovic, who played a crucial role in gathering the Internet services data.