What’s the Most Used Large Language Model Platform in 2025? A Clear, Research-Ready Overview

A 2025 Guide to the Most Popular Large Language Models: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, LLaMA, Qwen, and Beyond

Pinning down a single most used large language model (LLM) in 2025 is difficult—different models lead in different sectors, regions, and applications. But usage data, traffic stats, and market trends strongly point to OpenAI’s ChatGPT (GPT-series) as the global leader. Here’s why, plus a comparative tour of competitors.

1. Why ChatGPT (OpenAI) Is Likely the Most Widely Used LLM

• Skyrocketing User Base: ChatGPT reached approximately 700 million weekly active users by early August 2025—a fourfold increase year-over-year. It processes 2.5 to 3 billion prompts daily and now accounts for around 60% of all AI-related web traffic.
• Steady Growth Trajectory: Weekly user estimates range from 400 million in February 2025 to 800+ million according to some sources, although the most widely cited credible figure today is 700 million WAUs.
• Everyday & Enterprise Appeal: ChatGPT is now used across schools, businesses, and personal projects. Sam Altman predicts daily conversations with ChatGPT may soon exceed all human-to-human chats globally.

2. The Leading LLM Contenders and Their Use Cases

Here’s a data-driven breakdown of major players in 2025:

OpenAI (GPT-series: GPT-4.5, GPT-4.1, GPT-5)

• Models launched:
  • GPT-4.5 (Feb 27, 2025)
  • GPT-4.1 (April 2025)
  • GPT-5 (August 2025)
• Use Cases: Broad adoption from creative writing and coding help, to research and conversation. Benchmarks show top-tier performance, especially GPT-5 and GPT-4.1 with massive context windows and multimodal abilities.

Google (Gemini 2.5 Pro & Flash, Gemma)

• Gemini 2.5 Pro: Released March–June 2025, boasts a 1 million-token context window, excels in multimodal data and reasoning (“Deep Think” mode).
• Gemma 3: Google’s open models released in early 2025, available in multiple sizes (1B–27B parameters), multilingual, multimodal.
• Usage: Gemini reached 450 million monthly active users by July 2025, up from 350 million in March.

Anthropic (Claude 4: Sonnet & Opus)

• Claude 4: Released May 22, 2025—includes Claude Sonnet 4 and Opus 4, with enterprise-ready features like code execution tools.
• Adoption: Enterprise market share grew from ~18% in 2024 to ~29% in 2025; estimated 300 million monthly users.

xAI (Grok 3)

• Grok 3: Released February 2025. Outperformed GPT-4o on reasoning benchmarks like AIME; includes “Think” mode and DeepSearch.
• Usage: Maintains 35–39 million monthly users.

Meta AI (LLaMA & related models)

• Meta’s LLaMA series remains a favorite in the research and open-source communities. (No specific usage numbers, but widely adopted via Hugging Face and academic channels.)

Alibaba (Qwen family)

• Released Qwen 3 (April–July 2025), with both dense and sparse open-source models up to 235B parameters; multimodal input/output.
• Strong enterprise and Asia-region presence; key benchmarks show good performance, but global user numbers are less clear.

Mistral AI

• Mistral Medium 3 (May 2025): Near Claude-level performance at lower cost, available via major AI platforms.
• Devstral: Coding-focused open-source model outperforming Gemma-3 27B on SWE-Bench.

3. Comparative Snapshot: Who’s Leading Where?

Platform	Primary Strengths
ChatGPT (OpenAI)	Unmatched user base (~700M WAUs), daily prompts, integration and general versatility
Google Gemini & Gemma	Massive scale via Google ecosystem; advanced multimodal & reasoning capabilities
Anthropic Claude 4 (Sonnet/Opus)	Safety-focused, enterprise adoption, strong coding and reasoning
xAI Grok 3	Math and reasoning benchmarks, tight integration with X (Twitter)
Open-source Models (LLaMA, Qwen, Mistral, DeepSeek)	Customizability, local deployment, cost-effectiveness, research flexibility

4. Key Insights & Observations

• Dominance of ChatGPT: With 700 million weekly users and 60% of AI web traffic, ChatGPT is indisputably the most widely used platform in 2025.
• Rapid Growth Across Platforms: Gemini and Claude are rising quickly—Gemini hit 450M monthly users by mid-2025; Claude saw a 5.5× increase in enterprise revenue after launching Claude 4.
• Open Source Gains Traction: Qwen, Mistral, and Meta models empowered developers and organizations with flexibility and privacy. Mistral’s Devstral, for example, outperforms some comparable models in coding.
• Transparency & Data Gaps: Many companies do not disclose precise usage figures; estimates vary by source and methodology.
• Regional Variations: ChatGPT leads globally; Alibaba’s Qwen is especially influential within Asia; LLaMA and other open models are widely used in academic and local environments.
• Ethics & Safety: Anthropic leads in safety; OpenAI and others continue grappling with privacy, hallucination, and user trust issues.

5. Who’s the “Most Used” LLM in 2025?

In raw scale, OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the clear front-runner in 2025, with hundreds of millions of active weekly users and a dominant share of AI-related web traffic. But close contenders—Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and open-source heavyweights like Qwen, Mistral, and LLaMA—shine in specific domains:

• ChatGPT: Winner in breadth, popularity, and integration.
• Gemini: Strong reasoning and Google-integrated applications.
• Claude 4: Enterprise-safe and creative problem-solver.
• Open-source models: Ideal for customizable, cost-effective, and privacy-centric use.