The Google Chrome web browser was publicly released in 2008.
Originally only available for Microsoft Windows, support for macOS, Linux, and mobile platforms quickly followed.
By mid-2012, Chrome was the most popular browser worldwide. It has been the dominant player in the category ever since.
Read on to discover all of the important Google Chrome statistics for 2024. Here’s a summary of what we’ll cover:
- Chrome Stats (Top Picks)
- Chrome Market Share Worldwide
- Chrome Market Share in the US
- Number of Chrome Users
- Chrome App Importance for Americans
- Number of Chrome Extensions
- Number of Chrome Extensions Developed by Google
- Chrome App Downloads
Chrome Stats (Top Picks)
- Chrome is used by 3.45 billion internet users. That’s up from 2.74 billion in 2019.
- Chrome has a worldwide browser market share of 63.87%.
- In the US, the Chrome share of browser usage is 49.45%.
- 130,445 extensions are available for Chrome.
Google Chrome has a global browser market share of 64.86% across all device types. A slight decrease from the 63.87% share registered in 2023.
For comparison, the second most popular browser worldwide (Safari) has a market share of 18.59%.
Here’s a table showing the Google Chrome browser market share (across all device types) since 2009:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 3.23% |
| 2010 | 9.95% |
| 2011 | 19.79% |
| 2012 | 29.3% |
| 2013 | 34.67% |
| 2014 | 38.94% |
| 2015 | 44.87% |
| 2016 | 49.08% |
| 2017 | 53.96% |
| 2018 | 59.12% |
| 2019 | 63.31% |
| 2020 | 64.6% |
| 2021 | 64.45% |
| 2022 | 64.78% |
| 2023 | 63.87% |
| 2024 | 64.86% |
Among mobile users, Chrome has a slightly higher market share of 65.33%. Chrome’s presence in the mobile browser market has grown significantly in recent years.
We’ve charted the growth in Chrome’s mobile browser market share since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.35% |
| 2013 | 3.98% |
| 2014 | 21.25% |
| 2015 | 33.58% |
| 2016 | 38.38% |
| 2017 | 48.86% |
| 2018 | 54.14% |
| 2019 | 60.14% |
| 2020 | 62.5% |
| 2021 | 63.3% |
| 2022 | 64.39% |
| 2023 | 64.12% |
| 2024 | 65.33% |
Chrome has a tablet browser market share of 47.72%, which is the lowest among all device types (excluding games consoles).
Even so, Chrome is still the most popular browser among tablet users. Safari currently ranks as the second most used browser among tablet users with a market share of 36.15%.
We’ve prepared a table showing the growth in Chrome browser market share among tablet users:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 3.96% |
| 2013 | 6.87% |
| 2014 | 11.8% |
| 2015 | 16.8% |
| 2016 | 19.41% |
| 2017 | 23.73% |
| 2018 | 23.46% |
| 2019 | 23.82% |
| 2020 | 37.21% |
| 2021 | 44.56% |
| 2022 | 47.99% |
| 2023 | 49.24% |
| 2024 | 47.72% |
Source: Statcounter GlobalStats
Chrome has a 49.45% share of the US browser market. The US share is significantly lower than the 63.87% cut Chrome enjoys worldwide.
The second most used browser in the US is Safari, which has a 32.4% market share.
Chrome’s US presence has been consistent over the past few years with nearly 50% market share of the US browser market.
Here’s the historical data on Chrome’s market share in the US since 2009:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 2.99% |
| 2010 | 8.58% |
| 2011 | 14.92% |
| 2012 | 20.81% |
| 2013 | 26.65% |
| 2014 | 31.36% |
| 2015 | 38.38% |
| 2016 | 43.4% |
| 2017 | 45.27% |
| 2018 | 49.4% |
| 2019 | 49.39% |
| 2020 | 46.93% |
| 2021 | 48.48% |
| 2022 | 49.78% |
| 2023 | 49.97% |
| 2024 | 49.45% |
Chrome holds a majority of the US desktop search market (59.43%). Edge, the closest competitor, has a market share nearly 4 times smaller (15.7%), while Safari ranks 3rd (13.61%) among desktop users in the US.
Here’s a table showing Chrome’s desktop browser market share in the US since 2009:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 3.03% |
| 2010 | 8.95% |
| 2011 | 16.09% |
| 2012 | 23.54% |
| 2013 | 32.08% |
| 2014 | 36.87% |
| 2015 | 42.1% |
| 2016 | 51.4% |
| 2017 | 55.66% |
| 2018 | 61.99% |
| 2019 | 63.17% |
| 2020 | 58.84% |
| 2021 | 59.46% |
| 2022 | 59.89% |
| 2023 | 56.64% |
| 2024 | 59.43% |
Within the mobile category, Chrome has a usage share of 38.69% in the US, making it the second most popular mobile browser in the country.
Safari leads the way on mobile, with a market share of 54.41%.
Here’s a breakdown of Chrome’s mobile browser market share in the US since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.44% |
| 2013 | 5.48% |
| 2014 | 24.22% |
| 2015 | 38.7% |
| 2016 | 36.56% |
| 2017 | 39.13% |
| 2018 | 40.56% |
| 2019 | 40.09% |
| 2020 | 37.24% |
| 2021 | 38.64% |
| 2022 | 41.43% |
| 2023 | 40.68% |
| 2024 | 38.69% |
Source: Statcounter GlobalStats
Number of Chrome Users
An estimated 3.45 billion internet users globally use Chrome as their browser. The user base has grown by 4.5% compared to last year.
In fact, Chrome has added 1.06 billion new users in the last 5 years. As a result, the Chrome user base has grown by 44.35% since 2018.
Here’s a table with Chrome user growth since 2014:
| Year | Number of users |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 1.25 billion |
| 2015 | 1.5 billion |
| 2016 | 1.84 billion |
| 2017 | 2.04 billion |
| 2018 | 2.39 billion |
| 2019 | 2.74 billion |
| 2020 | 3.06 billion |
| 2021 | 3.23 billion |
| 2022* | 3.3 billion |
| 2023* | 3.45 billion |
Sources: Statista, ITU, StatCounter
Chrome App Importance for Americans
Chrome is ranked as the 6th most important mobile app among American users, according to an AudienceProject survey. A 6% share of respondents agreed that Chrome is the app they could least do without.
To put it in perspective, Facebook, which finished first in the survey, was named the most essential app by 17% of respondents.
Source: AudienceProject
Number of Chrome Extensions
There are 130,445 Chrome extensions (based on data collected in June 2021). That’s down from 137,345 Chrome extensions in May 2020.
An additional 39,263 themes are available for download.
86.3% (118,526) of Chrome extensions have less than 1,000 users. Only 1.79% (2,459) have more than 100,000 users.
Here’s a complete breakdown of Chrome extensions by number of users (as of May 2020):
| Number of users | Number of Chrome extensions |
|---|---|
| Less than 100 | 95,492 (69.53% of total) |
| Between 100 and 1,000 | 22,584 (16.44% of total) |
| More than 1,000 | 10,523 (7.66% of total) |
| More than 10,000 | 5,950 (4.33% of total) |
| More than 100,000 | 2,459 (1.79% of total) |
| More than 1 million | 337 (0.24% of total) |
Sources: DebugBear 1, DebugBear 2
Number of Chrome Extensions Developed by Google
There are 16 Chrome extensions developed by Google available for download as of February 2024.
A total of 5 extensions developed by Google (31.25%) have more than 1 million users.
Source: Chrome Web Store
Chrome App Downloads
The Google Chrome mobile app was downloaded 8.86 million times across iOS & Android platforms in September 2023.
Google Chrome has more than 10 billion lifetime downloads on Google Play, a milestone it passed in December 2021.
Sources: Statista, Android Rank
Conclusion
You made it! That’s it for my Google Chrome stats roundup.
Hopefully, you’ve learned something new about Chrome from these facts and figures. The browser has an incredible growth story and continues to be the top player in the market. It will be interesting to see whether it can sustain its position of dominance in years to come.
