Chrome Usage Statistics: Ride Eternal and Bring Lots of RAM

Dear reader,

If you’re reading this article etched on a large stone in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, then these Chrome usage statistics won’t be much use to you. Someone has wasted a perfectly good stone.

However, if the End of Days has not yet befallen you, then there’s a 64.92% chance you’re reading these words on Google Chrome. Congratulations on being mainstream!

We’re so used to the dominance of Google Chrome right now that it’s almost impossible to imagine a world in which some other browser could be more popular. It’d be nearly as dramatic as waking up on a completely dead planet. Just think how you’d react if someone told you Yahoo is now the most popular search engine (or Bing, god forbid). You’d be sure you were dreaming.

But it’s not as far-fetched as you might imagine. Before 2008, Internet Explorer was in the exact same position as Google Chrome is now - holding an overwhelming majority of the browser market. That’s history - the rise of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome quickly led to the downfall of Internet Explorer, which is now practically a joke and a synonym for terrible performance in that era. Firefox and Chrome, with their open-source approach, slayed the dragon.

Although Chrome is well on top, Mozilla still has a strong presence. Take a look at the Google Chrome usage statistics we’ve gathered and see for yourself.

Global internet and browser statistics

1. Worldwide, there are 4.5 billion internet users.

(Internet World Stats)

In order to understand the potential of the browser market, we should first look at how many people use and access the internet globally. According to data from Internet World Stats, a portal that provides regularly updated information on the number of people accessing the internet worldwide, there were 4.54 billion internet users in the world in 2019. This amounts to 58.8% of the world’s population. From 2000 to 2019, the global internet population has increased by 1,157%. When looking at Chrome, internet usage statistics for networks are insightful, since it has a huge portion of the browser market and therefore directly benefits from increases in internet usage.

2. The most common browser resolution in use is 1920 x 1080.

(StatCounter)

StatCounter provides useful data on the most common screen resolutions on which people browse the internet. The company’s 2019 browser statistics tell us that 1920 x 1080 (Full HD) has become the most commonly used resolution, detected on 10.22% of browsers. This is, of course, related to desktop screen resolutions. StatCounter’s data also lists several very small resolutions. These are actually resolutions mobile phones emulate when accessing websites. The prevalence of these small resolutions in the available data also speaks volumes about the incredible rise of mobile internet.

3. Across all platforms, Chrome has 64.92% of the global browser market.

(StatCounter)

In terms of browsers, StatCounter’s most relevant statistic is surely the market share percentage Google Chrome currently has. According to usage statistics for Chrome from October, the browser has a market share of 64.92% across all platforms, which is almost two-thirds of the global market. Following suit are Safari (15.97%), Firefox (4.33%), Samsung Internet (3.29%), and Microsoft Edge (2.05%).

4. Chrome has 68.91% of the desktop browser market share.

(StatCounter)

When we look at desktop browsers specifically, Google Chrome has an even stronger presence.  In the desktop browser market, Chrome takes 68.91% of the pie. Furthermore, browser stats show that the other two most popular browsers are Firefox (9.25%) and Safari (8.68%), but they currently show no signs of endangering Chrome’s position.

5. 51.65% of global website traffic was generated through mobile phones in Q2 of 2019.

(Statista)

According to data gathered by Statista, mobile phones have overtaken desktop computers as the dominant platform for accessing the internet. In Asia, mobile browsing is even more present, generating more than 62% of all website traffic in that region.

6. Chrome is also the go-to browser on mobile with 63.8% of the market share.

(StatCounter)

We’ve seen from the other browser usage stats in this article that mobile internet has toppled desktop as the main platform for surfing the internet. Chrome has no reason to worry; it also holds the reins on mobile. Data provided by StatCounter in 2019 shows that Google Chrome has a 63.8% share of the mobile browser market, while Safari and Samsung Internet have 19.7% and 6.27% respectively.

7. 32.48% of mobile web page views in America were made via Chrome in 2018.

(Mixpanel)

As we just saw, Google Chrome holds a big chunk of the mobile internet browser market. Mixpanel conducted a study on mobile usage among Americans during 2018, finding that Chrome is second among the most used browsers in America; it’s responsible for 32.48% of mobile traffic. In the US, Safari holds first place, accounting for 58.39% of all mobile internet traffic.

8. There were more than 2 billion active Chrome browsers in 2016.

(TechCrunch)

Google has not disclosed data on the exact number of Chrome users since early 2016. In April of that year, Google announced there were over a billion Chrome users worldwide. A few months later, during the Chrome Dev Summit, the company revealed there were more than 2 billion active Chrome browsers globally. Internet browser market share data from StatCounter shows that Chrome holds 64.92% of the global browser market. If we compare that to the number of internet users worldwide, we reach a figure of roughly 2.94 billion Chrome users in 2019.

9. In the US, Chrome has a 51.11% share of the browser market, while Safari has 32.85%.

(StatCounter)

The US and North American markets are specific in that Safari has a large chunk of both of them. In America, across all platforms, Google Chrome is the mostly used browser with 51.11% of the market, while Safari has 32.85%. On mobile, however, Safari actually has more users than Chrome - 51.58% vs 41.02%.

When we look at the whole of the North American market across all platforms, Google Chrome has 54.59% of the market share, while Safari lays claim to 29.78%. When we look at mobile, however, the difference between these two competitors is much smaller - Chrome has 46.49% and Safari 45.88%.

10. Google Chrome also dominates Europe with a 61.36% share of the local browser market.

(StatCounter)

Europe does not seem to differ much from global trends when it comes to browser prevalence. StatCounter’s web browser statistics from 2019 reveal that Google Chrome currently holds 61.36% of the European market. Trailing behind are Safari with 25.28% and Samsung Internet with 9.03%.

11. The most popular browsers versions are Chrome for Android and Chrome 77.0.

(StatCounter)

This is yet another strong indicator of how mobile is becoming the dominant platform for accessing the internet. When we look at the most commonly used browser versions used to access the internet, Chrome for Android has the first place with 34.33% market share. Web browser usage statistics show that the silver medal also belongs to Chrome with its 77.0 desktop version, which holds 22.8% of the market. Surprisingly, only 2.16% of people have switched to the new 78.0 version of Chrome. You should really update your browser.

Google Chrome statistics

12. From 2008 to 2019, Google Chrome went from 0% to almost 70% market share, while Internet Explorer went from over 60% to below 3%.

(FYI)

From 2008 to 2019, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome have been on polar opposite trajectories. IE, boasting 64.97% of the market in January 2009, went into freefall, coming down to 1.67% in November this year. On the other side of the spectrum, Google Chrome started 2009 with only 1.37% market share. Now it’s the most used web browser with 64.92% of the market.

13. Mozilla Firefox has been a strong competitor, but its market share has been diminishing since 2010.

(StatCounter)

Global browser usage shows Mozilla Firefox has had a strong presence in the market throughout the previous decade. This open-source browser launched in 2002 and reached its peak at the end of 2009. At that point, Firefox had 32.21% usage. However, with the breakthrough of Google Chrome, Firefox’s popularity has dwindled. According to StatCounter, Mozilla Firefox has a 4.46% share of the market in November 2019.

14. In February 2019, three versions of Google Chrome occupied the top three spots on the global web browser market.

(Statista)

Browser stats from 2019 show that in February, three different versions of Google Chrome held the top three places as the most popular browser versions in the world. Chrome for Android and desktop versions 72.0 and 71.0 were the most prevalent browsers at that moment. Now, the situation is a bit different, with Chrome for Android and Chrome 77.0 being the first two, then Safari for iPhone holding the third place.

15. Google Chrome reached 5 billion downloads in 2019.

(The Geek Herald)

Google Chrome crossed a historic threshold in 2019; in June, it went past 5 billion total downloads. Other Google apps that have achieved this are YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Search. Chrome’s rival Mozilla is far, far behind.

16. RAM usage is one of Chrome’s biggest weaknesses.

(Business Insider)

RAM (random-access memory) is, in layman’s terms, short-term memory which serves as the main resource for your devices, allowing it to run a range of processes and programs. RAM usage is one of Chrome’s main problems; the browser is known to use a lot of RAM, especially if you have multiple tabs open. During 2018, one of Chrome’s main competitors in browser user share, Mozilla Firefox (which was already known to be more economical in terms of RAM usage) announced that its new version would use 30% less RAM than Chrome. However, this news has not changed the browser market landscape and Firefox’s market share has kept dropping.

17. Google Chrome extensions have more than 10 million users.

(Extension Monitor)

The quality of browser extensions - small programs that add functionality and customize the user experience - has a great influence one each browser’s overall ecosystem. Chrome extension usage statistics data from August 2019 provided by Extension Monitor shows that there are 188,620 extensions in the Chrome Web Store. Currently, only 13 of those have made it past the 10 million-user threshold. These are Google Translate, Tampermonkey, Skype, Avast Online Security, Avast SafePrice, Adobe Acrobat, uBlock Origin, Grammarly for Chrome, Pinterest Save Button, Adblock, Adblock Plus, Cisco Webex, and Honey.

18. 87% of Google Chrome extensions have been installed fewer than 1,000 times.

(Extension Monitor)

While Chrome boasts a high number of extensions, the majority of them aren’t broadly used or downloaded at all. Drawing from Chrome extension usage statistics provided by Extension Monitor, 87% of all extensions have fewer than 1,000 installs. When compared to the estimated total number of Chrome users, this means that practically no one uses most of the extensions on offer. Additionally, 19,379 extensions (nearly 10% of the total number) have 0 installs and 25,540 have only a single user. When we look at the total number of extensions downloaded across the board, there have been around 1.23 billion downloads.

19. Chrome sends 250 million warnings to users visiting malware sites each month.

(Google)

Google Chrome, the champion in worldwide browser usage, has built-in security systems in place to warn users when they’re about to visit a website that’s been marked as malicious, risky, or unprotected. According to data from 2017 that comes from Google itself, the browser sends around 250 million warnings to users visiting sites of this kind each month. Furthermore, Google says it has given more than $3.5 million in rewards to the security community for detecting various malicious threats.

20. Google Safe Browsing protects over 4 billion devices.

(Google)

Google has also published data on how many devices its Safe Browsing system keeps secure. According to these numbers, Safe Browsing protects over 4 billion devices worldwide.

21. Chrome is the most vulnerable browser, while Safari is the safest.

(Statista)

Chrome might be the leader of browser market share in 2019, but it also has the unflattering title of currently being the most vulnerable browser out there. This came to the forefront of cybersecurity news recently when a zero-day vulnerability was detected in Google Chrome. When we look at vulnerability statistics throughout the years, Mozilla Firefox has the highest number of reported vulnerabilities: 1873. However, this is probably connected to the fact that CVE Detail (a browser security data source) started tracking vulnerabilities for Firefox back in 2003; Chrome launched five years after that. On the other hand, Safari currently has the fewest vulnerabilities.

22. 35% of URLs are considered unsafe.

(Webroot)

You may be wondering whether we should even worry about security vulnerabilities and statistics regarding top web browsers’ safety systems. Well, this data relating to cybersecurity should give you a better grasp of the dangers that lurk beyond. According to Webroot’s statistics, only 65% of all URLs on the net are safe. That means that 35% of them may cause serious harm to your computer or the safety of your data. Of this 35%, 14% of URLs are high-risk, 9% are a moderate risk, 10% are low-risk, and 2% are labeled as suspicious. This shows that security concerns are very, very relevant.

23. Cybercrime will cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021.

(Cybercrime Report)

While the amount of money Google has given out in rewards to security consultants ($3.5 million) might seem a lot, it’s minuscule in comparison to the estimated cost of cybercrime.

According to data presented in the Cybercrime Report, cybercrime will cost $6 trillion annually by 2021, a 100% increase from 2015. Indeed, this cybercrime toll will become the greatest transfer of economic wealth in history.

24. Google Chrome has 177 detected vulnerabilities in 2019.

(CVE Details)

CVE Details’ data also shows how many threats have been detected in Google Chrome and the other most popular web browsers in 2019. At the time of writing, there have 177 detected vulnerabilities in Chrome during the year. Since the browser’s launch, there have been a total of 1,858. Safari has only had 68 detected threats in 2019 and a total of 1,029 since it launched back in 2003.

25. Kaspersky recently discovered a massive “zero-day” vulnerability in Chrome.

(Kaspersky)

At the beginning of November, Kaspersky security researchers detected a massive “zero-day” exploit in Google Chrome, one of the most common web browsers. Zero-day threats are security vulnerabilities present in hardware, software, or firmware that the manufacturers/developers are not aware of.

This Chrome exploit was granted the identifier CVE-2019-13720 and was dubbed Operation WizardOpium by Kaspersky. It originated on a Korean news site and allowed remote, unauthorized access to the victim’s computer. Chrome has already patched out this vulnerability in its 78 version. That’s why we strongly recommend that you update your browser if you’re using Chrome.

Google statistics

26. Google has a 92.78% share of the search engine market.

(StatCounter)

What everyone probably knows already, without even looking at the stats, is that Google has a chokehold on the search engine market. According to StatCounter, in October 2019, Google held 92.78% of the market. Why are we talking about this in an article on Chrome usage statistics? Well, because Chrome is also a Google product and Google’s infrastructure, financial power, and reputation greatly affect the playing field. Google’s dominance is the reason Chrome comes preinstalled on a large number of mobile devices, increasing its market share.

27. In 2016, Google received 63,000 searches per second, amounting to more than 2 trillion searches throughout the year.

(Search Engine Land)

Taking a look at Google statistics is useful since it gives insight into both browser and search engine markets. According to both Search Engine Land and Internet Live Stats, the number of searches Google processed every second was around 63,000 in 2016. That added up to more than 2 trillion for the year as a whole. It’s difficult to estimate exact yearly figures, but it’s safe to say Google now processes more than double the number of search requests it did back in 2012. Data like this directly ties into internet browser usage, as it’s an indicator of general internet usage increasing.

28. Google raked in more than $116 billion in ad revenue during 2018.

(Statista)

If you’re wondering how Google can invest so much into projects like Chrome, take a look at this stat. Statista’s data from 2018 shows that during that year alone, Google generated $116.32 billion from ad revenue. This a $25 billion jump from 2017.

29. Google owns about 200 companies.

(Investopedia)

Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., is becoming less of a company and more of a conglomerate. Currently, it owns more than 200 companies worldwide. Some have described the practice of acquiring so many smaller companies and startups as predatory, especially when Google completely co-opts them or sells them if they turn out to be unprofitable. This is comparable to critiques aimed at Electronic Arts, a famous video game developer that was accused of similar practices. Therefore, when analyzing Chrome usage statistics, you should remember that this browser is developed and advertised by one of the most powerful companies in the world.

30. Google’s signature email product has a 27% share of the global email client market.

(Litmus)

Chrome, the leader in the current browser market share, is just one of Google’s massively popular products. Gmail, the company’s email service, is a major player in the market, although it doesn’t dominate nearly as much as Chrome does in the browser department. Data from 2018 provided by Litmus shows that Apple’s iPhone client actually has a 29% share of the email market, with Gmail right behind at 27%.

31. In 2019, Google’s brand value is $309 billion.

(Statista)

Brand value or brand equity is the value of present or future cash flows attributable to a brand name. According to Statista’s data, Google’s brand value was $309 billion in June 2019.

32. Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent entity, has a market value of $741 billion in 2019.

(Statista)

Statista also gathered data on the market value of top internet companies. The company with the biggest market value is still Microsoft; it’s worth over $1 trillion in 2019. Microsoft’s general market value has not, however, translated into a great Microsoft Edge market share. Alphabet Inc. is in fourth place, behind Apple and Amazon, with a market value of $741 billion.

33. After a long string of financial successes, Google reported a 23% drop in profit in Q3 2019.

(The New York Times)

We’ve become used to Google making massive profits. In 2018, the company reported an 84% increase in profits compared to the previous year. However, in October this year, it reported a 23% reduction in profits in what The New York Times described as “a rare financial stumble.”

The reason for this drop was Google’s sharp increase in spending on research and development. Alphabet’s revenue increased by 20% in Q3 of 2019, reaching $40.5 billion, but profits fell to $7.07 billion.