Original · Unique Research · 2026-02-04
Historical edition: This is the full textual English rendition of Unique Research’s February 4, 2026 article discussing December 2025. Product capabilities, rankings, growth explanations, forecasts, institutional descriptions, methodology and accuracy claims remain the original author’s statements at that time, not independently verified current findings. The source’s unique-visitor and subscription-revenue definitions, including its ARR label, are reproduced as its own methodology.
Reading note: The opening product releases and benchmark claims belong to the February article’s recent-news framing; they do not establish events or causes within the December measurement window. Gemini’s position after ChatGPT is described within the overseas group, while the source separately places Baidu AI Search second globally. Download changes, active-user changes and the source’s rounded appendix figures retain their respective original labels and precision. The source does not specify whether its 51%/25%/24% download distribution refers to download volumes or ranked-product counts.
Over the past week, the entire internet has been losing sleep over the open-source project Clawdbot. It has been described as the ultimate form we have long awaited—a “fully automated private employee” that can take over your computer and work tirelessly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some exclaimed that this was AI’s iPhone moment; others watched coolly and questioned whether it was merely another carefully packaged exercise in FOMO marketing.
While everyone’s attention was absorbed by that topic, Moonshot AI quietly released Kimi K2.5 on the 27th. This next-generation open-source model achieved the best results among open-source models globally in HLE Humanity’s Last Exam, visual reasoning, and several other tests. On the same day, DeepSeek introduced OCR 2, using the innovative DeepEncoder V2 method in an attempt to let AI understand the meaning of images dynamically, as humans do. At the beginning of the year, SeaArt AI launched SeaVerse, while PixVerse introduced its R1 version.
Behind these dense product launches and technological breakthroughs, the entire AI industry is undergoing profound change. When we look away from the viral topics and return to the data itself, a more authentic and complex picture begins to form. Unique Research’s data on AI applications in December 2025 offers a timely window for observing what has truly changed in the market beneath the surface of technological innovation.
Overseas, domestic, and globalizing products: a new tripartite landscape
The global active-user Top 100 ranking shows a clearly tripartite market. Overseas applications occupy 57 places and firmly control more than half the landscape. Domestic applications hold 24 places, while China-origin applications going global occupy 19. This numerical distribution is interesting in itself: it reflects not merely different quantities but three entirely different development paths.
The overseas market’s lead is unsurprising. ChatGPT ranks first with 916 million active users, followed within the overseas group by Gemini with 370 million. Behind those figures are entirely different market environments and user mindsets. In overseas markets, the leading AI-application categories are chatbots and image editing: 10 chatbot products and 11 image-editing products entered the Top 100. This distribution is revealing. Overseas users are more receptive to AI and willing to treat it as an everyday tool, rather than merely trying it out of curiosity.
Although the domestic market has only 24 places, its scale is equally striking. Baidu AI Search ranks No. 2 globally with 626 million active users, followed by Doubao with 245 million and DeepSeek with 170 million. Interestingly, the top three domestic products are intelligent search and chatbot offerings, sharply contrasting with the overseas category mix. Domestic users employ AI more pragmatically; search and conversation are the most essential scenarios. Education applications also occupy 6 places in the domestic market, with Zuoyebang, Daxue Soutijiang, and Xiaoyuan Souti all on the list, demonstrating the strong demand for AI tools in China’s education market.
The performance of globalizing applications is even more thought-provoking. Among 19 products, Dola AI ranks first with 55.93 million active users, followed closely by Hypic with 48.67 million. These applications are concentrated mainly in image editing and video editing, with 4 products from each category entering the ranking. This concentration is no coincidence. Image and video editing are classic utility applications with relatively low dependence on language and culture, making them easier to globalize. Chinese teams have accumulated extensive product and technical experience in this field and, with AI capabilities added, naturally found an opening for international expansion.
The growth paradox: rapid breakthroughs by large-scale players
Conventional wisdom says that the larger an application’s user base, the harder it is to maintain growth. But the December data overturned that assumption. In the global active-user growth Top 100, 2 applications simultaneously met two seemingly contradictory conditions: more than one million active users and month-over-month growth above 30%.
Ant Afu is the ranking’s brightest standout. It has 27.71 million active users, up 185.3% month over month. This personal-health application achieved more than twofold growth from such a large user base, supported by strong product capabilities and promotional resources. The other is Lingguang, with 3.41 million active users, up 35.3%. It is an omni-modal AI assistant positioned in the personal-assistant category. In China, the window for achieving both large scale and rapid growth has become extremely narrow. Most applications either grow rapidly from a small base or climb slowly from a large one; combining both is very difficult.
Ant Afu’s success is not accidental. The health category itself offers a sufficiently large market, while Ant Group’s brand endorsement and resource investment allowed the product to penetrate rapidly within a short period. Yet this also reflects a harsh reality: in China’s market, achieving both scale and high growth in AI applications has become extremely difficult without powerful resource support.
Category reshuffling: who is truly growing
Moving from individual applications to entire categories reveals deeper trends in the distribution of the growth ranking. In the global growth Top 100, AI companionship and education applications each occupy 12 places, tying for first. Personal assistants and chatbots follow with 11 places each. Image generation, video generation, video editing, and image editing each have 6 to 7 places.
The fact that AI companionship ranks first may surprise many people. We continually discuss how AI improves productivity and changes work, but the data tells us that many users simply need someone to talk to. That need is real, and the market is far larger than many imagine. The strength of education applications is also understandable: AI is naturally suited to personalized teaching and answering questions, a direction that has been validated many times.
The category distribution in China differs. Personal assistants and intelligent search each occupy 6 places, ranking first and second. Chatbots, writing software, and education applications each occupy 5 places. This difference is revealing. Chinese users are more pragmatic about AI: they want tools that solve problems directly, rather than companionship applications. The strength of intelligent search in China reinforces the point that users want more efficient access to information.
It is worth noting that creative applications such as music and video generation also performed well in the growth ranking. The global ranking includes 6 video-generation applications and 4 music-generation applications. This shows that AIGC is no longer merely a concept; it is becoming real user demand. Sora grew 28.2% month over month in December, reaching 9.55 million active users; KLING AI grew 24.6%, reaching 2.91 million active users; and PixVerse grew 21.7%, reaching 17.64 million active users. These figures reflect genuine demand for creative tools and suggest that video-generation applications may experience another surge in 2026.
Divergence on the App side: different paths in China and overseas
By the end of 2025, the distinction between China and overseas markets was already clear on the App side. Download data shows overseas markets at 51%, domestic products at 25%, and globalizing products at 24%, a distribution broadly consistent with the active-user ranking. Looking deeper at individual products, however, reveals that the two markets are taking entirely different paths.
The overseas market has a pronounced concentration at the top. General-purpose large-model applications such as ChatGPT and Gemini hold an absolute advantage, with active-user counts several times those of other products. Yet small applications in vertical fields performed better in the growth ranking. Artimind, an AI art-generation application, increased downloads by 896.9% month over month in December. Although its absolute total was only 260,000 downloads, that growth rate shows that vertical scenarios still offer substantial room for exploration. Retake, an AI photo-editing application, grew downloads by 266.8% to 3 million, as demand for AI-enhancement tools rises rapidly.
China’s market shows different characteristics. Leading applications are very large but grow relatively steadily. Baidu AI Search has 626 million active users but grew only 0.2% month over month; Doubao has 245 million, up 5.1%; and DeepSeek has 170 million, down 0.5%. These figures show that the leading structure of China’s market has become relatively stable, and competition among major players has entered a battle for existing users.
The applications still growing rapidly are more interesting. Metaso AI Search recorded 930,000 downloads in December, up 93% month over month; Qwen recorded 11.74 million downloads, up 31.5%. Both applications are attempting to enter the market through differentiated product experiences. Metaso emphasizes a clean, ad-free search experience, while Qwen is the official gateway to Alibaba’s most powerful model. Their growth shows that even in a seemingly saturated field such as search, sufficient product quality can still create room for growth.
Another noteworthy phenomenon is the strength of education applications in China. Zuoyebang, Daxue Soutijiang, and Xiaoyuan Souti each have close to or more than 30 million active users. These applications occupied the market before the AI wave arrived and are now reinforcing their positions by integrating AI capabilities. By comparison, new applications entering solely through AI face much greater difficulty establishing themselves in this field.
Technological celebration and market reality: the lesson from Clawdbot
Return to Clawdbot, mentioned at the beginning. The heated discussion it sparked is revealing in itself. The AI industry is currently at a subtle stage: technological breakthroughs are arriving ever faster, but product innovations that genuinely translate into user value remain relatively scarce. A new technical breakthrough appears at regular intervals and wins applause across X, yet after the excitement passes, people discover that the applications they can actually use remain the same handful.
Moonshot AI’s Kimi K2.5, DeepSeek’s OCR 2, SeaArt AI’s SeaVerse, and PixVerse’s R1 all represent genuine technological advances. But technological progress does not equal market success. The December data shows that applications achieving large-scale user growth on the App side are either vertical products that have found a real pain point or platform products supported by powerful resources. A purely technical advantage must still cross many obstacles before it can translate into user growth.
Is Clawdbot an AI revolution or a vehicle for selling FOMO? The question itself may be a false choice. Technological breakthroughs are certainly real, but whether they translate into product value and win market acceptance are entirely different matters. The AI industry does not lack technology; it lacks product capabilities that turn technology into user value and the strategic vision to find differentiated positioning amid fierce competition.
The data shows that applications achieving genuine growth have typically found their place in a specialized scenario. Ant Afu entered health management, Lingguang built an omni-modal assistant, Metaso built ad-free search, and Qwen draws on Alibaba’s model capabilities. Their success does not come from having the most advanced technology, but from getting product positioning, user experience, and resource integration right.
Final Thoughts
This December 2025 dataset is like a cross-section of the AI-application market over the past year. The tripartite structure of overseas, domestic, and globalizing products has largely formed; growth opportunities for large-scale applications are narrowing; and vertical scenarios still offer opportunities, but competition is intensifying.
AI technology continues to advance, and new models, capabilities, and products will continue to appear. But the market has passed the stage when simply having AI could attract users. Users now want tools that genuinely solve problems and applications that create value in daily life.
For practitioners, rather than chase every technological trend, it is better to pause and consider what problem a product actually solves and why users would choose it instead of another. In this rapidly changing industry, staying clear-headed matters more than staying enthusiastic.
Unique Research — An Authoritative Institution for Global AI Market Insights
The details of Unique Research’s December 2025 AI Top 100 rankings are as follows:
The Top 100 rankings of AI App products by downloads and monthly active users, separated into the global and Chinese markets.
Our Influence and Recognition:
Unique Research’s data and insights have earned broad trust and citations from leading investment institutions, academic organizations, and media outlets in China and abroad, becoming an important benchmark for market analysis, investment decisions, and trend assessment. Our partners and organizations that cite us include, but are not limited to:
Securities firms and investment banks: Sinolink Securities, China Securities (中信建投), Huayuan Securities, Haitong Securities, and others
Authoritative media: China Securities Journal, TMTPost, Jiemian News, and others
We firmly believe that only data able to withstand verification by core industry participants has genuine long-term value.
We believe in the power of open source and openness, and Unique Research therefore makes the following three commitments:
The AI Top 100 ranking will remain permanently open-source and freely available, with its complete methodology and raw data supporting full reproduction.
Data in the AI Top 100 ranking is strictly limited to independent third-party monitoring platforms; self-reported company data is not accepted as an evaluation basis.
The ranking system of the AI Top 100 remains absolutely neutral and accepts no commercial partnership or payment that interferes with ranking results.
How Can You Use the AI Top 100?
If you are an investor/analyst: this ranking provides a clean data benchmark that can withstand reverse-engineering verification. It is a reliable foundation for building investment models, discovering under-the-radar projects, and performing cross-validation.
If you are an AI entrepreneur/product manager: you can not only identify competitors precisely, but also reproduce our methodology in depth to analyze your own product’s market performance and guide optimization and iteration.
If you are a researcher/student: its fully open-source nature makes this report an excellent free resource library for academic research and market analysis. We encourage innovative research based on this data.
For the complete data behind the charts and rankings shown in the AI Top 100, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied and is freely available for noncommercial uses such as personal learning and research. Commercial use requires prior consultation with Unique Research for authorization. We welcome ranked teams, subject to compliant use, to apply their rankings in business plans, recruitment materials, and other scenarios as authoritative evidence of their capabilities.
Join the AGI Think Tank Open-Source Community
The AI Top 100 is more than a ranking; it is an open-source community dedicated to advancing transparency in AI market data. We invite developers, data scientists, and industry analysts to:
Reproduce and verify: visit our AGI Think Tank, obtain the complete data and methodology, verify our results, and suggest improvements.
Build together: contribute code and help us expand data dimensions, such as estimates of API call volumes and agent-monitoring models.
Exchange insights: join our AGI Think Tank discussion group and share original insights derived from Unique Research data with peers.
One person’s insight is limited; the wisdom of a group is boundless. Let us define the standards for measuring the AI market together.
01. AI App Download and Monthly Active-User Rankings
1.1 Global AI APP TOP 100 By Monthly Downloads
Based on its independent research into the AI industry and ongoing tracking of thousands of AI companies and nearly 10,000 AI products worldwide, Unique Research ranks AI APP products by their cumulative downloads during the month and compiles the top 100 AI APP products worldwide by downloads, as shown in the detailed ranking below:
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
1.2 Global AI APP TOP 100 By Monthly Active Users
Based on its independent research into the AI industry and ongoing tracking of thousands of AI companies and nearly 10,000 AI products worldwide, Unique Research ranks AI APP products by their active-user counts during the month and compiles the top 100 AI APP products worldwide by active users, as shown in the detailed ranking below:
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
1.3 Domestic AI APP TOP50 By Monthly Downloads
Based on its independent research into the AI industry and ongoing tracking of thousands of AI companies and nearly 10,000 AI products worldwide, Unique Research ranks AI APP products by their cumulative downloads during the month and compiles the top 50 AI APP products created by Chinese entrepreneurs for China’s domestic market, ordered by downloads, as shown in the detailed ranking below:
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
1.4 Domestic AI APP Monthly Active-User Ranking TOP50
Based on its independent research into the AI industry and ongoing tracking of thousands of AI companies and nearly 10,000 AI products worldwide, Unique Research ranks AI APP products by their active-user counts during the month and compiles the top 50 AI APP products created by Chinese entrepreneurs for China’s domestic market, ordered by active users, as shown in the detailed ranking below:
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
*For the complete data, please visit 100aiapps.cn; all visible data may be copied
02. Research Statement
2.1 Data Description
The AI-product revenue data contained in this report, article, ranking, or chart is based on real-time tracking of referral traffic from official AI-product websites to payment gateways such as Stripe, combined with time-series analysis to examine historical visits, fluctuations in monthly active users, and changes in pricing strategies and thereby construct a dynamic revenue-estimation model. The model’s core parameters are determined through a three-part validation system: monitoring paid-conversion funnels, reverse-calibrating against data disclosed by companies, and comparing industry benchmark conversion rates. They are also promptly compared with and corrected against corporate financial reports, financing announcements, and disclosures by authoritative media. Sampling validation shows that the mean absolute error rate between estimates and actual data remains within ±10%, meeting standards for industry-grade research accuracy.
The AI-product traffic data contained in this report, article, ranking, or chart is based on the integration of multiple data sources and processing by Unique Research’s intelligent algorithms. Monitoring is strictly limited to users’ direct access through official applications and websites. Specifically, the data covers only direct user access to AI products through websites and native applications; it excludes traffic generated through browser plug-ins/extensions, desktop client software, WeChat/Alipay mini-program ecosystems, embedded services within third-party platforms such as Discord, local deployment of open-source models, API calls, and other forms of indirect access. This data focuses on monitoring access to the core endpoints of AI products and aims to reflect objectively how mainstream users directly use them.
Given the complexity and dynamic nature of data collection and processing, as well as continual changes in the market environment, the data shown may contain some errors and omissions. It should therefore be treated as a reference for research and analysis, intended to provide a window into the AI-product market, rather than as a definitive basis for making specific investment strategies or obtaining consulting advice.
Data Coverage Expansion Note:
We are actively developing and testing monitoring models for the following emerging fields, which we expect to add gradually to future quarterly reports:
AI agent (Agents) ecosystems
AI hardware-device sales and activity
Estimates of large-model API call volumes
Please stay tuned.
2.2 Definition of Concepts
• Geographic Dimension
Overseas AI products: products founded by entrepreneurs or teams who are not ethnically Chinese and launched primarily for the global market, including but not limited to their home market.
Domestic AI products: products founded by Chinese-national entrepreneurs or teams and launched primarily for China’s domestic market.
China-origin products going global: products founded by ethnic-Chinese entrepreneurs or teams but targeting primarily overseas markets outside China’s domestic market.
• Functional Dimension
AI-native applications: applications designed from the outset with artificial-intelligence technologies and algorithms deeply integrated, whose core value, business processes, or user experience depends entirely on AI technology. These applications do not merely use AI to optimize or enhance existing functions; AI is their core component, and without AI technology they would cease to exist or lose their core value.
AI-enabled applications: applications that enhance existing functions or provide entirely new ones by integrating or embedding AI technology into established business logic and application frameworks. These applications may already have mature business models and market positioning, but introducing AI technology can significantly improve efficiency and user experience or create new points of value.
AI-ecosystem applications: platform applications that support, connect, or facilitate communication among the AI ecosystem’s technology researchers, application developers, service providers, and end users. These applications are not limited to the technology layer; they also cover markets, communities, resource sharing, and other dimensions, seeking to promote the adoption, innovation, and collaboration of AI technology.
2.3 Metric Description
• WEB Data Metrics
Visits: the total number of all visits to a website during a specific period, such as one month, and a measure of website traffic scale. Page views within one continuous period of activity count as the same session, while a user becoming active again after an interval of more than 30 minutes or after a new day begins counts as a new visit, providing a comprehensive and precise measurement of website traffic and visitor activity.
Unique Visitors: the number of unique IP addresses that visit a target website during a specific period, such as one month. If a person visits a website on multiple days within one month, that person is counted as only one unique visitor.
Subscription revenue (ARR): the total revenue a website earns during a given period, such as one year, from subscription services provided to users. It excludes advertising revenue, transaction commissions, professional services, and other one-time revenue.
• APP Data Metrics
Downloads: the number of times an App is downloaded by users during a specific period, such as one month. It is usually measured as the number of downloads for a single App from application stores such as the App Store and Google Play; downloads are an important indicator of an App’s popularity and ability to attract users, and they can also reflect the effectiveness of the App’s promotion and marketing campaigns.
Active Users: the number of unique users who perform an activity during a specific period, such as one month. Active users measure user participation and activity over a specific period and are generally used to assess the size and engagement of an App’s user base.
In-App Purchase revenue (IAP): revenue generated when users purchase virtual goods, additional services, premium features, and other items within an App. It excludes advertising revenue, direct payments by users such as tips, and revenue from third-party Android application stores.
2.4 Free-Use Statement
This report is published by Unique Research and is copyrighted by Unique Research. Any Chinese-language republication or quotation must identify the report as its source, while overseas institutions must contact us in advance for authorization to reproduce or cite it. When citing data, please state: [Data source: Unique Research]; when citing a chart directly, please state: [Data source: Unique Research; chart produced by Unique Research].
This report is an independent original analysis by Unique Research as a third-party institution. Its contents do not represent the position of any company and do not constitute investment advice to anyone. Investors must therefore note that any investment decisions made on this basis are unrelated to Unique Research, its employees, or its affiliates.
Where permitted by law, Unique Research and its affiliates may hold equity in companies mentioned in the report, or may provide or seek to provide fundraising, financial-advisory, or other related services to them. Its employees may serve as directors of companies mentioned in the report.
Appendix: Summary of Quarterly Trend Insights
By the end of 2025, the mobile AI landscape was shifting from a “competition in general capabilities” toward “deep roots in specific scenarios.” The technology boom had not stopped, but the allocation of users’ time had sent a clear signal: the highest-growth products were often not the flashiest generation tools, but vertical applications that precisely relieved everyday pain points.
Health management rises quietly. Ant Afu became the biggest dark horse, reaching 27.71 million active users, with active-user growth of 185% month over month and download growth of 390%. Such an explosion from a base in the tens of millions is rare in China. It reflects the large-scale conversion of latent demand among middle-aged and older user groups: AI is no longer merely a productivity tool, but an “invisible guardian” of everyday health.
Video generation continues accelerating. Both globalizing and domestic video tools rose together, led by PixVerse—21% active-user growth and 132% download growth—KLING AI with 335% download growth, and Glam with 79%. High-frequency demand in the short-video ecosystem is making generation efficiency essential, and this category is expected to capture more user time in 2026.
Visual editing and enhancement remain enduring. Globalizing image-enhancement products performed steadily, with Retake at 266% download growth and Hypic at 164% standing out. Overseas users show stable preferences for personalized visual processing, creating a long-tail effect; in China, Meitu products dominate and maintain a high base with low volatility.