ChatGPT tops 18 million monthly app users in South Korea
Usage time of the OpenAI chatbot's Korean app more than doubled year on year, while Anthropic's Claude climbed to second place, Mobile Index data show.
ChatGPT's monthly active users on mobile apps in South Korea reached 18,762,276 in October 2026, surpassing 18 million for the first time since records began, according to data from IGAWorks' Mobile Index reported by zdnet.co.kr. The figure was up 43.8% from 13,048,025 a year earlier and rose by about 770,000 users, or 4.3%, from the previous month.
Time spent in the app grew faster than the user base. Total usage reached about 50.98 million hours in October 2026, up 113.9% year on year, and average monthly usage per user rose from 110 minutes to 163 minutes, a 48.8% increase.
ChatGPT's share of AI app users in South Korea climbed from about 84% to about 91% over the same period. New installs of the app totaled about 790,000, down 16.2% year on year.
Claude moves into second place
Anthropic's Claude ranked second with about 2.1 million monthly active users, roughly 15 times its 140,000 a year earlier, rising from seventh place. Its total usage time grew about 22-fold to roughly 3.88 million hours, and average monthly usage per user increased from 75 to 111 minutes. Claude recorded about 490,000 new installs, 13 times more than a year earlier.
Other apps lost ground. A.Dot's monthly active users fell 42.5% year on year to about 1.07 million, and Perplexity's dropped 30.9% to about 570,000. The data covers Android and iOS apps in South Korea and excludes web usage.
Quick answers
How many monthly active users does ChatGPT have in South Korea?
ChatGPT had 18,762,276 monthly active app users in South Korea in October 2026, according to Mobile Index.
How much time do Korean users spend on ChatGPT?
Total usage time reached about 50.98 million hours in October 2026, with an average of 163 minutes per user per month.