Is the AI friend app market growing or shrinking?
Miles FosterOwner and tester, RankDude
The answer▼ Shrinkingbut name searches are up 15% since October 2025
- Visits, year on year
- -59%
- Visits, last six months
- -37%
- Name searches vs October 2025
- +15%
Every month I add up the Google visits to the 9 AI friend app sites I track (DataForSEO estimates) and how often people in the US search for them by name (Google Ads). In October 2026 they got about 281,214 visits.
The total hides very different stories: one site grew 67% in a year while another lost 97% of its visits. See who grew and who shrank, the visits month by month and the name searches, plus what I expect for November 2026.
AI friend app market demand: key numbers, October 2026
Four numbers for October 2026. Visits mean visits from Google search to the 9 tracked sites. Tap one for the detail below.
- Visits from Google281Kvisits-59% vs a year ago
- Name searches, US144Ksearches+15% vs October 2025
- Top five sites92%of visitsfastest grower: Kindroid
- Expected in November275Kvisitslikely 252K to 299K
- The AI friend app market is shrinking as of October 2026, but name searches are up 15% since October 2025.
- The 9 AI friend app sites RankDude tracks got 281,214 visits from Google search in October 2026, 59% fewer visits than in October 2025.
- People in the US searched Google for these sites by name 143,660 times in September 2026, 15% more searches than in October 2025.
- The five most-visited AI friend app sites get 92% of all visits.
- Fastest-growing AI friend app site over the year: Kindroid, +67% (41.2K to 68.8K visits a month).
- Steepest fall over the year: Kuki AI, -97% (31.4K to 864 visits a month).
- Forecast for November 2026: about 275K visits, likely between 252K and 299K.
Source: DataForSEO visit estimates and Google Ads search data, published 2 November 2026 by RankDude.
1.Are more people visiting AI friend app sites than a year ago?
Down 59% on a year ago; down 13% on September 2026
No. The 9 tracked AI friend app sites got 281,214 visits from Google search in October 2026. That is 59% fewer visits than in October 2025, and 13% fewer visits than in September 2026.
The highest month of the last two years was December 2024, with 858,254 visits; October 2026 is 67% below it. In the US, visits were 98,126, down 43% on a year ago.
WorldVisits a month to AI friend app sites, worldwide, two years
Source: DataForSEO, Google search visits, all tracked sites.
Worldwide, this month
281K
-58.8% on a year ago
United States, this month
98.1K
-43.2% on a year ago
Two-year high
858K
December 2024
US share of visits
34.9%
of worldwide visits
Miles explains
Visits are lower than a year ago and lower than in September 2026, so the fall is still going. Google Trends interest in the term fell (-64%), but name searches did not, so some interest has cooled.
2.Are people searching for AI friend app sites by name?
Up 15% on October 2025; 144K name searches a month in the US
Yes, more than before. People in the US searched Google for the names of the counted AI friend app sites 143,660 times in September 2026, 15% more searches than in October 2025. Someone who searches a site’s name already knows it, so this is the clearest sign of people coming back on purpose. The term “ai friend app” itself gets about 1,000 US searches a month (Google Ads, 12-month average).
USName searches a month for AI friend app sites, US
Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO, to September 2026.
USMost searched AI friend app sites by name, searches a month
Miles explains
Name searches are up while visits are down, so people still know where to go. Google Trends interest in the term fell (-64%), so part of the drop may be lower interest too.
3.Which AI friend app sites grew, and which shrank?
The five most-visited sites hold 92% of all visits
The five most-visited AI friend app sites get 92% of all visits, so one of them winning or losing a big Google ranking moves the whole total. Fastest grower over the year: Kindroid, from 41,228 to 68,809 visits (+67%). Steepest fall: Kuki AI, from 31,425 to 864 visits (-97%).
Growing fastest, year on year
Kindroid68.8K visits+67%
Source: DataForSEO. Sites with 5,000+ visits a year ago.