By Felipe Morales, CEO of ESBUENISIMO LINKS
The most popular AI tools in Latin America in 2026: ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude by country
The most popular AI tools in Latin America: Google searches for ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and five other assistants in 17 countries, month by month from October 2025 to September 2026.
What are the most popular AI tools in Latin America? There is no official census of users by country, but there is a public, comparable indicator: how many times a month people search Google for each tool's name. We reviewed those searches for eight AI assistants in 17 countries across the region, month by month from October 2025 to September 2026, using Google Ads Keyword Planner data. The result shows who dominates, who is growing and where people search most.
The most popular AI tool in Latin America is ChatGPT
Across the 16 countries with consistent data, "chatgpt" averaged 196.7 million monthly Google searches, 66.1% of all searches for the eight assistants measured. Google's Gemini is second with 83.5 million (28.1%). Together they account for over 94%.
View the data as a table
| million monthly ChatGPT searches | 196.7 |
| of AI assistant searches are for ChatGPT | 66.1% |
| growth in Claude searches | 982% |
| ChatGPT searches per 1,000 people in Peru | 596 |
| Assistant | Average monthly searches (16 countries) | Share | Change Oct 2025 to Sep 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 196.7 million | 66.1% | +8% |
| Gemini | 83.5 million | 28.1% | +40% |
| Claude | 6.3 million | 2.1% | +982% |
| Copilot | 2.9 million | 1.0% | -36% |
| DeepSeek | 2.9 million | 1.0% | -33% |
| Grok | 2.7 million | 0.9% | +21% |
| Perplexity | 1.8 million | 0.6% | -66% |
| Meta AI | 0.9 million | 0.3% | +13% |
Source: ESBUENISIMO LINKS analysis of Google Ads data via DataForSEO, retrieved November 5, 2026. 12-month average (October 2025 to September 2026) across 16 Latin American countries; Venezuela is excluded for the reason given in the methodology.
Searching a tool's name on Google is not the same as using it, but it comes close: many people type "chatgpt" into the search bar to reach the site. That makes this indicator useful for comparing countries and spotting trends, though it doesn't replace the user figures companies publish.
How AI searches changed in a year
View the data as a table
| ChatGPT | Gemini | Claude | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 218.2 | 75.5 | 1.3 |
| Nov 2025 | 206.9 | 65.5 | 1.3 |
| Dec 2025 | 147.3 | 57.3 | 0.9 |
| Jan 2026 | 155.6 | 62.6 | 1.0 |
| Feb 2026 | 168.7 | 63.4 | 1.9 |
| Mar 2026 | 203.0 | 87.4 | 5.4 |
| Apr 2026 | 209.1 | 101.5 | 8.6 |
| May 2026 | 208.8 | 105.0 | 10.8 |
| Jun 2026 | 205.2 | 102.5 | 10.8 |
| Jul 2026 | 186.7 | 80.1 | 9.4 |
| Aug 2026 | 214.2 | 96.2 | 11.1 |
| Sep 2026 | 236.4 | 105.6 | 13.6 |
ChatGPT grew modestly (8% between October 2025 and September 2026) because it starts from a huge base. Gemini rose 40% and in April 2026 passed 100 million monthly searches in the region for the first time. The biggest jump was Anthropic's Claude: from 1.3 million searches in October 2025 to 13.6 million in September 2026, almost eleven times more.
At the other end, Perplexity lost two thirds of its searches over the period, and DeepSeek and Copilot fell more than 30%. Grok peaked in March 2026 at 4.2 million and then returned to levels close to a year earlier.
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See plans and pricing →The race for third place
Behind ChatGPT and Gemini, the order changed several times during the year. In October 2025 third place belonged to DeepSeek and Claude was seventh, ahead only of Meta AI. In January 2026 Grok moved into third, and since March 2026 Claude has held third place.
View the data as a table
| Oct 2025 | Nov 2025 | Dec 2025 | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | Mar 2026 | Apr 2026 | May 2026 | Jun 2026 | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Sep 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | 1.26 | 1.29 | 0.85 | 1.01 | 1.87 | 5.44 | 8.55 | 10.77 | 10.81 | 9.41 | 11.08 | 13.59 |
| DeepSeek | 4.25 | 3.78 | 2.30 | 1.91 | 2.24 | 2.92 | 3.14 | 3.44 | 2.94 | 2.12 | 2.41 | 2.84 |
| Copilot | 4.17 | 3.76 | 2.50 | 2.54 | 2.71 | 3.26 | 3.11 | 3.09 | 2.84 | 2.23 | 2.32 | 2.69 |
| Grok | 1.77 | 2.17 | 2.03 | 3.58 | 3.47 | 4.16 | 3.59 | 2.93 | 2.35 | 1.99 | 2.04 | 2.14 |
| Perplexity | 3.80 | 3.07 | 1.56 | 1.27 | 1.45 | 1.88 | 1.79 | 1.78 | 1.35 | 0.93 | 1.04 | 1.29 |
| Meta AI | 0.95 | 0.90 | 0.71 | 0.70 | 0.68 | 0.97 | 0.91 | 1.03 | 0.90 | 0.82 | 0.97 | 1.08 |
Which countries search for AI the most
To compare countries of different sizes, we divided "chatgpt" searches by each country's population from the World Bank (2024 data). Peru leads the region with 596 monthly searches per 1,000 people, followed by Costa Rica (534) and Ecuador (412). Chile ranks seventh with 378.
View the data as a table
| Peru | 596 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 37 |
| Costa Rica | 534 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 25 |
| Ecuador | 412 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 45 |
| Panama | 405 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 37 |
| Brazil | 392 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 37 |
| Colombia | 386 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 37 |
| Chile | 378 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 45 |
| Uruguay | 360 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 37 |
| Dominican Republic | 293 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 30 |
| El Salvador | 289 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 55 |
| Mexico | 232 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 55 |
| Bolivia | 221 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 55 |
| Paraguay | 216 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 45 |
| Argentina | 200 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 55 |
| Guatemala | 182 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 45 |
| Honduras | 169 · Gemini per 100 ChatGPT: 45 |
| Country | "chatgpt" searches per 1,000 people | Gemini searches per 100 ChatGPT searches |
|---|---|---|
| Peru | 596 | 37 |
| Costa Rica | 534 | 25 |
| Ecuador | 412 | 45 |
| Panama | 405 | 37 |
| Brazil | 392 | 37 |
| Colombia | 386 | 37 |
| Chile | 378 | 45 |
| Mexico | 232 | 55 |
| Argentina | 200 | 55 |
Source: Google Ads via DataForSEO (average monthly searches, October 2025 to September 2026) and World Bank (2024 population). The full table for the 16 countries is below.
The second column shows Gemini's weight relative to ChatGPT. In Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and El Salvador, Gemini gets 55 searches for every 100 ChatGPT searches; in Costa Rica, only 25. The gap matters for brands: where Gemini weighs more, visibility on Google and its AI is worth as much as on ChatGPT.
| Brazil | 83,100 | 30,400 | 2,240 | 1,000 | 450 | 392 |
| Mexico | 30,400 | 16,600 | 823 | 550 | 246 | 232 |
| Colombia | 20,400 | 7,480 | 823 | 301 | 246 | 386 |
| Peru | 20,400 | 7,480 | 823 | 450 | 301 | 596 |
| Argentina | 9,140 | 5,000 | 673 | 135 | 61 | 200 |
| Chile | 7,480 | 3,350 | 368 | 135 | 91 | 378 |
| Ecuador | 7,480 | 3,350 | 201 | 135 | 135 | 412 |
| Guatemala | 3,350 | 1,500 | 74 | 33 | 22 | 182 |
| Dominican Republic | 3,350 | 1,000 | 74 | 22 | 22 | 293 |
| Bolivia | 2,740 | 1,500 | 110 | 110 | 61 | 221 |
| Costa Rica | 2,740 | 673 | 74 | 27 | 15 | 534 |
| Panama | 1,830 | 673 | 61 | 22 | 22 | 405 |
| El Salvador | 1,830 | 1,000 | 50 | 22 | 12 | 289 |
| Honduras | 1,830 | 823 | 33 | 22 | 12 | 169 |
| Paraguay | 1,500 | 673 | 41 | 18 | 10 | 216 |
| Uruguay | 1,220 | 450 | 61 | 12 | 8 | 360 |
What is happening in Chile
Chile follows the regional trend, more intensely. Gemini searches went from 2.74 million in October 2025 to 5 million in September 2026, up 82%, twice the regional average. Claude rose from 60,500 to 823,000 monthly searches, almost 14 times more, and since May 2026 it has been searched more than DeepSeek, Copilot, Grok and Perplexity combined. Perplexity, by contrast, fell from 201,000 to 60,500.
ChatGPT stayed between 5 and 9.1 million monthly searches depending on the month, with the lowest values in February, Chile's summer holiday month, when Gemini, DeepSeek and Copilot also hit their lowest point. The pattern suggests much of the use is tied to work and study.
What it means for brands
Three takeaways for marketing and communications teams:
- ChatGPT is the priority, but not the only one. With two thirds of searches it is the assistant most worth measuring, but Gemini is already more than a quarter of the total and is built into Google. The differences for a brand are in our ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude comparison.
- Claude is no longer marginal. With growth close to 11x in a year, it belongs in the set of questions you track monthly.
- Measuring beats guessing. Which assistant your customer uses depends on the country. The way to track it is a fixed set of industry questions measured on each tool; we explain it in our guide to AI share of voice.
For a brand to appear in Gemini's answers, which draw on Google's index, SEO and media mentions matter; the specific strategy is in how to appear in Gemini. If you need to measure and improve your brand's visibility on ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, that is what our team does.
Methodology
We pulled monthly search volume for eight terms ("chatgpt", "gemini", "claude", "perplexity", "deepseek", "copilot", "meta ai" and "grok") in 17 Latin American countries, using DataForSEO's Google Ads search volume endpoint, on November 5, 2026. Four limitations are worth knowing:
- Google Ads returns volumes rounded into buckets (for example, 7,480,000 or 9,140,000), so two countries can show the same figure even if their real volume differs somewhat.
- "Gemini" and "Claude" are also common words (a zodiac sign, a first name). Part of their searches is not about AI; Claude's growth, however, is too large to be explained by that.
- Venezuela was excluded from totals and the map: its data shows 450,000 ChatGPT searches against 5 million for Gemini, an atypical ratio we could not verify.
- Searches are not users. People who use the mobile app or go straight to the site don't search the name on Google.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular AI tool in Latin America?+
ChatGPT. Across 16 countries in the region it averaged 196.7 million monthly Google searches between October 2025 and September 2026, 66.1% of searches for the eight assistants measured. Gemini is second at 28.1%.
Which AI is growing fastest in Latin America?+
Anthropic's Claude: its searches went from 1.3 million in October 2025 to 13.6 million in September 2026, almost eleven times more. Since March 2026 it has been the third most searched assistant, behind ChatGPT and Gemini.
Which Latin American country searches ChatGPT the most?+
In absolute terms, Brazil and Mexico. Per person, Peru: 596 monthly "chatgpt" searches per 1,000 people, followed by Costa Rica (534) and Ecuador (412). Chile ranks seventh at 378.
Is ChatGPT or Gemini more used in Chile?+
ChatGPT. In Chile it averaged about 7.5 million monthly searches versus 3.4 million for Gemini, or 45 Gemini searches per 100 ChatGPT searches. But Gemini nearly doubled its searches over the past year.
Do Google searches measure real AI usage?+
Not exactly. They measure how many people search the tool's name, which many do to reach the site, so they are useful for comparing countries and trends. They don't count people who use the mobile app or go straight to the site.
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