SimilarWeb‘s newest International AI Tracker report reveals dramatic shifts within the AI panorama, portray a transparent image of market winners and losers. The great report tracks site visitors patterns throughout numerous AI device classes, offering essential insights for business strategists and buyers.
DevOps and code completion instruments lead the pack with a outstanding 72% year-over-year development within the 12-week interval ending February 28, 2025. In the meantime, conventional academic know-how platforms proceed their downward spiral, declining 20% throughout the identical interval as AI options achieve traction.
These numbers reveal the stark actuality of AI’s market affect: We’ve moved past hypothesis into precise market restructuring. The dramatic contrasts between hovering developer instruments and plummeting EdTech platforms present how quickly AI is redrawing aggressive boundaries. The winners aren’t simply technically superior; they’re essentially reimagining how issues are solved in methods legacy techniques can’t match.
Let’s look at essentially the most stunning takeaways from SimilarWeb’s newest intelligence report that showcase the evolving AI panorama.
SimilarWeb’s International AI Tracker reveals DevOps instruments main with 72% development, whereas sectors like music era and writing content material declined. Knowledge analytics (42%) and HCM (31%) emerged as stunning development classes in early 2025. (Credit score: SimilarWeb)
AI-powered developer instruments present extraordinary momentum, with 72% year-over-year development. DevOps and code completion instruments have emerged because the class with the clearest product-market match within the generative AI period.
Instruments like Cursor (97% development) and Replit (67% development) show that AI’s most fast affect could also be on software program improvement itself — making a virtuous cycle the place AI accelerates the creation of extra superior AI techniques. This means that essentially the most transformative results of AI within the close to time period could also be invisible to shoppers however profoundly vital for technological progress.
AI instruments market grows 21% quarterly, with Deepseek’s extraordinary 8,658% surge main the sector. Established gamers like Microsoft (-6%) and Claude (2%) have misplaced momentum whereas Hugging Face maintains robust development at 42%, highlighting the sector’s excessive volatility. (Supply: SimilarWeb)
2. The digital freelance contraction
Visitors to digital freelance platforms has steadily declined by 20% all through the reporting interval, elevating profound questions on the way forward for information work. As AI instruments develop into extra able to producing design property, written content material and even code, the standard freelance market mannequin seems more and more threatened.
Each main platform on this class confirmed important declines: Fiverr (-22%), Upwork (-18%), Freelancer (-15%) and Toptal (-35%). This sample suggests that companies could also be shifting funds from human freelancers to AI instruments for sure classes of labor, significantly in content material creation and fundamental design duties.
Main freelance platforms present constant year-over-year site visitors declines, with Toptal experiencing the steepest drop at -35%. Guru’s trajectory has deteriorated most dramatically, shifting from 18% development final September to a -30% decline by February 2025, highlighting the mounting stress on artistic service marketplaces as AI options achieve traction. (Supply: SimilarWeb)
3. The resilience of design platforms amid AI artwork development
Regardless of the proliferation of AI picture era instruments displaying 8% development by February 2025, conventional design platforms have demonstrated outstanding resilience with 16% development in the identical interval. Canva maintained 18% development, whereas Adobe Specific and Figma confirmed 19% and eight% development, respectively.
This challenges the narrative that AI instruments cannibalize their conventional counterparts. As a substitute, information means that established design platforms could also be efficiently integrating AI capabilities into their choices, making a complementary quite than aggressive relationship with generative applied sciences.
Design platforms present resilience with 16% year-over-year development, with Canva (18%) and Adobe Specific (19%) sustaining robust efficiency. Newer entrant Kittl, regardless of being labeled “falling,” nonetheless posts spectacular 55% development, highlighting the sector’s general stability. (Supply: SimilarWeb)
4. Conventional EdTech’s accelerating decline
Conventional EdTech platforms present a constant downward development culminating in a 20% year-over-year decline, with the trajectory worsening over time (as indicated by the “falling” development designation).
Particular person platforms inform an much more dramatic story. Chegg and Course Hero, as soon as dominant gamers within the homework assist house, noticed site visitors plummet by 58% and 59%, respectively. These platforms, which constructed their enterprise fashions round human tutors and crowdsourced research supplies, seem significantly weak to AI-powered options that supply instantaneous, personalised help.
Training know-how platforms face a stark 20% site visitors decline, with Course Hero and Chegg plummeting practically 60% as college students more and more undertake AI options. Even established gamers like Udemy (-11%) battle, whereas Duolingo reveals relative resilience at simply -1%. (Supply: SimilarWeb)
5. The meteoric rise of area of interest AI challengers
Probably the most beautiful development story isn’t from a longtime tech big however from relative newcomers. Deepseek, within the normal AI class, posted an astonishing 8,658% development within the 12-week interval ending February 2025. Whereas OpenAI’s properties grew by simply 9% in the identical timeframe, these rising contenders are redefining market dynamics.
Within the DevOps class, Lovable demonstrated equally explosive development, with will increase measured within the 1000’s of share factors all through the monitoring interval. These patterns counsel that the AI market stays extremely dynamic, with alternatives for specialised instruments to seize important market share regardless of the presence of established gamers.
Developer instruments present distinctive 72% quarterly development, largely pushed by Lovable’s astonishing 928% enhance and Cursor’s regular 97% rise. The market reveals a transparent winner-take-all dynamic as conventional instruments like Tabnine (-24%) and Bito (-25%) quickly lose market share to AI-powered options. (Supply: SimilarWeb)
The brand new AI panorama takes form
The SimilarWeb report affords extra than simply site visitors statistics — it supplies a window into the sensible affect of AI applied sciences throughout sectors. The information reveals a nuanced image the place AI isn’t merely changing current instruments, however is creating new worth in particular domains whereas difficult established enterprise fashions in others.
For companies navigating this shifting panorama, the message is obvious: AI adoption isn’t a monolithic development, however a collection of specialised transformations occurring at totally different charges throughout sectors. The instruments that achieve traction aren’t essentially essentially the most technologically superior, however those who resolve actual issues for particular person teams.
As builders use AI to speed up software program creation, freelance platforms battle to compete with automation and established design instruments combine AI capabilities, we’re witnessing not simply technological evolution however financial restructuring. On this surroundings, understanding precise utilization patterns — not simply technological capabilities — turns into important for strategic decision-making.
The AI revolution could also be uneven, however its route is unmistakable. The platforms that thrive might be those who harness AI’s capabilities to create new worth quite than merely changing current human work. The true winners gained’t be essentially the most subtle AI fashions, however the instruments that use AI to empower people to perform what was beforehand not possible.
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