Internet traffic grew hugely in 2024, with Google taking the strain

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Internet traffic rose by 17% year-over-year in 2024, Cloudflare finds
Google.com and Chrome maintain significant market share
ChatGPT is still the most popular AI tool

Just like Spotify Unwrapped and Apple Music Replay, Cloudflare has given us its run-down of internet traffic of 2024, showing how we’ve become more connected than ever.

The company's analysis claims internet traffic saw a 17% year-over-year increase driven primarily by the growing number of connected and smart devices, as well as ongoing interest in artificial intelligence.

The company also confirmed that Google Chrome accounts for as close as makes no difference two-thirds (65.73%) of the global browser market – a figure that aligns with separate figures from Statcounter, which puts the browser’s reach at 66.33%.

2024 internet habits

Apart from accessing its browsers, internet users across the globe are also huge fans of Google's search engine, accounting for 88.5% of all internet searches, significantly outpacing rivals like Russia’s Yandex (3.1%), China’s Baidu (2.7%), America’s Bing (2.6%) and the privacy-focused DuckDuckGo (0.9%).

In its 2024 Year in Review, Cloudflare also explored the market shares of social networks. Although Meta has three of the most accessed internet services of the year – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – TikTok’s rise has continued. Landing itself in fourth position, behind Apple, the Chinese-owned social network spent a few days in the summer ahead of Apple, highlighting its immense reach.

Longer-term, ChatGPT’s continued rise has kept it the most widely accessed AI tool on the net. Starting 2023 in the top 200 most accessed sites overall, it’s now closing in on the top 50. Cloudflare highlighted the fluctuation, which sees more users access ChatGPT on weekdays rather than weekends, demonstrating its position as a useful workplace AI tool.

Other popular sites and online services worth mentioning are Stripe, which maintained its position as the number one financial service; Tesla, which saw spikes surrounding the launch of its Cybercab robotaxi and following the US elections; and GitHub, which has upgraded its AI tools and security functions over the course of the year in a bid to attract more developers.

“The Internet is everywhere, woven throughout almost all of the daily activities of modern life – how we interact and connect on social media, use our smart refrigerators and vacuums, travel from one place to another through rideshare apps, connect to our banks and more," Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince concluded.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!