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What is the trend in browser usage?

Web Statistics and Trends

Statistics are important information. From the numbers below, we see that Firefox, Google Chrome, and Internet Explorer are the most popular browsers today.

Browser Statistics Month by Month

2012	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
January	20.1 %	37.1 %	35.3 %	4.3 %	2.4 %

2011	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	20.2 %	37.7 %	34.6 %	4.2 %	2.5 %
November	21.2 %	38.1 %	33.4 %	4.2 %	2.4 %
October	21.7 %	38.7 %	32.3 %	4.2 %	2.4 %
September	22.9 %	39.7 %	30.5 %	4.0 %	2.2 %
August	22.4 %	40.6 %	30.3 %	3.8 %	2.3 %
July	22.0 %	42.0 %	29.4 %	3.6 %	2.4 %
June	23.2 %	42.2 %	27.9 %	3.7 %	2.4 %
May	24.9 %	42.4 %	25.9 %	4.0 %	2.4 %
April	24.3 %	42.9 %	25.6 %	4.1 %	2.6 %
March	25.8 %	42.2 %	25.0 %	4.0 %	2.5 %
February	26.5 %	42.4 %	24.1 %	4.1 %	2.5 %
January	26.6 %	42.8 %	23.8 %	4.0 %	2.5 %

2010	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	27.5 %	43.5 %	22.4 %	3.8 %	2.2 %
November	28.6 %	44.0 %	20.5 %	4.0 %	2.3 %
October	29.7 %	44.1 %	19.2 %	3.9 %	2.2 %
September	31.1 %	45.1 %	17.3 %	3.7 %	2.2 %
August	30.7 %	45.8 %	17.0 %	3.5 %	2.3 %
July	30.4 %	46.4 %	16.7 %	3.4 %	2.3 %
June	31.0 %	46.6 %	15.9 %	3.6 %	2.1 %
May	32.2 %	46.9 %	14.5 %	3.5 %	2.2 %
April	33.4 %	46.4 %	13.6 %	3.7 %	2.2 %
March	34.9 %	46.2 %	12.3 %	3.7 %	2.2 %
February	35.3 %	46.5 %	11.6 %	3.8 %	2.1 %
January	36.2 %	46.3 %	10.8 %	3.7 %	2.2 %

2009	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	37.2 %	46.4 %	9.8 %	3.6 %	2.3 %
November	37.7 %	47.0 %	8.5 %	3.8 %	2.3 %
October	37.5 %	47.5 %	8.0 %	3.8 %	2.3 %
September	39.6 %	46.6 %	7.1 %	3.6 %	2.2 %
August	39.3 %	47.4 %	7.0 %	3.3 %	2.1 %
July	39.4 %	47.9 %	6.5 %	3.3 %	2.1 %
June	40.7 %	47.3 %	6.0 %	3.1 %	2.1 %
May	41.0 %	47.7 %	5.5 %	3.0 %	2.2 %
April	42.1 %	47.1 %	4.9 %	3.0 %	2.2 %
March	43.3 %	46.5 %	4.2 %	3.1 %	2.3 %
February	43.6 %	46.4 %	4.0 %	3.0 %	2.2 %
January	44.8 %	45.5 %	3.9 %	3.0 %	2.3 %

2008	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	46.0 %	44.4 %	3.6 %	2.7 %	2.4 %
November	47.0 %	44.2 %	3.1 %	2.7 %	2.3 %
October	47.4 %	44.0 %	3.0 %	2.8 %	2.2 %
September	49.0 %	42.6 %	3.1 %	2.7 %	2.0 %
August	51.0 %	43.7 %		2.6 %	2.1 %
July	52.4 %	42.6 %		2.5 %	1.9 %
June	54.2 %	41.0 %		2.6 %	1.7 %
May	54.4 %	39.8 %		2.4 %	1.5 %
April	54.8 %	39.1 %		2.2 %	1.4 %
March	53.9 %	37.0 %		2.1 %	1.4 %
February	54.7 %	36.5 %		2.0 %	1.4 %
January	54.7 %	36.4 %		1.9 %	1.4 %

2007	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Mozilla	Safari	Opera
November	56.0 %	36.3 %	1.2 %	1.8 %	1.6 %
September	57.2 %	35.4 %	1.2 %	1.6 %	1.5 %
July	58.5 %	34.5 %	1.4 %	1.5 %	1.9 %
May	58.9 %	33.7 %	1.3 %	1.5 %	1.7 %
March	58.7 %	31.8 %	1.3 %	1.6 %	1.6 %
January	58.6 %	31.0 %	1.5 %	1.7 %	1.5 %

2006	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Mozilla	Netscape	Opera
November	60.6 %	29.9 %	2.5 %	0.2 %	1.5 %
September	62.1 %	27.3 %	2.3 %	0.4 %	1.6 %
July	62.4 %	25.5 %	2.3 %	0.4 %	1.4 %
May	63.0 %	25.7 %	2.3 %	0.3 %	1.5 %
March	64.7 %	24.5 %	2.4 %	0.5 %	1.5 %
January	66.0 %	25.0 %	3.1 %	0.5 %	1.6 %

2005	Internet Explorer	Firefox	Mozilla	Netscape	Opera
November	68.9 %	23.6 %	2.8 %	0.4 %	1.5 %
September	75.5 %	18.0 %	2.5 %	0.4 %	1.2 %
July	73.8 %	19.8 %	2.6 %	0.5 %	1.2 %
May	71.6 %	21.0 %	3.1 %	0.7 %	1.3 %
March	72.5 %	18.9 %	3.3 %	1.0 %	1.9 %
January	74.5 %	16.6 %	3.4 %	1.1 %	1.9 %

2004	Internet Explorer		Mozilla	Netscape	Opera
November	76.2 %		16.5 %	1.7 %	1.6 %
September	79.0 %		13.7 %	2.0 %	1.7 %
July	80.4 %		12.6 %	2.2 %	1.6 %
May	81.9 %		9.5 %	2.4 %	1.6 %
March	82.8 %		7.9 %	2.8 %	1.4 %
January	84.7 %		5.5 %	2.4 %	1.5 %

2003	Internet Explorer		Mozilla	Netscape	Opera
November	84.9 %		7.2 %	2.6 %	1.9 %
September	86.6 %		6.2 %	2.7 %	1.8 %
July	87.2 %		5.7 %	2.7 %	1.7 %
May	87.7 %		4.6 %	3.3 %	1.4 %
March	88.0 %		4.2 %	3.4 %	1.2 %
January	84.6 %		4.0 %	4.0 %

2002	Internet Explorer	AOL		Netscape
November	83.4 %	5.2 %		8.0 %
September	83.5 %	4.5 %		8.0 %
July	84.5 %	3.5 %		7.3 %
May	86.7 %	2.8 %		7.3 %
March	86.1 %	3.0 %		7.7 %
January	85.8 %	2.8 %		7.9 %

Internet Explorer	Microsoft Internet Explorer
Firefox	Mozilla Firefox (identified as Mozilla before 2005)
Chrome	Google Chrome
Mozilla	The Mozilla Suite (Gecko, Netscape)
Safari	Safari (and Konqueror. Both identified as Mozilla before 2007)
Opera	Opera (as of 2011, Opera Mini is included here)
Netscape	Netscape Navigator (identified as Mozilla after 2006)
AOL	America Online (based on both Internet Explorer and Mozilla)

Browsers that count for less than 0.5% are not listed.

W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to the browser that comes preinstalled with their computer, and do not seek out other browser alternatives.

These facts indicate that the browser figures above are not 100% realistic. Other web sites have statistics showing that Internet Explorer is a more popular browser.

Anyway, our data, collected from W3Schools' log-files, over many years, clearly shows the long and medium-term trends.

Other Statistics

Operating system statistics

Browser display statistics

Statistics Are Often Misleading

You cannot - as a web developer - rely only on statistics. Statistics can often be misleading.

Global averages may not always be relevant to your web site. Different sites attract different audiences. Some web sites attract professional developers using professional hardware, while other sites attract hobbyists using old low spec computers.

Also be aware that many statistics may have an incomplete or faulty browser detection. It is quite common by many web-stats report programs, not to detect the newest browsers.

(The statistics above are extracted from W3Schools' log-files, but we are also monitoring other sources around the Internet to assure the quality of these figures).

Quotes

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple."
Oscar Wilde

"First get your facts; then you can distort them at your leisure."
Mark Twain