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Usage share of web browsers
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Usage share, in web browser statistics, is the percentage of visitors to a group of web sites that use a particular browser. For example, when it is said that Internet Explorer has 67% usage share, it means Internet Explorer is used by 67% of visitors that visit a given set of sites. Typically, the user agent string is used to identify which browser a visitor is using. The concept of browser percentages for the Web audience in general is sometimes called browser penetration.
detailed information about a given browser can be found on the page for the browser in question.
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Encyclopedia
Usage share, in web browser statistics, is the percentage of visitors to a group of web sites that use a particular browser. For example, when it is said that Internet Explorer has 67% usage share, it means Internet Explorer is used by 67% of visitors that visit a given set of sites. Typically, the user agent string is used to identify which browser a visitor is using. The concept of browser percentages for the Web audience in general is sometimes called browser penetration.
More detailed information
More detailed information about a given browser can be found on the page for the browser in question. Notably, by-version browser share information for Internet Explorer can be found on the Wikipedia page for Internet Explorer.
Accuracy
Note that measuring browser usage in terms of the number of requests (page hits) made by each user agent can be misleading.
Overestimation
Not all requests are generated by a user, as a user agent can make requests at regular time intervals without user input. In this case, the usage of that user agent would then be overestimated. Some examples:
- A web browser that refreshes the webpage at a regular time interval.
- Most browsers generate additional page hits by refreshing webpages when user navigates back through page history; only a few browsers (like Opera) reuse cached content without resending requests to server.
- Generally, the more faithfully a browser implements HTTP's cache specifications, the more it shall be under-reported relative to browsers which implement those specifications poorly.
- A feed reader that requests the RSS or Atom feed at a regular time interval.
- Extra files like CSS hacks and JavaScript hacks are often sent to Internet Explorer.
- Gecko-based browsers (such as Firefox) can prefetch linked web pages, potentially increasing hits. Link prefetching in Gecko-based browsers is used on pages with enhanced markup, including Google search results.
- A user who revisits a site shortly after changing or upgrading browsers may be double-counted under some methodologies; overall numbers at the time of a new version's release may be skewed.
- Certain anti-virus products fake their user-agent to appear to be popular browsers. This is done to trick attack sites that might display clean content to the scanner, but not to the browser. The Register reported in June 2008 that traffic from AVG Linkscanner, using an IE6 user-agent, outstripped human link clicks by nearly 10 to 1.
Underestimation
It is also possible to underestimate the usage share by using the number of requests, for example:
- A graphical browser typically results in more hits than a text browser, as it downloads files referred to by the HTML document (e.g., image, CSS, and JavaScript).
- Many browsers and download managers spoof a different user agent string to the web server to prevent erroneous or malicious browser sniffing which could result in receiving broken or incompatible code, or being completely blocked, and thus increasing the statistics for other browsers (as an example, prior to version 9, the Opera web browser had "Identify as Internet Explorer" as the default user setting)
- Most recent browsers block third-party spyware.
- Text-based and audio-based browsers do not download any webbugs at all.
- Gecko-based browsers since Firefox 1.5 and Opera use fast Document Object Model (DOM) caching. JavaScript is only executed on pageload from net or disk cache, but not if it is loaded from DOM cache. This can have an impact on JavaScript based tracking of browser statistics.
- Ad filtering is popular through methods such as the Firefox extension Adblock.
- Many browsers accessing a site via one proxy are apt to be counted as only one access, if the proxy caches the result; in particular, it is usual for browsers on mobile phones to access the web via proxies (many of which violate HTTP's specifications for proxies; even if a webbug is designed to work despite proxying, the proxies run by mobile operators may well mislead it).
Present to 1999
Net Applications
Global usage share data from: | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape | SeaMonkey | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome | Source |
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| 2009 Q1 | 67.40% ? | 0.59% ? | 0.07% ? | 21.63% ? | 0.71% ? | 8.29% ? | 1.13% ? | | | 2008 Q4 | 69.80% | 0.52% | 0.08% | 20.66% | 0.72% | 7.18% | 0.87% | | | 2008 Q3 | 72.22% | 0.68% | 0.09% | 19.48% | 0.71% | 6.39% | 0.26% | | | 2008 Q2 | 73.81% | 0.62% | 0.11% | 18.43% | 0.71% | 6.14% | | | | 2008 Q1 | 75.06% | 0.62% | 0.33% | 17.35% | 0.67% | 5.78% | | | | 2007 Q4 | 77.37% | 0.64% | 0.09% | 15.84% | 0.62% | 5.24% | | | | 2007 Q3 | 78.85% | 0.76% | 0.11% | 14.69% | 0.51% | 4.80% | | | | 2007 Q2 | 78.76% | 0.83% | 0.15% | 14.92% | 0.46% | 4.66% | | | | 2007 Q1 | 79.38% | 0.77% | 0.19% | 14.35% | 0.50% | 4.70% | | | | 2006 Q4 | 80.69% | 0.86% | 0.23% | 13.50% | 0.56% | 4.06% | | | | 2006 Q3 | 82.88% | 0.88% | 0.26% | 11.89% | 0.62% | 3.30% | | | | 2006 Q2 | 84.03% | 0.98% | 0.32% | 10.67% | 0.57% | 3.25% | | | | 2006 Q1 | 85.01% | 1.09% | 0.36% | 9.77% | 0.53% | 3.10% | | | | 2005 Q4 | 85.88% | 1.25% | 0.43% | 9.00% | 0.54% | 2.80% | | | | 2005 Q3 | 86.74% | 1.92% | 0.48% | 7.97% | 0.55% | 2.24% | | | | 2005 Q2 | 87.24% | 1.62% | 0.59% | 8.08% | 0.52% | 1.89% | | | | 2005 Q1 | 89.02% | 1.89% | 0.67% | 6.17% | 0.49% | 1.70% | | | | 2004 Q4 | 91.35% | 2.09% | 0.80% | 3.66% | 0.51% | 1.50% | | |
Among other browsers, Net Applications gives the following breakdown from the fourth quarter of 2008:
TheCounter.com
Global usage share data from: | Period | Internet Explorer | Netscape Navigator | Netscape / Mozilla / Firefox | Opera | Safari | Sources |
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| 2008 Q4 | 74.24% | 0.07% | 18.66% | 0.89% | 4.52% | , , | | 2008 Q3 | 76.33% | 0.07% | 17.97% | 0.84% | 3.76% | , , | | 2008 Q2 | 78.30% | 0.06% | 16.36% | 0.81% | 3.41% | , , | | 2008 Q1 | 78.80% | 0.06% | 15.87% | 0.79% | 3.32% | , , | | 2007 Q4 | 81.14% | 0.06% | 13.81% | 0.67% | 3.21% | , , | | 2007 Q3 | 81.63% | 0.06% | 13.49% | 0.66% | 3.00% | , , | | 2007 Q2 | 82.97% | 0.06% | 12.41% | 0.64% | 2.87% | , , | | 2007 Q1 | 83.69% | 0.06% | 11.57% | 0.57% | 2.92% | , , | | 2006 Q4 | 84.11% | 0.05% | 11.13% | 0.60% | 2.80% | , | | 2006 Q3 | 84.48% | 0.06% | 10.56% | 0.73% | 2.27% | , , | | 2006 Q2 | 86.32% | 0.05% | 9.03% | 0.70% | 1.89% | , , | | 2006 Q1 | 90.01% | 0.05% | 6.77% | 0.58% | 1.40% | , , | | 2005 Q4 | 87.25% | 0.07% | 8.60% | 0.71% | 1.83% | , , | | 2005 Q3 | 87.58% | 0.07% | 8.42% | 0.67% | 1.60% | , , | | 2005 Q2 | 90.90% | 0.09% | 6.02% | 0.51% | 0.99% | , , | | 2005 Q1 | 90.77% | 0.11% | 5.73% | 0.54% | 1.00% | , , | | 2004 Q4 | 90.98% | 0.18% | 5.10% | 0.68% | 0.77% | , , | | 2004 Q3 | 92.70% | 0.20% | 3.57% | 0.65% | 0.73% | , , | | 2004 Q2 | 95.04% | 0.32% | 2.37% | 0.51% | 0.67% | , , | | 2004 Q1 | 94.28% | 0.36% | 2.70% | 0.52% | | , , | | 2003 Q2 | 94.43% | 1.45% | 2.22% | 0.66% | | , , | | 2003 Q1 | 94.18% | 1.77% | 2.15% | 0.65% | | , , | | 2002 Q4 | 93.94% | 2.31% | 1.67% | 0.83% | | , , | | 2002 Q3 | 93.32% | 3.04% | 1.36% | 0.94% | | , , | | 2002 Q2 | 92.47% | 4.13% | 1.13% | 0.82% | | , , | | 2002 Q1 | 92.40% | 4.67% | 0.93% | 0.52% | | , , | | 2001 Q4 | 90.83% | 5.23% | 0.71% | 0.36% | | , , | | 2001 Q3 | 88.43% | 6.49% | 0.26% | 0.31% | | , , | | 2001 Q2 | 87.99% | 7.46% | 0.27% | 0.28% | | , , | | 2001 Q1 | 86.80% | 9.84% | 0.30% | 0.22% | | , , | | 2000 Q4 | 83.95% | 12.61% | 0.14% | 0.14% | | , , | | 2000 Q3 | 82.76% | 14.35% | 0.04% | 0.14% | | , , | | 2000 Q2 | 80.30% | 17.54% | 0.02% | 0.12% | | , , | | 2000 Q1 | 79.09% | 19.25% | 0.00% | 0.13% | | , , | | Period | Internet Explorer | Netscape Navigator | Netscape / Mozilla / Firefox | Opera | Safari | Sources |
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OneStat.com
Global usage share data from | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape Navigator | Netscape | Mozilla / Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome | Source |
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| November 2008 | 81.36% | | 0.32% | 14.67% | 0.55% | 2.42% | 0.54% | | | February 2008 | 83.27% | | 0.14% | 13.76% | 0.55% | 2.18% | | | | June 2007 | 84.66% | | 0.11% | 12.72% | 0.61% | 1.79% | | | | January 2007 | 85.81% | | 0.13% | 11.69% | 0.58% | 1.64% | | | | November 2006 | 85.24% | | 0.11% | 12.15% | 0.69% | 1.61% | | | | October 2006 | 85.85% | | 0.12% | 11.49% | 0.69% | 1.61% | | | | July 2006 | 83.05% | | 0.16% | 12.93% | 1.00% | 1.84% | | | | May 2006 | 85.17% | | 0.15% | 11.79% | 0.79% | 2.02% | | | | January 2006 | 85.82% | | 0.16% | 11.23% | 0.77% | 1.88% | | | | November 2, 2005 | 85.45% | | 0.26% | 11.51% | 0.77% | 1.75% | | | | April 27, 2005 | 86.63% | | 1.08% | 8.69% | 1.03% | 1.26% | | | | February 28, 2005 | 87.28% | | 1.11% | 8.45% | 1.09% | 1.21% | | | | November 22, 2004 | 88.90% | | | 7.35% | 1.33% | 0.91% | | | | May 28, 2004 | 93.9% | | | 2.1% | 1.02% | 0.71% | | | | January 19, 2004 | 94.8% | | | 1.8% | 0.8% | 0.48% | | | | July 28, 2003 | 95.4% | 0.6% | 1.9% | 1.6% | 0.6% | 0.25% | | | | February 3, 2003 | 95.2% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 1.2% | 0.7% | 0.11% | | | | December 16, 2002 | 95.0% | 1.1% | 1.9% | 1.1% | 0.8% | | | | | September 30, 2002 | 94.9% | 1.2% | 1.8% | 0.8% | 0.9% | | | | | June 21, 2002 | 95.3% | 1.9% | 1.5% | 0.4% | 0.7% | | | | | April 29, 2002 | 96.6% | 2.1% | 0.7% | | 0.5% | | | | | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape Navigator | Netscape | Mozilla / Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome | Source |
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ADTECH
Europe usage share data from: | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape | Mozilla | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Source |
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| Q1 2008 | 76.2% | | 2.6% | 18.1% | 1.0% | 1.7% | | | Q4 2007 | 76.0% | | 2.9% | 18.0% | 1.0% | 1.6% | | | July 2007 | 77.5% | | 3.9% | 15.5% | 0.9% | 1.6% | | | February 2007 | 77.34% | | 5.11% | 14.34% | 0.85% | 1.63% | | | February–April 2006 | 83.36% | 0.38% | 0.82% | 12.38% | 0.77% | 1.67% | | | September 2005 | 83.31% | 0.61% | 1.06% | 12.41% | 0.90% | 1.40% | | | June 2005 | 85.10% | 0.60% | 1.05% | 10.11% | 1.21% | 1.34% | | | March 2005 | 86.73% | 0.71% | 1.14% | 8.96% | 1.12% | | | | February 2005 | 87.57% | 0.76% | 1.26% | 7.85% | 1.05% | | | January 2005 | 87.13% | 0.85% | 1.33% | 7.43% | 1.70% | | | November 30, 2004 | 89.47% | 0.92% | 2.50% | 5.51% | 1.01% | | | | November 16, 2004 | 90.56% | 0.89% | 2.38% | 4.56% | 1.07% | | | September 2004 | 92.63% | 0.82% | 2.10% | 2.91% | 1.00% | | | | August 30, 2004 | 93.08% | 0.95% | 2.18% | 2.15% | 0.89% | | | | August 2004 | 92.78% | 0.91% | 2.82% | 1.69% | 1.06% | | | | July 2004 | 93.08% | 0.97% | 2.62% | 1.64% | 0.99% | | | January–April 2004 | 94.72% | 1.49% | 2.50% | | 0.73% | | | | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape | Mozilla | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Source |
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W3 Counter
- Note: W3 Counter only lists the top 10 Browsers by Version. This is one of the reasons why Opera fluctuates between 0.7% and 1.2% in the table below, as some versions only make it into the top 10 occasionally. This site counts the last 25,000 page views from each site making relatively small sites contribute a lot more to the statistics than in an overall count.
As of January 31st, 2009 uncategorised browsers have climbed to 7.73%
Global usage share data from: | Date | Internet Explorer | Mozilla | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Source |
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| Feb 28, 2009 | 57.56% | 0.60% | 30.92% | 1.16% | 1.91% | | | Jan 31, 2009 | 57.90% | 0.56% | 30.70% | 0.67% | 2.44% | | | Dec 31, 2008 | 58.08% | 0.51% | 30.71% | 0.71% | 2.58% | | | Nov 30, 2008 | 58.57% | | 30.40% | 1.23% | 2.70% | | | Oct 31, 2008 | 59.05% | | 30.13% | 1.36% | 2.77% | | | Sept 30, 2008 | 57.03% | | 32.07% | 1.56% | 2.51% | | | Aug 31, 2008 | 58.46% | | 31.40% | 1.55% | 1.80% | | | Jul 31, 2008 | 60.65% | 0.58% | 29.68% | 1.08% | 1.90% | | | Jun 30, 2008 | 61.43% | 0.60% | 29.02% | 1.13% | 2.02% | | | May 31, 2008 | 61.56% | 0.62% | 28.86% | 1.15% | 2.16% | | | Apr 30, 2008 | 61.66% | 0.58% | 28.79% | 1.14% | 2.31% | | | Mar 31, 2008 | 61.66% | 0.61% | 28.39% | 1.11% | 2.50% | | | Feb 29, 2008 | 61.67% | 0.65% | 28.38% | 1.07% | 2.54% | | | Jan 31, 2008 | 61.79% | 0.52% | 28.39% | 1.02% | 2.42% | | | Dec 1, 2007 | 62.36% | 0.56% | 27.77% | 1.41% | 1.84% | | | Nov 10, 2007 | 62.55% | 0.59% | 27.56% | 1.39% | 1.95% | | | Oct 30, 2007 | 62.41% | 0.60% | 27.70% | 1.35% | 1.99% | | | Sept 20, 2007 | 66.22% | 0.61% | 25.45% | 1.22% | 1.76% | | | Aug 30, 2007 | 66.20% | 0.61% | 25.43% | 1.22% | 1.76% | | | July 30, 2007 | 66.41% | 0.65% | 25.11% | 1.16% | 1.75% | | | June 30, 2007 | 66.20% | 0.71% | 25.08% | 0.69% | 1.81% | | | May 30, 2007 | 66.69% | 0.73% | 24.55% | 1.22% | 1.85% | | | Date | Internet Explorer | Mozilla | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Source |
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XiTi
Europe usage share data from: | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape | Firefox | Opera | Safari | Chrome | Source |
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| November 2008 | 59.5% | 0.6% | 31.1% | 5.1% | 2.5% | 1.1% | | | October 2008 | 59.2% | 0.6% | 31.1% | 5.4% | 2.4% | 1.1 | | September 2008 | 60.2% | 0.4% | 31.2% | 4.8% | 2.4% | 1.0% | | | August 2008 | 59.4% | 0.3% | 33.0% | 4.5% | 2.6% | | | July 2008 | 60.4% | 0.3% | 32.2% | 4.5% | 2.4% | | | June 2008 | 60.5% | 0.3% | 31.4% | 5.1% | 2.5% | | | May 2008 | 61.7% | 0.4% | 30.7% | 4.7% | 2.4% | | | April 2008 | 64.5% | 0.5% | 28.9% | 3.6% | 2.4% | | | March 2008 | 65.0% | 0.5% | 28.8% | 3.3% | 2.3% | | | | February 2008 | 65.6% | 0.5% | 28.5% | 3.2% | 2.2% | | | January 2008 | 66.1% | 0.5% | 28.0% | 3.2% | 2.1% | | | December 2007 | 66.1% | 0.5% | 28.0% | 3.3% | 2.0% | | | November 2007 | 66.9% | 0.5% | 27.3% | 3.2% | 1.9% | | | October 2007 | 67.5% | 0.4% | 27.0% | 3.1% | 1.8% | | | September 2007 | 66.6% | 0.3% | 27.7% | 3.4% | 1.8% | | | | July 2-8, 2007 | 66.5% | 0.3% | 27.8% | 3.5% | 1.7% | | |
WebSideStory
USA usage share data from: | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape / Mozilla | Firefox | Source |
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| June 2006 | 86.64% | | 9.95% | | | January 5, 2006 | 87.63% | | 8.88% | | | November 4, 2005 | 88.16% | 1.61% | 8.13% | | | September 23, 2005 | 88.46% | 1.69% | 7.86% | | | April 29, 2005 | 88.86% | 2.23% | 6.75% | | | February 18, 2005 | 89.85% | 2.47% | 5.69% | | | January 14, 2005 | 90.28% | 2.64% | 4.95% | | December 3, 2004 | 91.80% | 2.83% | 4.06% | | November 5, 2004 | 92.89% | 2.95% | 3.03% | | October 8, 2004 | 93.21% | 3.05% | 2.66% | | | June 4, 2004 | 95.48% | 3.53% | | | August 26, 2002 | 95.97% | 3.39% | | | | October 25, 2001 | 89.03% | 10.47% | | | | April 25, 2001 | 86.61% | 13.10% | | | | February 21, 2001 | 87.71% | 12.01% | | | | June 18, 2000 | 86.08% | 13.90% | | | August 2, 1999 | 75.31% | 24.68% | | | | April 6, 1999 | 68.75% | 29.46% | | | | March 1, 1999 | 66.90% | 31.21% | | | | February 8, 1999 | 64.60% | 33.43% | | | | Date | Internet Explorer | Netscape / Mozilla | Firefox | Source |
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1998 and earlier
GVU WWW User Survey
Usage share data from: | Date | Mosaic | Netscape Navigator | Internet Explorer | Source |
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| October 1998 | | 64% | 32.2% | | | April 1998 | | 70% | 22.7% | | | October 1997 | | 59.67% | 15.13% | | | April 1997 | | 81.13% | 12.13% | | | October 1996 | | 80.45% | 12.18% | | | April 1996 | | 89.36% | 3.76% | | | April 1995 | 9% | 54% | | | | October 1994 | 68% | 18% | | | | January 1994 | 97% | | | |
Dataquest
EWS Web Server at UIUC
Usage share data from: | Date | Mosaic | Internet Explorer | Netscape Navigator | Source |
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| 1998 Q4 | | 50.43% | 46.87% | , , | | 1998 Q3 | | 47.90% | 48.97% | , , | | 1998 Q2 | | 43.17% | 53.57% | , , | | 1998 Q1 | | 39.67% | 57.63% | , , | | 1997 Q4 | | 35.53% | 62.23% | , , | | 1997 Q3 | | 32.40% | 64.93% | , , | | 1997 Q2 | 0.37% | 27.67% | 69.77% | , , | | 1997 Q1 | 0.60% | 22.87% | 74.33% | , , | | 1996 Q4 | 1.20% | 19.07% | 77.13% | , , | | 1996 Q3 | 2.47% | 13.97% | 80.37% | , , | | 1996 Q2 | 6.93% | 9.60% | 82.77% | , , |
International Data Corporation
ZD Market Intelligence
Zona Research
AdKnowledge
See also
External links
- lists web stats from many different stats sources and gives the approximate current usage share of the most popular layout engines.
- lists the web stats only from the W3 Schools site, which gives the approximate usage share of browsers among "people with an interest for web technologies."
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