Usage share of web browsers

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The usage share of web browsers described in this chart. Source from Net Applications
The usage share of web browsers described in this chart. Source from Net Applications

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 76% usage share, it means Internet Explorer is used by 76%[1] of visitors that visit a given set of sites. Typically, the user agent string is used to identify which browser a visitor is using.

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[edit] Overestimation and underestimation

Note that measuring browser usage in terms of the number of requests (page hits) made by each user agent can be misleading. 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, few browsers (like Opera) reuse cached content without resending requests to server.
  • 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 link prefetch web pages, increasing hits. Link prefetching in Gecko-based browsers is used on pages with enhanced markup, including Google search results.[2]

It is also possible to underestimate the usage share by the 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.
  • Privacy-enhancing proxies like privoxy are getting widely deployed by security-conscious system administrators.[citation needed]
  • Gecko-based browsers since Firefox 1.5 and Opera uses 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.[1]
  • Firefox blocked alexa toolbars from its extension page for quite some time, this makes the estimates of Net Applications inaccurate.

A more accurate estimate of the number individual people visiting a web site can be made by considering unique IP address and cookies in addition to page hits.

[edit] Present to 1999

[edit] TheCounter.com

Global usage share data from: TheCounter.com Global Statistics
Period Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Netscape / Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Sources
Q1 2008 78.80% 0.06% 15.87% 0.79% 3.32% Jan 2008, Feb 2008, Mar 2008
Q4 2007 81.14% 0.06% 13.81% 0.67% 3.21% Oct 2007, Nov 2007, Dec 2007
Q3 2007 81.63% 0.06% 13.49% 0.66% 3.00% Jul 2007, Aug 2007, Sep 2007
Q2 2007 82.97% 0.06% 12.41% 0.64% 2.87% Apr 2007, May 2007, Jun 2007
Q1 2007 83.69% 0.06% 11.57% 0.57% 2.92% Jan 2007, Feb 2007, Mar 2007
Q4 2006 84.11% 0.05% 11.13% 0.60% 2.80% Nov 2006, Dec 2006
Q3 2006 84.48% 0.06% 10.56% 0.73% 2.27% Jul 2006, Aug 2006, Sep 2006
Q2 2006 86.32% 0.05% 9.03% 0.70% 1.89% Apr 2006, May 2006, Jun 2006
Q1 2006 90.01% 0.05% 6.77% 0.58% 1.40% Jan 2006, Feb 2006, Mar 2006
Q4 2005 87.25% 0.07% 8.60% 0.71% 1.83% Oct 2005, Nov 2005, Dec 2005
Q3 2005 87.58% 0.07% 8.42% 0.67% 1.60% Jul 2005, Aug 2005, Sep 2005
Q2 2005 90.90% 0.09% 6.02% 0.51% 0.99% Apr 2005, May 2005, Jun 2005
Q1 2005 90.77% 0.11% 5.73% 0.54% 1.00% Jan 2005, Feb 2005, Mar 2005
Q4 2004 90.98% 0.18% 5.10% 0.68% 0.77% Oct 2004, Nov 2004, Dec 2004
Q3 2004 92.70% 0.20% 3.57% 0.65% 0.73% Jul 2004, Aug 2004, Sep 2004
Q2 2004 95.04% 0.32% 2.37% 0.51% 0.67% Apr 2004, May 2004, Jun 2004
Q1 2004 94.28% 0.36% 2.70% 0.52% Jan 2004, Feb 2004, Mar 2004
Q2 2003 94.43% 1.45% 2.22% 0.66% Apr 2003, May 2003, Jun 2003
Q1 2003 94.18% 1.77% 2.15% 0.65% Jan 2003, Feb 2003, Mar 2003
Q4 2002 93.94% 2.31% 1.67% 0.83% Oct 2002, Nov 2002, Dec 2002
Q3 2002 93.32% 3.04% 1.36% 0.94% Jul 2002, Aug 2002, Sep 2002
Q2 2002 92.47% 4.13% 1.13% 0.82% Apr 2002, May 2002, Jun 2002
Q1 2002 92.40% 4.67% 0.93% 0.52% Jan 2002, Feb 2002, Mar 2002
Q4 2001 90.83% 5.23% 0.71% 0.36% Oct 2001, Nov 2001, Dec 2001
Q3 2001 88.43% 6.49% 0.26% 0.31% Jul 2001, Aug 2001, Sep 2001
Q2 2001 87.99% 7.46% 0.27% 0.28% Apr 2001, May 2001, Jun 2001
Q1 2001 86.80% 9.84% 0.30% 0.22% Jan 2001, Feb 2001, Mar 2001
Q4 2000 83.95% 12.61% 0.14% 0.14% Oct 2000, Nov 2000, Dec 2000
Q3 2000 82.76% 14.35% 0.04% 0.14% Jul 2000, Aug 2000, Sep 2000
Q2 2000 80.30% 17.54% 0.02% 0.12% Apr 2000, May 2000, Jun 2000
Q1 2000 79.09% 19.25% 0.00% 0.13% Jan 2000, Feb 2000, Mar 2000
Period Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Netscape / Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Sources

[edit] OneStat.com

Global usage share data from OneStat.com
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
February 2008 83.27% 0.14% 13.76% 0.55% 2.18% 2008-02-18
June 2007 84.66% 0.11% 12.72% 0.61% 1.79% 2007-07-02
January 2007 85.81% 0.13% 11.69% 0.58% 1.64% 2007-01-22
November 2006 85.24% 0.11% 12.15% 0.69% 1.61% 2006-11-06
October 2006 85.85% 0.12% 11.49% 0.69% 1.61% 2006-10-09
July 2006 83.05% 0.16% 12.93% 1.00% 1.84% 2006-07-09
May 2006 85.17% 0.15% 11.79% 0.79% 2.02% 2006-05-15
January 2006 85.82% 0.16% 11.23% 0.77% 1.88% 2006-01-31
November 2, 2005 85.45% 0.26% 11.51% 0.77% 1.75% 2005-11-02
April 27, 2005 86.63% 1.08% 8.69% 1.03% 1.26% 2005-04-27
February 28, 2005 87.28% 1.11% 8.45% 1.09% 1.21% 2005-02-28
November 22, 2004 88.90% 7.35% 1.33% 0.91% 2004-11-22
May 28, 2004 93.9% 2.1% 1.02% 0.71% 2004-05-28
January 19, 2004 94.8% 1.8% 0.8% 0.48% 2004-01-19
July 28, 2003 95.4% 0.6% 1.9% 1.6% 0.6% 0.25% 2003-07-28
February 3, 2003 95.2% 1.0% 1.9% 1.2% 0.7% 0.11% 2003-02-03
December 16, 2002 95.0% 1.1% 1.9% 1.1% 0.8% 2002-12-16
September 30, 2002 94.9% 1.2% 1.8% 0.8% 0.9% 2002-09-30
June 21, 2002 95.3% 1.9% 1.5% 0.4% 0.7% 2002-06-24
April 29, 2002 96.6% 2.1% 0.7% 0.5% 2002-04-29
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
USA usage share data from OneStat.com
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
June 2007 75.69% 0.17% 19.65% 0.61% 3.77% Onestat.com pressbox
January 2007 78.13% 0.18% 16.11% 0.73% 3.68% Onestat.com pressbox
Canadian usage share data from OneStat.com
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
June 2007 75.76% 0.13% 16.47% 0.69% 5.72% Onestat.com pressbox
January 2007 79.00% 0.14% 14.13% 0.71% 4.70% Onestat.com pressbox
UK usage share data from OneStat.com
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
June 2007 86.00% 0.10% 11.22% 0.53% 1.61% Onestat.com pressbox
January 2007 86.72% 0.10% 10.86% 0.49% 1.78% Onestat.com pressbox
Australian usage share data from OneStat.com
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla / Firefox Opera Safari Source
June 2007 66.42% 0.24% 26.32% 4.05% 1.86% Onestat.com pressbox
January 2007 65.71% 0.24% 26.68% 4.28% 1.77% Onestat.com pressbox

[edit] ADTECH

Europe usage share data from: ADTECH
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Source
Q4 2007 76.0% 2.9% 18.0% 1.0% 1.6% 2008-01-31
July 2007 77.5% 3.9% 15.5% 0.9% 1.6% 2007-08-23
February 2007 77.34% 5.11% 14.34% 0.85% 1.63% 2007-03-20
February–April 2006 83.36% 0.38% 0.82% 12.38% 0.77% 1.67% 2006-06-13
September 2005 83.31% 0.61% 1.06% 12.41% 0.90% 1.40% 2005-11-14
June 2005 85.10% 0.60% 1.05% 10.11% 1.21% 1.34% 2005-06-27
March 2005 86.73% 0.71% 1.14% 8.96% 1.12% 2005-04-21
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% 2004-12-02
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% 2004-10-19
August 30, 2004 93.08% 0.95% 2.18% 2.15% 0.89% 2004-12-02
August 2004 92.78% 0.91% 2.82% 1.69% 1.06% 2004-10-19
July 2004 93.08% 0.97% 2.62% 1.64% 0.99%
January–April 2004 94.72% 1.49% 2.50% 0.73% 2004-06-02
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Source

[edit] Net Applications

Global usage share data from: Net Applications
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Source
Q2 2008 74.13% 0.6% 0.11% 18.19% 0.7% 6.09% Q2 2008
Q1 2008 75.06% 0.62% 0.33% 17.35% 0.67% 5.78% Q1 2008
Q4 2007 77.37% 0.64% 0.09% 15.84% 0.62% 5.24% Q4 2007
Q3 2007 78.85% 0.76% 0.11% 14.69% 0.51% 4.80% Q3 2007
Q2 2007 78.76% 0.83% 0.15% 14.92% 0.46% 4.66% Q2 2007
Q1 2007 79.38% 0.77% 0.19% 14.35% 0.50% 4.70% Q1 2007
Q4 2006 80.69% 0.86% 0.23% 13.50% 0.56% 4.06% Q4 2006
Q3 2006 82.88% 0.88% 0.26% 11.89% 0.62% 3.30% Q3 2006
Q2 2006 84.03% 0.98% 0.32% 10.67% 0.57% 3.25% Q2 2006
Q1 2006 85.01% 1.09% 0.36% 9.77% 0.53% 3.10% Q1 2006
Q4 2005 85.88% 1.25% 0.43% 9.00% 0.54% 2.80% Q4 2005
Q3 2005 86.74% 1.92% 0.48% 7.97% 0.55% 2.24% Q3 2005
Q2 2005 87.24% 1.62% 0.59% 8.08% 0.52% 1.89% Q2 2005
Q1 2005 89.02% 1.89% 0.67% 6.17% 0.49% 1.70% Q1 2005
Q4 2004 91.35% 2.09% 0.80% 3.66% 0.51% 1.50% Q4 2004

Amongst other browsers, Net Applications gives the following breakdown from the second quarter of 2008:

[edit] 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.
Global usage share data from: W3 Counter
Date Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Source
May 31, 2008 61.56% 0.62% 28.86% 1.15% 2.16% 2008-05-31
Apr 30, 2008 61.66% 0.58% 28.79% 1.14% 2.31% 2008-04-30
Mar 31, 2008 61.66% 0.61% 28.39% 1.11% 2.50% 2008-03-31
Feb 29, 2008 61.67% 0.65% 28.38% 1.07% 2.54% 2008-02-29
Jan 31, 2008 61.79% 0.52% 28.39% 1.02% 2.42% 2008-01-31
Dec 1, 2007 62.36% 0.56% 27.77% 1.41% 1.84% 2007-12-01
Nov 10, 2007 62.55% 0.59% 27.56% 1.39% 1.95% 2007-11-10
Oct 30, 2007 62.41% 0.60% 27.70% 1.35% 1.99% 2007-10-30
Oct 20, 2007 62.52% 0.62% 27.50% 1.33% 1.99% 2007-10-20
Oct 10, 2007 66.30% 0.57% 25.49% 1.24% 1.77% 2007-10-10
Oct 1, 2007 66.28% 0.58% 25.50% 1.23% 1.77% 2007-10-1
Sept 20, 2007 66.22% 0.61% 25.45% 1.22% 1.76% 2007-09-20
Sept 10, 2007 66.14% 0.60% 25.49% 1.24% 1.76% 2007-09-10
Aug 30, 2007 66.20% 0.61% 25.43% 1.22% 1.76% 2007-08-30
Aug 20, 2007 66.23% 0.62% 25.38% 1.19% 1.74% 2007-08-20
Aug 10, 2007 66.30% 0.64% 25.28% 1.19% 1.74% 2007-08-10
July 30, 2007 66.41% 0.65% 25.11% 1.16% 1.75% 2007-07-30
July 10, 2007 66.48% 0.68% 24.93% 0.66% 1.79% 2007-07-10
June 30, 2007 66.20% 0.71% 25.08% 0.69% 1.81% 2007-06-30
June 20, 2007 66.30% 0.70% 25.06% 0.70% 1.84% 2007-06-20
June 10, 2007 66.48% 0.69% 24.86% 0.72% 1.86% 2007-06-10
May 30, 2007 66.69% 0.73% 24.55% 1.22% 1.85% 2007-05-30
May 20, 2007 66.36% 0.66% 24.82% 1.28% 1.94% 2007-05-20
May 10, 2007 66.50% 0.62% 24.62% 0.78% 2.00% 2007-05-10
Date Internet Explorer Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Source

[edit] XiTi

Europe usage share data from: XiTi
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Firefox Opera Safari Source
March 2008 65.0% 0.5% 28.8% 3.3% 2.3% 2008-04-30
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% 2007-10-30
July 2-8, 2007 66.5% 0.3% 27.8% 3.5% 1.7% 2007-07-18

[edit] WebSideStory

USA usage share data from: WebSideStory
Date Internet Explorer Netscape / Mozilla Firefox Source
June 2006 86.64% 9.95% July 19, 2006
January 5, 2006 87.63% 8.88% Jan. 12, 2006
November 4, 2005 88.16% 1.61% 8.13% November 10, 2005
September 23, 2005 88.46% 1.69% 7.86% September 27, 2005
April 29, 2005 88.86% 2.23% 6.75% May 10, 2005
February 18, 2005 89.85% 2.47% 5.69% Feb. 28, 2005
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% December 13, 2004
June 4, 2004 95.48% 3.53%
August 26, 2002 95.97% 3.39% August 28, 2002
October 25, 2001 89.03% 10.47% October 31, 2001
April 25, 2001 86.61% 13.10% May 1, 2001
February 21, 2001 87.71% 12.01% February 22, 2001
June 18, 2000 86.08% 13.90%
August 2, 1999 75.31% 24.68% August 9, 1999
April 6, 1999 68.75% 29.46% April 7, 1999
March 1, 1999 66.90% 31.21% March 2, 1999
February 8, 1999 64.60% 33.43% February 22, 2001
Date Internet Explorer Netscape / Mozilla Firefox Source

[edit] 1998 and earlier

[edit] GVU WWW User Survey

Usage share data from: GVU WWW User Survey
Date Mosaic Netscape Navigator Internet Explorer Source
October 1998 64% 32.2% Primary Browser in 12 Months
April 1998 70% 22.7% Browser Expected to Use in 12 Months
October 1997 59.67% 15.13% Browser Expected to Use in 12 Months
April 1997 81.13% 12.13% Browser Expected to Use in 12 Months
October 1996 80.45% 12.18% Browser Expected to Use in 12 Months
April 1996 89.36% 3.76% Browser Expected to Use in 12 Months
April 1995 9% 54% Hal Berghel's Cybernautica - "A Web Monopoly"
October 1994 68% 18% Result Graph - Browser
January 1994 97% General Results Graphs

[edit] Dataquest

Usage share data from: Dataquest
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
1997 39.4% 57.6% Browser wars: High price, huge rewards
1996 20% 73%
1995 2.9% 80.1%

[edit] EWS Web Server at UIUC

Usage share data from: EWS Web Server at UIUC
Date Mosaic Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
Q4 1998 50.43% 46.87% Oct 1998, Nov 1998, Dec 1998
Q3 1998 47.90% 48.97% Jul 1998, Aug 1998, Sep 1998
Q2 1998 43.17% 53.57% Apr 1998, May 1998, Jun 1998
Q1 1998 39.67% 57.63% Jan 1998, Feb 1998, Mar 1998
Q4 1997 35.53% 62.23% Oct 1997, Nov 1997, Dec 1997
Q3 1997 32.40% 64.93% Jul 1997, Aug 1997, Sep 1997
Q2 1997 0.37% 27.67% 69.77% Apr 1997, May 1997, Jun 1997
Q1 1997 0.60% 22.87% 74.33% Jan 1997, Feb 1997, Mar 1997
Q4 1996 1.20% 19.07% 77.13% Oct 1996, Nov 1996, Dec 1996
Q3 1996 2.47% 13.97% 80.37% Jul 1996, Aug 1996, Sep 1996
Q2 1996 6.93% 9.60% 82.77% Apr 1996, May 1996, Jun 1996

[edit] International Data Corporation

Usage share data from: International Data Corporation
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
1997 23% 51% Behind the numbers: Browser market share
1996 16% 55%

[edit] ZD Market Intelligence

Usage share data from: ZD Market Intelligence
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
January 1998 39% 54% Behind the numbers: Browser market share
January 1997 21% 63%

[edit] Zona Research

Usage share data from: Zona Research
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
July 1998 45% 54% Behind the numbers: Browser market share
September 1997 36% 62%
January 1997 28% 70%

[edit] AdKnowledge

Usage share data from: AdKnowledge
Date Internet Explorer Netscape Navigator Source
June 1998 46% 52% Behind the numbers: Browser market share
March 1998 42% 57%
January 1998 36% 61%

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Net Applications Browser Market Share for December, 2007
  2. ^ Google feature list.

[edit] External links

  • Chuck Upsdell's Browser Stats lists web stats from many different stats sources and gives the approximate current usage share of the most popular layout engines.
  • W3Schools' Browser Statistics 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."