USAGE SHARE OF WEB BROWSERS

This article aims to be an unbiased historical record for the usage share of web browsers, based on statistics and articles published by well-known websites. One of the uses of such statistics is to create a graph that roughly represents the browser wars. This also serves as a reference for the various web browser articles.
''This article is not all-inclusive or necessarily up-to-date.'' While unbiased methods are used to gather the data for this record, the data itself may contain bias, in that it may systematically overestimate, or underestimate, the usage share of certain browsers. It also does not account for the regional differences in market share.

Contents

In general

Overestimation and underestimation

1999 to present

WebSideStory

TheCounter.com

OneStat.com

ADTECH

Net Applications

W3 Counter

1998 and earlier

GVU WWW User Survey

Dataquest

EWS Web Server at UIUC

International Data Corporation

ZD Market Intelligence

Zona Research

AdKnowledge

See also

References

External links

In general

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 83% usage share, it means that Internet Explorer is used by 83%^[1][2]
of visitors that visit a given set of sites. Typically, the user agent string is used to identify which browser a visitor is using.

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.

★ A feed reader that requests the RSS/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.^[3]
It is also possible to underestimate the usage share, 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).

★ A computer with more memory will likely cache more webpages in memory, resulting in fewer requests.

★ Many Browsers and Download managers spoof a different user agent string to the Web server to prevent erroneous/malicious browser sniffing which could result in receiving broken/incompatible code, or being completely blocked, 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/audio-based browsers don't download any webbugs at all.

★ Privacy-enhancing proxies like privoxy are getting widely deployed by security-conscious sysadmins.

★ Gecko based browsers since Firefox 1.5 and Opera uses fast 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]
These problems could be avoided by using measures in terms of unique visitors to web sites rather than page hits. This can be achieved by using IP address and cookies. However, many web statistics software that only gathers data from the web server logs does not provide this kind of measurement.

1999 to present

WebSideStory

'USA usage share data from: WebSideStory'

Date	Internet Explorer	Mozilla / Netscape	Mozilla Firefox	Source
February 8, 1999	64.60%	33.43%		February 22, 2001
March 1, 1999	66.90%	31.21%		March 2, 1999
April 6, 1999	68.75%	29.46%		April 7, 1999
August 2, 1999	75.31%	24.68%		August 9, 1999
June 18, 2000	86.08%	13.90%		February 22, 2001
February 21, 2001	87.71%	12.01%
April 25, 2001	86.61%	13.10%		May 1, 2001
October 25, 2001	89.03%	10.47%		October 31, 2001
August 26, 2002	95.97%	3.39%		August 28, 2002
June 4, 2004	95.48%	3.53%		December 13, 2004
October 8, 2004	93.21%	3.05%	2.66%
November 5, 2004	92.89%	2.95%	3.03%	Feb. 28, 2005
December 3, 2004	91.80%	2.83%	4.06%
January 14, 2005	90.28%	2.64%	4.95%
February 18, 2005	89.85%	2.47%	5.69%
April 29, 2005	88.86%	2.23%	6.75%	May 10, 2005
September 23, 2005	88.46%	1.69%	7.86%	September 27, 2005
November 4, 2005	88.16%	1.61%	8.13%	November 10, 2005
January 5, 2006	87.63%		8.88%	Jan. 12, 2006
June 2006	86.64%		9.95%	July 19, 2006
Date	Internet Explorer	Mozilla / Netscape	Mozilla Firefox	Source

TheCounter.com

'Global usage share data from: TheCounter.com Global Statistics'

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

OneStat.com

'Global usage share data from OneStat.com'

Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape Navigator	Netscape	Mozilla	Opera	Safari	Source
April 29, 2002	96.6%	2.1%	0.7%		0.5%		2002-04-29
June 21, 2002	95.3%	1.9%	1.5%	0.4%	0.7%		2002-06-24
September 30, 2002	94.9%	1.2%	1.8%	0.8%	0.9%		2002-09-30
December 16, 2002	95.0%	1.1%	1.9%	1.1%	0.8%		2002-12-16
February 3, 2003	95.2%	1.0%	1.9%	1.2%	0.7%	0.11%	2003-02-03
July 28, 2003	95.4%	0.6%	1.9%	1.6%	0.6%	0.25%	2003-07-28
January 19, 2004	94.8%			1.8%	0.8%	0.48%	2004-01-19
May 28, 2004	93.9%			2.1%	1.02%	0.71%	2004-05-28
November 22, 2004	88.90%			7.35%	1.33%	0.91%	2004-11-22
February 28, 2005	87.28%		1.11%	8.45%	1.09%	1.21%	2005-02-28
April 27, 2005	86.63%		1.08%	8.69%	1.03%	1.26%	2005-04-27
November 2, 2005	85.45%		0.26%	11.51%	0.77%	1.75%	2005-11-02
January 2006	85.82%		0.16%	11.23%	0.77%	1.88%	2006-01-31
May 2006	85.17%		0.15%	11.79%	0.79%	2.02%	2006-05-15
July 2006	83.05%		0.16%	12.93%	1.00%	1.84%	2006-07-09
October 2006	85.85%		0.12%	11.49%	0.69%	1.61%	2006-10-09
November 2006	85.24%		0.11%	12.15%	0.69%	1.61%	2006-11-06
January 2007	85.81%		0.13%	11.69%	0.58%	1.64%	2007-01-22
June 2007	84.66%		0.11%	12.72%	0.61%	1.79%	2007-07-02
Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape Navigator	Netscape	Mozilla	Opera	Safari	Source

ADTECH

'Europe usage share data from: ADTECH'

Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape	Mozilla	Mozilla Firefox	Opera	WebKit	Source
January–April 2004	94.72%	1.49%	2.50%		0.73%		2004-06-02
July 2004	93.08%	0.97%	2.62%	1.64%	0.99%		2004-10-19
August 2004	92.78%	0.91%	2.82%	1.69%	1.06%
August 30 2004	93.08%	0.95%	2.18%	2.15%	0.89%		2004-12-02
September 2004	92.63%	0.82%	2.10%	2.91%	1.00%		2004-10-19
November 16 2004	90.56%	0.89%	2.38%	4.56%	1.07%		2004-12-02
November 30 2004	89.47%	0.92%	2.50%	5.51%	1.01%
January 2005	87.13%	0.85%	1.33%	7.43%	1.70%		2005-04-21
February 2005	87.57%	0.76%	1.26%	7.85%	1.05%
March 2005	86.73%	0.71%	1.14%	8.96%	1.12%
June 2005	85.10%	0.60%	1.05%	10.11%	1.21%	1.34%	2005-06-27
September 2005	83.31%	0.61%	1.06%	12.41%	0.90%	1.40%	2005-11-14
February–April 2006	83.36%	0.38%	0.82%	12.38%	0.77%	1.67%	2006-06-13
February 2007	77.34%	-	5.11%	14.34%	0.85%	1.63%	2007-03-20
July 2007	77.5%	-	3.9%	15.5%	0.9%	1.6%	2007-08-23

Net Applications

'Global usage share data from: Net Applications'

Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape	Mozilla	Mozilla Firefox	Opera	Safari	Source
Q4 2004	91.35%	2.09%	0.80%	3.66%	0.51%	1.50%	Q4 2004
Q1 2005	89.02%	1.89%	0.67%	6.17%	0.49%	1.70%	Q1 2005
Q2 2005	87.24%	1.62%	0.59%	8.08%	0.52%	1.89%	Q2 2005
Q3 2005	86.74%	1.92%	0.48%	7.97%	0.55%	2.24%	Q3 2005
Q4 2005	85.88%	1.25%	0.43%	9.00%	0.54%	2.80%	Q4 2005
Q1 2006	85.01%	1.09%	0.36%	9.77%	0.53%	3.10%	Q1 2006
Q2 2006	84.03%	0.98%	0.32%	10.67%	0.57%	3.25%	Q2 2006
Q3 2006	82.88%	0.88%	0.26%	11.89%	0.62%	3.30%	Q3 2006
Q4 2006	80.51%	0.84%	0.23%	13.47%	0.71%	4.06%	Q4 2006
Q1 2007	79.14%	0.74%	0.19%	14.32%	0.77%	4.68%	Q1 2007
Q2 2007	78.50%	0.81%	0.15%	14.85%	0.80%	4.63%	Q2 2007

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 1.8	Mozilla Firefox	Opera	Safari	Source
May 10, 2007	66.50%	0.62%	24.62%	0.78%	2.00%	2007-05-10
May 20, 2007	66.36%	0.66%	24.82%	1.28%	1.94%	2007-05-20
May 30, 2007	66.69%	0.73%	24.55%	1.22%	1.85%	2007-05-30
June 10, 2007	66.48%	0.69%	24.86%	0.72%	1.86%	2007-06-10
June 20, 2007	66.30%	0.70%	25.06%	0.70%	1.84%	2007-06-20
June 30, 2007	66.20%	0.71%	25.08%	0.69%	1.81%	2007-06-30
July 10, 2007	66.48%	0.68%	24.93%	0.66%	1.79%	2007-07-10
July 30, 2007	66.41%	0.65%	25.11%	1.16%	1.75%	2007-07-30
Aug 10, 2007	66.30%	0.64%	25.28%	1.19%	1.74%	2007-08-10
Aug 20, 2007	66.23%	0.62%	25.38%	1.19%	1.74%	2007-08-20
Aug 30, 2007	66.20%	0.61%	25.43%	1.22%	1.76%	2007-08-30

1998 and earlier

GVU WWW User Survey

'Usage share data from: GVU WWW User Survey'

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

Dataquest

'Usage share data from: Dataquest'

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

EWS Web Server at UIUC

'Usage share data from: EWS Web Server at UIUC'

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

International Data Corporation

'Usage share data from: International Data Corporation'

Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape Navigator	Source
1996	16%	55%	Behind the numbers: Browser market share
1997	23%	51%

ZD Market Intelligence

'Usage share data from: ZD Market Intelligence'

Date	Internet Explorer	Netscape Navigator	Source
January 1997	21%	63%	Behind the numbers: Browser market share
January 1998	39%	54%

Zona Research

'Usage share data from: Zona Research'

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

AdKnowledge

'Usage share data from: AdKnowledge'

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

See also

★ Usage share of desktop operating systems

★ Web browser

★ Layout engine

References

1. Internet Explorer 6.x again in Top Spot with over 80 Percent Market Share
2. Global usage share Mozilla Firefox has increased according to OneStat.com
3. Google feature list

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."