China's AI app market: A few leaders, a fast-moving race

Doubao remains the clear market leader in terms of user scale

A comparison of monthly active users (MAU) between January and March 2026 shows that Doubao continues to dominate in scale, with MAU roughly twice that of the second-largest player in March 2026. This confirms its strong lead in the current market landscape. This position was largely driven by large-scale promotional campaigns during the Chinese New Year period, with major players such as Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance investing heavily in user acquisition and ecosystem-driven engagement.

Market shares remain highly dynamic, with significant shifts still possible over short periods

Despite the emergence of clear leaders in terms of scale, the Chinese AI app market remains highly fluid. Between January and March 2026, leading platforms were able to add tens of millions of users within a short time frame, demonstrating that market shares can still shift materially. For example, Qwen recorded the strongest MAU growth over the period, highlighting that competitive positions remain contestable. This indicates that large-scale user gains relative to competitors are still achievable at this stage of market development.

DeepSeek’s growth has moderated following its rapid expansion in 2025, while underlying user demand remains resilient

DeepSeek shows only marginal MAU growth between January and March 2026, increasing by just 63 units. This indicates that the rapid user expansion observed during its breakout phase in early 2025 has slowed, suggesting a transition toward a more stable growth trajectory. Despite limited participation in large-scale promotional campaigns, the platform has maintained a stable user base, indicating resilient underlying demand. Recent hiring activity shows a stronger focus on product roles, indicating a potential increase in efforts on application development.

Rapid user growth is driving significant cost pressure, pushing leading platforms toward monetization

While leading apps such as Doubao have achieved substantial scale, this growth comes with high computational costs. Daily token consumption has increased sharply, rising from relatively low levels in 2024 to over 100 trillion tokens within less than two years.
At this scale, platforms rank among the most compute-intensive globally. As a result, they are beginning to explore monetization strategies, with Doubao reportedly preparing to launch subscription-based pricing tiers, signaling a shift from growth-driven expansion toward greater sustainability.