I’ve been comparing both and last month decided Chrome was for me. On my Quad 4 Dell desktop and Lenovo netbook, IE9 is a little faster with loading pages, but I just don’t like it’s look and other aspects of it. Chrome does it all, is now secure, and the only thing that would make it even a better browser would be to accept the KeyScrambler add-on, which is great with IE and Firefox.

Honestly I don't understand how Google Chrome is growing so fast. One thing that bothers me about Chrome is Shift+Enter doesn't produce .net after the domain name. Firefox is better in my opinion. More plugins and features then Chrome offers.

^^^ and the sync between computers works better through google accounts on chrome than on firefox sync... FF always gave me errors... never have a problem syncing across 4-5 computers, including mac/pc etc...

That's because chrome is by far one of the best browsers out there. I switched from firefox for the majority of my browsing... mainly because firefox was getting slow in comparison. I still use FF for firebug as I work on websites. and the leap to chrome version of firebug was confusing to say the least. Chrome = Win... bring it on... get rid of rubbish internet explorer!

Chrome really has taken off, so many people us it now. I still stay loyal to firefox but I do admit chrome really is good.

looks a very rough statistics without consideration of other trend. As mobile browsers arise, there may be lesser consideration of desktop browsers. Also as all the browsers look more and more same in looks, growth of Chrome might not be huge in coming days as before. The only thing that might push Chrome is the Google factor.

Watch Firefox scramble to copy Chrome in an attempt not to lose any market share, and destroy its product in the process.

Even on macbookair Chrome is faster... and safari is just slow

By this logic, Chrome should attain 110% market share sometime in 2014. This I don't believe software changes to fast with the right amount of funds all browsers are the same just choose witch one you like the best!!!

The rise of Chrome is indeed amazing and it is very interesting to see the users browser preferences in different geographic regions. I am just wondering why Google still refuses to add color management support to Chrome. After the release of IE9, Chrome appears to be the only browser on earth that ignores attached ICC profiles. Is that for performance reasons? I don't know, but doesn't Google claim that the user experience is most important?

Linux is the first platform i ever worked with. I never did anything online until a friend gave me a disc that had linux free so I downloaded it. Never even heard of Linux before that. Works awesome for me though I use others too now.

I think Mozilla Firefox is better then google chrome.

The sooner IE is gone the better, nothing worse than writing CSS for every other browser then seperate CSS just for IE! Rubbish!

truth is google chrome is much faster, it really is.

It's just numbers and graphics, I remember when they said that firefox would dominate the web. But it happened.

I was a very loyal Firefox user for years but decided to give Chrome a try about six months ago. Since that time, I've been comparing both and last month decided Chrome was for me. On my Quad 4 Dell desktop and Lenovo netbook, IE9 is a little faster with loading pages, but I just don't like it's look and other aspects of it. Chrome does it all, is now secure, and the only thing that would make it even a better browser would be to accept the KeyScrambler add-on, which is great with IE and Firefox.

For those of you that are reflecting on the "over 100%" you need to rethink that calculation. In these scenarios "over 100%" is likely to happen, and it should happen. Understand your users and their activity. Here is an example: 3 users in a room, 1 uses Chrome 1 uses FF 1 uses IE, Chrome, AND FF (yes, some users use more than one browser platform) That means Chrome has 66%, FF has 66%, and IE has 33% of the market in that room. It is not only possible, but very likely that the numbers should add up to more than 100%. Market share statistics always have overlap when using the number of users to determine the share (instead of sessions), and trying to reach a perfect 100% actually isn't realistic. Great insight, trends are the important items to note here. THANKS!

This is an interesting prediction but probably not too far off. We've seen an increase in popularity from the Chrome browser themes we develop in the last several months.

That is really amazing but Chrome will never beat IE. There are to many people who have the bad habbit to stay with IE. They don't want to change, the want to use something that is familiar to them.

There's an old saying that "an unsustainable trend cannot be sustained." Look for Chrome growth to slow down dramatically in the near future because most remaining IE users are in no hurry to switch. After all, if someone is still an IE user, what's going to compel them to make the switch? Also, I don't see a compelling reason to switch from FF to Chrome.

If these trends continue... Ay!

You're prediction model is wrong. Browser market share is a zero sum game, meaning if one browser gains, another loses. If you look at your prediction graph and add up the totals for 2012-12, you get over 100%. Moreover, it is extremely unlikely Chrome's growth will follow the same exponential trajectory as it eats up more market share (for the same reason of the market-share being a zero sum game).

There's no way that the majority of IE users will switch to Chrome. They don't even know how to.

I always trust statistics from people who don't know that the word is "extrapolation" and not "extraction". I hope this little piece of hyperbolic fiction got you the ad revenue you needed, but I came here using Firefox with Ad Block Plus, so you didn't get any from me.

can you imagine making a website on chrome and working on the other, oh wait, there are no other browsers... :) seriously, someone KILL IE

i dont believe that chrome will beat IE. Chrome will beat maybe Firefox. If i would believe your chart Chrome would get in few years 100 % =), maybe if Chrome OS gets released and has as standard browser chrome, and many PC getting sold with Chrome, than i think google could beat IE, but not now.

While not discounting the brunt of this report, this report seems flawed and a little biased. A more balanced report would have used a combination of web stats not just StatCounter which, for whatever reasons, has the highest Chrome percentages, more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browser_stats.

Classic extrapolation error. Early adopters always drive growth quickly early on. Once you start running out of early adopters and going mainstream though, growth will level out just like we saw with Firefox. All of the 'my mother, my grandma', corporations, etc, etc out there will not care what browser they use, and won't switch.

@Jakob Google will probably label Android's Browser as Chrome at some point.

@Dimitar Panov "Well, this is a perfect example that if you build a good product or service, the users will come and stick around" No, that's not it. A good product or service is not enough. The reason for Chrome's growth is simple: Google has been pushing it extremely hard all over the web. Remember, Google has a monopoly on online ads, and it's using that actively to promote Chrome. Everywhere you look there are Chrome ads. People mention things like Wave and other failed Google products, but fail to take into account that Google never pushed them as hard as it is pushing Chrome now. So the reason for Chrome's growth is simple: Insane amounts of advertising. Not saying it isn't a good browser, but it's the advertising that's causing the growth.

i say its one reason above all, performance! chrome as awesome performance from almost day one, while firefox was first adopted because it had great performance, since then firefox has become bloated and worst disingenuous, cause they spent years saying that they don't have memory leaks, that their browser is super fast, that its the plugins that make it slow, that its super stable, well the only thing i notice is that firefox 5 takes about 2 minutes to load on my pretty modern quad-core computer and chrome takes a couple of seconds (about 4 or 5), about every other day firefox randomly crashes, chrome stays on forever... sure firefox as way better sync, way more powerful extensions but chrome as better security, so performance is by far the biggest asset, firefox feels and works slow and buggy, chrome feels and works smoothly and clean. ps: i actually open chrome to use 1 extension (chromey calculator), if that's not a seal of approval i don't know what it is!

This is a bunch of geekery shit. Chrome will take Firefox's spot and that's as far as it will go. Microsoft still is and will remain to be the largest operating system manufacturer and their typical user which accounts for 80% of their sales doesn't give a damn which browser to use as long as it takes them to facebook and their email.

And if we extrapolate another three years at this rate, we see Chrome with 200% market share! ... Oh wait, there is a problem here. Extrapolation is worthless over significant periods of time.

This reminds me of a Fox News graph or something. The prediction graph adds up to about 110% at the end. That's not even including Opera/Safari/Others

i think a diverse browser landscape is a positive...it reinforces the value of open standards. and lest anyone be concerned that firefox will "fade"....even at 20% of global users, we're talking hundreds of millions of users.

Pingdom ... You excuse your chart above by admitting that it is a "simple extraction.". The whole article is a "simple extraction." there's something to be said for analyses that have more to say than "if these trends continue... Wow!"

@BrunoLM I don't really user Firefox, so I'm genuinely curious, what features are you referring to? Firefox has more plugins, sure, but those aren't really firefox features.

Check download.cnet.com, Firefox has more downloads per week than Chrome. Can someone explain that?

Heh, Nathan, I didn't see you comment. Great minds think alike.

By this logic, Chrome should attain 110% market share sometime in 2014.

Nice predictions! One thing that I think will make it different, though: With the emerge of smartphones, won't mobile web browsers take up a huge part (at least bigger than it does today) of the browser market share by 2012? Then because there's no Chrome for mobile devices, wouldn't that make both Chrome, Firefox and IE drop a few percentage points, so Chrome won't accelerate _that_ much, and Firefox and IE's decline will be deeper, faster? Just a thought.

Whatever. Just hope Firefox keep the nice job and keep providing the awesome features, regardless of its rank. Firefox has much more features than Chrome and should be growing more.

Other than that, great summary of the browser market. I should have noted that in my first comment. Thanks!

This graph also predicts that the combined market share for Chrome, IE, and Firefox will exceed 110% by the end of 2012. I wonder what types of anti-users Opera and Safari will need to balance them out.

The fact that Google created Chrome, certainly helps their growth. However, just because their name is behind something doesn't mean it will be an instant success. Buzz, Wave, etc. The reason I switched in 2008 is when I noticed the browser did not get terribly lagged after long periods of use, unlike Firefox. We got used to the lag and the errors with Firefox. As if we were in quicksand all this time without knowing it. Chrome opened our eyes. The reason its growing so fast is because it is truly a great product of engineering.

Chrome is win. I downloaded the first version when it launched and never looked back!

IE + Firefox + Chrome in 2012-12 sum up to more than 100% on your "Predicted market share" graph :-(

Does that take into account all of the people that can't or won't get off of IE (especially IE6)? If not, Chrome would just cannibalize Firefox users and end up in the same position that Firefox was in before Chrome came along - waiting for IE to slowly decline.

Well, this is a perfect example that if you build a good product or service, the users will come and stick around. That Google is big and have the marketing advantage is true, but it's not necessarily a requirement for the success of Chrome, or anything else.