# AI Breakout: August 2025

Published August 1, 2025 by Torii Research (Torii). Updated October 7, 2026. Canonical URL: https://www.toriihq.com/research/reports/ai-breakout-august-2025

The same six apps lead in August, while four new apps enter the ranking, led by Gemini Code Assist at #7.

## What the data says

ChatGPT and Claude AI stay at #1 and #2, and Cursor AI moves up to #3, swapping places with Grammarly.

Four apps are new to the ranking: Gemini Code Assist at #7, Kiro at #14, OpenRouter at #17, and n8n at #20.

Notion Mail has the biggest drop, down 7 places to #18. Shadow risk edges up: the median Shadow IT index is 57, and two new entries, OpenRouter at 74 and Gemini Code Assist at 71, are the only apps above 70.

This AI Breakout report offers a real-time look at which pure-play AI tools gained the most traction across organizations during July 1-31, 2025. The findings are based on aggregated usage data from companies of all sizes, real adoption patterns, not projections. With a quarter of the ranked apps being new entrants, this month’s data reveals how quickly the AI landscape is reshaping itself.

## At a glance

- Top 3: ChatGPT (#1), Claude AI (#2), Cursor AI (#3).
- Biggest climbers: Grok, up 3 to #13; Midjourney, up 2 to #16; Cursor AI, up 1 to #3.
- Biggest drops: Notion Mail, down 7 to #18; ElevenLabs, down 4 to #19; Grammarly, down 1 to #4.

## What kinds of apps

AI-native apps: 90% (18 of the 20 apps). Share of this edition's apps by theme (one theme per app; definitions at https://www.toriihq.com/research/themes):

- AI assistants: 30% (6 apps: ChatGPT, Claude AI, OpenAI, Perplexity AI, NotebookLM, Grok)
- AI coding and building: 25% (5 apps: Cursor AI, Gemini Code Assist, Google AI Studio, Kiro, OpenRouter)
- AI content and media: 15% (3 apps: Grammarly, Midjourney, ElevenLabs)
- AI notes and voice: 10% (2 apps: Fireflies.ai, Granola)
- AI agents: 5% (1 app: n8n)
- Work suites and collaboration: 5% (1 app: ClickUp)
- Personal productivity: 5% (1 app: Notion Mail)
- Ops, HR, and finance: 5% (1 app: Zapier)

## Rankings

Ranked by usage among AI apps. Rank change compares with the previous published edition.

| Rank | App | Category | Theme | AI-native | Rank change | Shadow IT index | SOC 2 claimed | ISO 27001 claimed | GDPR claimed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatGPT | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | Same | 34 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 2 | Claude AI | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | Same | 56 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 3 | Cursor AI | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | +1 | 41 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 4 | Grammarly | Productivity | AI content and media | Yes | -1 | 38 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | Zapier | IT & Security | Ops, HR, and finance | No | Same | 37 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 6 | OpenAI | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | Same | 41 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 7 | Gemini Code Assist | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | New | 71 | No | Yes | No |
| 8 | Perplexity AI | Analytics & BI | AI assistants | Yes | -1 | 62 | No | No | No |
| 9 | NotebookLM | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | -1 | 46 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10 | Google AI Studio | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | -1 | 67 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 11 | ClickUp | Project Management | Work suites and collaboration | No | +1 | 49 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 12 | Fireflies.ai | Sales & Marketing | AI notes and voice | Yes | +1 | 62 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 13 | Grok | Productivity | AI assistants | Yes | +3 | 65 | No | No | Yes |
| 14 | Kiro | Developer Tools | AI coding and building | Yes | New | 62 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 15 | Granola | Productivity | AI notes and voice | Yes | -1 | 59 | No | No | Yes |
| 16 | Midjourney | Design | AI content and media | Yes | +2 | 58 | No | No | Yes |
| 17 | OpenRouter | Productivity | AI coding and building | Yes | New | 74 | No | No | Yes |
| 18 | Notion Mail | Productivity | Personal productivity | Yes | -7 | 63 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 19 | ElevenLabs | Operations | AI content and media | Yes | -4 | 55 | Yes | No | Yes |
| 20 | n8n | Operations | AI agents | Yes | New | 52 | No | No | Yes |

## Bottom line

The rapid appearance of new entrants, particularly in development and creative categories like coding assistants and generative media, shows ongoing volatility in the AI stack. To stay ahead, organizations need real-time visibility, updated inventories, and proactive discovery to manage costs, security, and adoption.

## Method

Anonymized, aggregated usage data from companies across industries and sizes, reported as percentages, ranks, and scores. No single organization is identifiable. Methodology: https://www.toriihq.com/research/methodology

## Changelog

- 2026-10-07, Correction: Rewrote the takeaways from this edition's data. The original takeaways were raw analysis notes (evidence lines and statistics) rather than readable findings.
- 2026-10-07, Clarification: Standardized the data source description. Torii Research describes its data as anonymized, aggregated usage data, reported as percentages, ranks, and scores.
- 2026-10-07, Update: Moved from toriiresearch.com; title standardized. Torii Research now lives on toriihq.com. It was first published as "AI Breakout Report: August 2025" at toriiresearch.com/reports/ai-breakout-report-august-2025.

## How to cite

Torii Research. (2025, August 1). AI Breakout: August 2025 [Data set]. Torii. https://www.toriihq.com/research/reports/ai-breakout-august-2025

Data: https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/ai-breakout-august-2025.csv and https://www.toriihq.com/research/data/ai-breakout-august-2025.json