OpenAI’s Sora app, designed for AI-generated videos, has quickly become a sensation, even though it currently operates on an invite-only basis and is only accessible to users in the U.S. and Canada. On its launch day, Sora was downloaded 56,000 times and has since climbed to the No. 3 spot among all apps on the U.S. App Store, according to recent statistics from app analytics company Appfigures.
Appfigures estimates that Sora’s iOS application accumulated 164,000 downloads in its first two days, specifically on September 30th and October 1st.
With these numbers, Sora’s initial launch outperformed other prominent AI app debuts, such as Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot, and matched the launch of xAI’s Grok. However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini iOS apps had even more impressive starts, each surpassing 80,000 downloads on their first day.
Given that Sora is still only available by invitation, this comparison may not be entirely fair. There’s a good chance that the app would have seen even higher download numbers if it had been open to everyone from the start.
Despite these limitations, Sora’s launch has been notably strong, suggesting that there is significant interest among users for AI-powered video tools with a social media feel. (This enthusiasm isn’t shared by everyone at OpenAI, as some prefer the company to prioritize more challenging issues that could have a broader impact on humanity. Still, who’s to say that society doesn’t benefit from seeing deepfake videos of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joking, “Are my piggies enjoying their slop?”)
To accurately compare Sora’s early performance with other AI apps, Appfigures analyzed only the U.S. and Canadian downloads for each app. This was necessary because different AI apps have taken varied approaches to their launches. For example, ChatGPT’s initial iOS release was limited to U.S. users, while Grok’s iOS launch was restricted to the U.S., Australia, and India. Anthropic, on the other hand, did not specify any regional restrictions when it introduced Claude to iOS last year.
For a more direct comparison, Appfigures focused its analysis on U.S. downloads and included Canadian numbers when the app was available there at launch.
The data revealed that ChatGPT and Gemini both had stronger launches than Sora, with 81,000 and 80,000 iOS downloads on day one, respectively. Sora’s first-day downloads matched Grok’s at 56,000, and both outpaced the launches of Claude and Copilot, which saw 21,000 and 7,000 downloads, respectively, on their first day.
Sora also quickly rose in the U.S. App Store rankings, reaching the No. 3 overall position by its second day. For context, ChatGPT hit No. 1 on its second day, Grok reached No. 4, Gemini landed at No. 6, Copilot was at No. 19, and Claude came in at No. 78.