Meta's Muse AI agent downloads are surging. Here's how it compares to ChatGPT, Grok and Claude

Meta's Muse AI personal agent tool has only been available for nearly two weeks, yet it's already topping the app store charts. As of Monday, Meta's Muse app ranks ahead of ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Meta's own Meta AI app on Apple's iOS free app store in the U.S.

Muse overtook ChatGPT as the leading iOS free app on Friday and accumulated 730,000 downloads within its first five days after launching on September 8, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. As of Monday, it had logged over 2.5 million total downloads since launch—approximately 1.5 million on iOS and 1.1 million on Android.

In a 13-day post-launch window, Muse's cumulative downloads exceeded both Claude (400,000 downloads) and Grok (200,000 downloads), though ChatGPT recorded 3.1 million downloads during the same period. The analytics firm noted that staggered platform releases across Apple and Google Play affected these comparisons.

Meta markets Muse as a tool for managing digital assistants capable of executing tasks across the web, including filling electronic forms and organizing email inboxes. Powered by Meta's Muse Spark family of AI models, the app represents CEO Mark Zuckerberg's major entry into the AI agent market, which OpenClaw helped popularize among developers and technology enthusiasts earlier this year.

"Most agentic use cases have not really been for normal people up to this point," Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon told CNBC. "Now you've got Meta's Muse and other agents that are starting to maybe get more potential for more broad-based adoption."

Meta's stock surged more than 11% on Monday following the announcement, prompting Wells Fargo to raise its price target to $796. While Muse remains free, Meta is offering premium monthly subscriptions at $20 or $100 depending on usage—a revenue stream independent of its core advertising business.

However, Muse's debut coincides with growing industry concerns about AI safety and cybersecurity. Meta also recently agreed to pay approximately $17 billion to settle a coalition of state attorneys general lawsuit alleging harm to children and teenagers through its platforms.

The app's longevity remains uncertain, given that previous AI services like OpenAI's Sora and Meta's own Vibes video tool experienced initial booms before fading. "They care about security, I don't know how much they care about privacy," Rasgon noted regarding Muse's data collection practices.

Amazon has blocked Muse from accessing its shopping site, citing privacy and security concerns. Amazon stated it was not given advance notice of Muse's access attempt and raised several issues: the agent bypasses built-in personalization features, appears to capture and store customer credentials, and scrapes account data. An Amazon spokesperson stated that third-party applications offering to make purchases on behalf of customers should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about participation.

Shopify, by contrast, is partnering with Meta on Muse access. Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke announced Monday that the e-commerce platform would work with Muse to enable agentic checkout in its stores.