In a surprising strategic pivot during its Q4 2025 earnings call on February 12, 2026, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready claimed that the platform has officially surpassed ChatGPT in monthly search volume.
Despite reporting a financial miss that sent its stock tumbling nearly 20%, the company is attempting to rebrand itself as the world’s leading “discovery-to-purchase” search engine.
The Numbers: 80 Billion vs. 75 Billion
Citing third-party data, Pinterest leadership shared a direct comparison between the two platforms to highlight Pinterest’s massive engagement.
| Platform | Monthly Search Volume | Estimated Commercial Intent |
| 80 Billion | > 50% | |
| ChatGPT | 75 Billion | ~ 2% |
Key Takeaways from the Claim:
- Commercial Intent: Ready argued that while ChatGPT handles millions of informational or creative queries, over half of Pinterest’s searches are “commercial,” meaning users are actively looking to buy or plan for purchases.
- Monthly Clicks: Pinterest reported that these 80 billion searches translate into 1.7 billion monthly clicks to external websites and retailers.
- User Milestone: The platform’s Monthly Active Users (MAUs) hit a record 619 million, growing 12% year-over-year.
The Financial Disconnect
Despite the “stunner” search figures, the market reacted negatively to Pinterest’s actual earnings, highlighting a long-standing challenge: monetizing those billions of searches.
- Q4 Revenue: $1.32 Billion (Missed the $1.33B estimate).
- EPS: 67 cents (Missed the 69 cent estimate).
- Q1 2026 Guidance: Forecasted at $951M–$971M, significantly lower than the $980M Wall Street expected.
- Economic Headwinds: The company blamed the miss on reduced spending by major European advertisers and a new furniture tariff implemented in October that hit its popular home-decor category.
Strategy: AI Without the “Prompting”
To counter the rise of AI chatbots, Pinterest is leaning into multimodal and visual search. Ready noted that features like the Pinterest Assistant (launched in October 2025) help users complete “commercial journeys” without having to type complex prompts, using the platform’s visual data to predict what a user wants as soon as they open the app.
“We’re helping them complete those commercial journeys without having to type in a single prompt.” — Bill Ready, Pinterest CEO.
