Home Blog Insights Travel NewsUber Dominates Bolt in the UK, with a 350% Lead in Monthly Active Users

Uber Dominates Bolt in the UK, with a 350% Lead in Monthly Active Users

by Jim Corridore , Senior Analyst

4 Min. March 21, 2023

Similarweb app data shows Uber firmly entrenched as the ride-share leader in the UK, but Bolt is gaining ground

Uber has seen a slight drop in its engagement in the UK, but maintains a wide lead over second place Bolt, based on Similarweb estimates of Android app engagement, including monthly active users, rank history, and downloads. However, Bolt has closed the gap somewhat in recent months.

Key takeaways

Uber leads in Monthly Active Users (MAU), and that lead has grown over time. Similarweb mobile app analytics shows an Android MAU of 1.7 million in the UK in February 2023, a 350% lead over Bolt’s MAU of 378k. That lead has narrowed slightly from Uber’s 381% advantage in September 2021 and 440% lead in February 2022.
Uber is currently ranked #49 in the UK in the Google store, while Bolt is ranked #86.
Over the past 18 months on Android, Uber downloads totaled 7.5 million, 684% higher than Bolt’s 957k. Over the past two months, that advantage has narrowed. The gap was 105% in February 2023, and 72% in January 2023.

Monthly active users show Uber has a huge lead over Bolt

Similarweb Android data on MAU (monthly active users) in the United Kingdom shows that Uber has a huge lead over Bolt, but that lead has narrowed somewhat over time. This shows how often users are searching for and booking rides.

The gap in Jan. 2021 was 1.1 million monthly active users (1.2 mil. vs. 118k or a gap of 900%), but by February 2023 that gap had narrowed to 1.3 million (1.7 mil. MAU vs. 378k, for a gap of 342%). So while Uber has seen its MAU on Android devices rise by 42% over that time period, Bolt had growth of 223%, leading to a narrowing of the gap, though Uber still maintains a huge advantage.

App store ranking swings wildly between Uber and Bolt

One sign that Bolt is making up some ground on Uber is their wildly swinging changes in ranking on the Android app store over the past 12 months. As of March 18, 2023, Similarweb data shows Uber’s app store ranking was 49, versus Bolt’s 86. However, at times over the past year, Bolt’s app store ranking exceeded that of Uber, showing that Bolt has made some serious inroads.

While Uber has led in app store ranking most of the time over the past year, at times in August 2022, Bolt had the better app store ranking. You can see the changes over time on the chart below.

Android download data shows both Uber and Bolt trending downward

Similarweb data on downloads over time shows that Uber has maintained a lead on Bolt on this important dynamic, but both companies are seeing their downloads decline over time. For February 2023, Uber had 314k million downloads on Android devices, versus 153K for Bolt, a gap of 105%. Back in March 2022, Uber had 455k million downloads versus 221k million for Bolt, a gap of 106%.

So the gap in downloads has remained relatively steady over time, but downloads have been trending lower for both.

Install penetration rate also favors Uber

With its install penetration rate on Android, Uber maintains a solid lead over Bolt. In February 2023 Uber’s install penetration rate was 35%, versus 12% for Bolt. That gap has remained mostly steady over time. Back in March 2022, Uber’s install penetration rate was 33%, versus 8% for Bolt.Uber

Uber (NYSE:UBER) is publicly traded, but Bolt is privately owned.

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Methodology

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