Opera reaches 100 million monthly active PC users

Opera says its PC browsers reached 100 million monthly active users in October 2026, up 16% year over year. The company is expanding its differentiated browser portfolio alongside AI integrations and local AI capabilities.

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In a November 5, 2026 announcement, Opera said its PC browsers reached 100 million monthly active users in October 2026. The milestone represents a 16% increase compared with the same month last year, with 14 million monthly users added over the preceding 12 months.

It is the first time Opera has reached that level on PC. Desktop users now account for more than one-third of the approximately 290 million people using its desktop and mobile browsers each month. The figures measure monthly active users rather than downloads or the total number of installations.

A differentiated browser portfolio

The announcement comes as Opera seeks to strengthen its position in Europe and North America. The company describes those regions as markets where pre-installed browsers remain widely used, making differentiation central to its efforts to attract people willing to switch.

Rather than relying on one product to address every audience, Opera offers several PC browsers built around distinct needs. Opera One is its flagship, with an emphasis on productivity and customization. Opera GX targets gaming users, while Opera Air offers a more minimalist browsing experience. Opera Neon focuses on AI-powered, agentic browsing.

Krystian Kolondra, Opera’s executive vice president for browsers and AI, said the company would continue developing features intended to improve users’ everyday browsing experience. Its strategy centers on specialized products and functionality as reasons to choose an alternative to a computer’s default browser.

AI integration and local processing

Opera also highlighted two approaches to bringing AI into the browser. Browser Connector allows users to choose which browser context they share with assistants such as ChatGPT and Claude. The feature links the browser with an external assistant while leaving the context-sharing decision with the user.

WebAI takes a different approach by allowing websites and extensions to use AI models running on the user’s computer. Requests handled by those local models can be processed on the device without being sent to a cloud-based model.

Opera says local processing is intended to support privacy and responsiveness. The company also describes permission controls: models are downloaded only after the relevant feature is enabled, and websites must obtain permission before accessing them.

These are separate capabilities. Sharing selected browser context with an assistant through Browser Connector is not the same operation as running an AI model locally through WebAI.

Opera plans to continue investing in product development and its presence in Western markets. The 100 million-user milestone gives the company a larger desktop audience as it pursues that strategy.

Sources: Opera official announcement, Opera press release. Image: Opera / adapted from the official press image.