metric_category: benchmark

claim: Exstats reported 178,299 active Chrome Web Store extensions in March 2026.

source_title: Chrome vs Firefox vs Edge: Browser Extension Market in Q1 2026

source_quality: strong

methodology: Daily parsing of public extension-store data.

caveat: Exstats active-listing count can differ from other crawlers because crawl scope and definitions vary.


claim: Exstats reported 83,465 Firefox Add-ons and 28,741 Microsoft Edge Add-ons in March 2026.

methodology: Daily parsing of public store data across Chrome, Firefox and Edge.

caveat: Store definitions and public availability differ by ecosystem.


claim: Exstats reported Firefox extension listings grew 74.16% year over year from March 2025 to March 2026, compared with 22.70% for Chrome and 21.55% for Edge.

methodology: Year-over-year listing comparison in the Exstats Q1 2026 dataset.

caveat: Growth in listings is not the same as growth in paid demand.


claim: Exstats reported Chrome added 38,015 new extensions and removed 7,890 in Q1 2026, for net growth of 30,125 listings.

methodology: Q1 2026 gross new, deleted and net new listing counts.

caveat: Listing growth can include low-adoption products.


claim: Exstats reported Chrome had a net loss of 27,249 listings in Q4 2025 before rebounding in Q1 2026.

methodology: Quarterly net-new comparison between Q4 2025 and Q1 2026.

caveat: Deletion waves may reflect policy or compliance resets, not demand collapse.


claim: Exstats reported Chrome removed 47,288 extensions in October 2025.

methodology: Monthly listing and deletion table from September 2025 through March 2026.

caveat: The source connects the deletion wave to platform cleanup context but does not prove one cause for every deletion.


claim: Exstats reported Chrome's extension total fell from 175,423 in September 2025 to 134,888 in October 2025, then recovered to 178,299 by March 2026.

methodology: Monthly extension listing totals from Exstats.

caveat: Store total is a supply metric, not a monetization metric.


claim: Exstats reported the median Chrome extension had 18 users in Q1 2026.

methodology: Public store usersCount distribution.

caveat: Chrome usersCount is an adoption metric, not revenue or active usage.


claim: Exstats reported the median Edge add-on had 62 active installs and the median Firefox add-on had one average daily user.

methodology: Closest public adoption metric for each extension store.

caveat: Chrome, Edge and Firefox adoption metrics are not directly equivalent.


claim: Exstats reported 70.4% of Chrome extensions had 100 users or fewer in Q1 2026.

methodology: Adoption bucket distribution from public store data.

caveat: A low-user listing can still be a private, enterprise or niche product.


metric_category: activation

claim: Exstats reported 56.8% of Edge add-ons and 89.4% of Firefox add-ons had 100 users or fewer based on each store's closest adoption metric.

methodology: Cross-store adoption bucket distribution.

caveat: Firefox averageDailyUsers is stricter than a visible install count.


claim: Exstats reported 14.10% of Chrome extensions had zero users, 28.15% had 1 to 10 users, and 28.17% had 11 to 100 users.

methodology: Chrome adoption buckets in the Exstats Q1 2026 report.

caveat: UsersCount is a public store metric and should not be read as paid users.


claim: Exstats reported 20.66% of Chrome extensions had 101 to 1,000 users, 6.29% had 1,001 to 10,000 users, and 2.63% had more than 10,000 users.

caveat: User thresholds do not imply revenue without a monetization model.


claim: Exstats reported Chrome's largest categories by listing count were Tools with 65,135 listings, Workflow & Planning with 32,175 listings, and Developer tools with 17,551 listings.

methodology: Category listing counts in March 2026.

caveat: Category naming differs by store.


claim: Exstats reported 49.8% of Chrome listings had at least one rating and 43.0% had at least one review.

methodology: Rating and review coverage table from Q1 2026.

caveat: Review coverage is not the same as customer satisfaction or paid conversion.


claim: Exstats reported the average rating among rated Chrome listings was 4.56, compared with 4.27 on Edge and 4.15 on Firefox.

methodology: Rated-only average score comparison.

caveat: Unrated listings are excluded from the rated-only average.


claim: Exstats reported 30.80% of active Chrome extensions were updated within the last 90 days as of March 31, 2026.

methodology: Maintenance freshness table as of March 31, 2026.

caveat: Fresh updates can indicate maintenance but do not prove revenue.


claim: Exstats reported 62.58% of active Chrome extensions were updated within the last 365 days, compared with 48.20% of Firefox add-ons and 38.65% of Edge add-ons.

caveat: Maintenance freshness is a trust and competition signal, not a monetization rate.


claim: Exstats reported average update intervals of 103 days for Chrome extensions, 127 days for Edge add-ons, and 111 days for Firefox add-ons.

methodology: Average update interval table in the Q1 2026 report.

caveat: Update cadence may vary by product type.


claim: Google's Chrome Web Store payments deprecation page says Chrome Web Store payments are deprecated and affected developers need to migrate to another payments processor.

source_title: Chrome Web Store payments deprecation

methodology: Official Chrome for Developers deprecation documentation.

caveat: This concerns Google's store payment rails, not whether developers can charge externally.


claim: Google said new paid Chrome Web Store items were temporarily disabled on March 27, 2020.

methodology: Official deprecation timeline.

caveat: Timeline date, not a current market-share number.


claim: Google said developers could no longer create new paid extensions or in-app items on September 21, 2020.

caveat: This does not prohibit external payment processors if policy obligations are met.


claim: Google said Chrome Web Store free trials were disabled on December 1, 2020.

caveat: External free trials can still be implemented outside Chrome Web Store payments.


metric_category: conversion

claim: Google said existing Chrome Web Store items and in-app purchases could no longer charge money through Chrome Web Store payments on February 1, 2021.

caveat: Previously paid purchases and subscriptions could still be queried for licensing status for a period.


claim: Google said subscriptions tied to Chrome Web Store payments would not auto-renew after the February 1, 2021 payment shutdown milestone.

caveat: Applies to Chrome Web Store payments, not external subscription systems.


metric_category: ratio

claim: Google's migration guidance says affected developers need to migrate both payment processing and license tracking.

methodology: Official deprecation and license-migration guidance.

caveat: Migration difficulty depends on the old billing model and user account design.


claim: Google's Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says developers must pay a registration fee before publishing products on the Web Store.

source_title: Google Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement

methodology: Official developer agreement.

caveat: The agreement references a registration fee but the captured text does not state the fee amount.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement covers both products distributed for free and products for which developers charge a fee.

methodology: Official pricing and payments section.

caveat: Policy coverage is not the same as Google providing payment processing.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says developers who charge for a product assume responsibility and liability for related transactions, authentication, records and taxes.

caveat: Legal wording should be checked by counsel for production policy decisions.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says Google has no obligation to track or process payments, authenticate paid downloads, maintain payment records or handle taxes for paid products.

caveat: This is a platform responsibility claim, not a revenue benchmark.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says free trial versions with an upsell option to obtain the full version are encouraged.

caveat: This must be read with current payment and policy requirements.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says paid-product support inquiries must be answered within three business days.

methodology: Official support obligation in the pricing and payments section.

caveat: Urgent Google-stated concerns have a shorter response requirement.


claim: The Chrome Web Store Developer Agreement says urgent support or product concerns stated by Google must be answered within 24 hours.

caveat: This is a compliance burden to consider before charging.


claim: Chrome Web Store metrics documentation says developers can track acquisition with daily install reports and churn with daily uninstall analytics.

source_title: Analyze your store listing metrics

methodology: Official metrics documentation.

caveat: Install and uninstall metrics do not directly report paid conversion.


claim: Chrome Web Store metrics documentation says impression metrics track users discovering an extension while searching or browsing the Chrome Web Store.

caveat: Impressions measure discovery, not installation or payment.


claim: Chrome Web Store metrics documentation says the Users stat captures installations and does not monitor whether users are active.

caveat: This is a critical caveat when using public store user counts for monetization estimates.


claim: Chrome Web Store metrics documentation says developers can opt in to Google Analytics 4 for store item metrics.

caveat: Google Analytics access is non-user-level data managed through the Chrome Web Store account flow.


claim: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy says any affiliate program must be described prominently in the product's Chrome Web Store page, user interface and before installation.

source_title: Affiliate Ads

methodology: Official affiliate policy page.

caveat: Disclosure alone is not enough; user benefit and related action are also required.


claim: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy says affiliate links, codes or cookies must only be included when the extension provides a direct and transparent user benefit related to core functionality.

caveat: Policy applies to affiliate behavior, not to subscription paywalls.


claim: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy says inserting affiliate links when no discount, cashback or donation is provided is a common violation.

methodology: Official affiliate policy examples.

caveat: The policy gives examples and does not exhaust every possible violation.


claim: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy says continuously injecting affiliate links in the background without related user action is a common violation.

caveat: Affiliate monetization should be designed as explicit user-facing value, not invisible tracking.


claim: Chrome Web Store affiliate policy says related user action is required before each affiliate code, link or cookie is included.

caveat: This raises the compliance bar for shopping and coupon extensions.


claim: ExtensionPay says it supports monthly, quarterly, yearly and one-time payments for browser extensions.

source_title: Monetize Chrome extensions with payments

source_quality: medium

methodology: Vendor product page.

caveat: Capability claim from a vendor, not a market adoption statistic.


claim: ExtensionPay says it supports free trials, multi-browser login and multi-device login for extension payments.

caveat: The capability depends on using ExtensionPay's implementation path.


claim: ExtensionPay says extension developers have made over $500,000 with ExtensionPay.

methodology: Vendor-published revenue claim.

caveat: Vendor aggregate claim. It does not reveal the number of developers, distribution, median revenue or timeframe.


claim: ExtensionPay says it integrates with Stripe for global payments.

caveat: Payment availability can vary by Stripe account region and compliance status.


claim: ExtensionPay says it supports Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Brave and Chromium-based browsers.

caveat: Cross-browser monetization still requires store-specific compliance and testing.


claim: ExtensionPay says developers can charge in more than 135 currencies.

caveat: Currency support is not the same as tax handling or merchant-of-record coverage.


claim: ExtensionPay's captured pricing page says there are no monthly fees and a 5% transaction fee at the time of charge.

methodology: Vendor pricing text captured on May 13, 2026.

caveat: Pricing can change and high-volume accounts may have different terms.


claim: DebugBear's Chrome Web Store crawl found 137,345 Chrome extensions and 39,263 themes, or 176,608 items in total.

source_title: Counting Chrome Extensions - Chrome Web Store Statistics

methodology: DebugBear public Chrome Web Store crawl originally collected in May 2020.

caveat: Historical benchmark and rough estimate; not a 2026 active-listing count.


claim: DebugBear reported that 70% of Chrome extensions had fewer than 100 users in its crawl, but those extensions made up less than 0.1% of installs.

methodology: Historical Chrome Web Store crawl.

caveat: Useful as historical support for long-tail concentration, not as a current 2026 count.


claim: DebugBear reported a median install count of 17 and an average of 12,304 users per extension in its crawl.

caveat: Chrome did not report precise install counts, and high-install buckets were capped.


claim: DebugBear counted at least 1.69 billion installs across Chrome extensions in its crawl.

methodology: Historical Chrome Web Store crawl using public install buckets.

caveat: Real total was likely higher because Chrome capped large install buckets at 10M+.


claim: DebugBear reported that 17 of the 20 most popular Chrome extensions in its crawl had more than 10 million installs.

methodology: Top-extension table in the historical crawl.

caveat: Popularity leaders are not representative of the median extension.


claim: DebugBear estimated that about 4.7% of Chrome extensions supported some kind of payment in its historical crawl.

methodology: Historical free-vs-paid analysis of Chrome Web Store listings.

caveat: This predates the Chrome Web Store payments shutdown, so do not treat it as a current paid-share benchmark.


claim: DebugBear reported that in most categories 1% to 3% of extensions were paid in its historical crawl.

methodology: Historical free-vs-paid category analysis.

caveat: The Fun category was an outlier, and current external-payment monetization will not match old Chrome Web Store payment metadata.


claim: DebugBear reported the Fun category was an outlier with 15% paid extensions in its historical crawl.

caveat: Old category behavior should not be generalized to 2026 subscription or affiliate models.


claim: DebugBear reported that 89% of one-off Chrome extension prices in its historical crawl were $0.99.

methodology: Historical pricing analysis.

caveat: Chrome Web Store's old one-off paid model differs from modern external subscriptions and license keys.


metric_category: revenue

claim: NicheCheck estimates that freemium or subscription accounts for about 35% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $500 to $5,000.

source_title: Chrome Extension Market Size & Statistics 2026

source_quality: low

methodology: Secondary monetization-model estimate table.

caveat: Directional estimate with limited methodology transparency.


claim: NicheCheck estimates advertising accounts for about 25% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $200 to $2,000.


claim: NicheCheck estimates one-time purchases account for about 15% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $300 to $1,500.

caveat: Directional estimate; modern one-time purchases typically use external payments, not Chrome Web Store payments.


claim: NicheCheck estimates affiliate or referral monetization accounts for about 10% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $200 to $3,000.

caveat: Affiliate models must satisfy Chrome Web Store affiliate policy requirements.


claim: NicheCheck estimates donations account for about 8% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $50 to $500.


claim: NicheCheck estimates enterprise licensing accounts for about 5% of monetized Chrome extensions, with average monthly revenue of about $2,000 to $20,000.

caveat: Enterprise licensing is likely concentrated in B2B workflow, security and admin products.


claim: NicheCheck estimates data licensing accounts for about 2% of monetized Chrome extensions.

caveat: Data licensing has higher privacy, consent and compliance risk than simple paid features.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 50% of monetized Chrome extensions make under $100 per month.

methodology: Secondary revenue-tier estimate table.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 20% of monetized Chrome extensions make $100 to $500 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 15% of monetized Chrome extensions make $500 to $2,000 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 10% of monetized Chrome extensions make $2,000 to $10,000 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 5% of monetized Chrome extensions make more than $10,000 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates about 30% of monetized extensions earn enough to cover development and hosting costs, while about 70% make negligible revenue or none.

caveat: Directional estimate; not independently audited in the captured source.


claim: NicheCheck estimates top-10% SEO and marketing Chrome extensions can average $5,000 to $15,000 per month, with subscription pricing around $15 to $30 per month.

methodology: Secondary category revenue estimate table.

caveat: Use as directional category context only.


claim: NicheCheck estimates top-10% developer-tool Chrome extensions can average $3,000 to $10,000 per month, with freemium pricing around $5 to $15 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates top-10% productivity Chrome extensions can average $2,000 to $8,000 per month, with freemium pricing around $3 to $7 per month.


claim: NicheCheck estimates top-10% shopping and coupon Chrome extensions can average $5,000 to $50,000 per month, with affiliate commissions as the best-fit model.

caveat: Affiliate revenue must be read alongside Chrome Web Store affiliate policy restrictions.


claim: NicheCheck estimates top-10% privacy and security Chrome extensions can average $500 to $3,000 per month, with freemium or donations as common monetization paths.

caveat: Privacy and security products face extra trust and data-handling scrutiny.