50 of the world's most successful websites, across 19 categories from search and social media to shopping, reference and AI. Each entry says when the site launched, who founded and owns it, how it makes money and why it won, with checked numbers and a link to every source. Text only, no images or videos. Last checked 1 November 2026.
A marketplace where hosts rent out homes, rooms and unique stays to travellers. Guests use it to book places to stay and experiences in over 220 countries and regions.
Why it succeeded
Airbnb says its story began in 2007, when two hosts let three guests stay in their San Francisco home. The Airbedandbreakfast.com website launched on 11 August 2008. By March 2009 it had 10,000 users and 2,500 listings, and by October 2019 two million people were staying with Airbnb on a given night. It listed on Nasdaq on 10 December 2020. It earns service fees on bookings.
By the numbers
148.3 millionnights and seats booked in the quarter (up 10% on the year before) (Q2 2026)
A Chinese online marketplace where mostly small sellers list goods for buyers around the world. It is a platform only and does not sell products itself.
Why it succeeded
It went live in 2010 as a portal for selling single items to buyers worldwide. Since 2013 it moved away from small wholesale deals and towards ordinary shoppers. It also put money into logistics and payments, and in Russia postal delivery times fell from weeks to roughly 5 to 7 days, according to Wikipedia. In its June 2026 quarter results Alibaba said AliExpress made an operating profit.
By the numbers
RMB117,731 million (US$17,067 million)alibaba international commerce retail revenue (includes aliexpress and lazada), up 9% on the year before (Fiscal year 2026 (ended March 2026))
A huge online store where people buy products sold by Amazon itself and by outside sellers. The same company also runs subscriptions, advertising and the AWS cloud business.
Why it succeeded
Jeff Bezos started the company in 1994 in Bellevue, Washington, under the name Cadabra, and the amazon.com site went live in July 1995. Today the money comes from many places at once: Amazon's own online stores, fees from third-party sellers, subscriptions, advertising and AWS. In the quarter to September 2026 the third-party seller services line alone was bigger than $46 billion.
By the numbers
$201.9 billion ($201,944 million)net sales in the quarter (Q3 2026)
China's leading search engine. People use it to search the web in Chinese, and the company also runs AI cloud and app products.
Why it succeeded
Robin Li had built an earlier search technology called RankDex in 1996, and Baidu was set up as a company in January 2000 by Li and Eric Xu. In 2001 it let advertisers bid for ad space and pay each time someone clicked, which became its main money engine. Wikipedia puts its share of China's search market at about 76%. It is listed on Nasdaq and the Hong Kong exchange.
By the numbers
644 millionbaidu app monthly active users (June 2026)
The online home of the British Broadcasting Corporation, with news, sport, video and radio. bbc.com is the international edition and bbc.co.uk serves the UK.
Why it succeeded
BBC Online officially launched in April 1997 and sat on top of an already famous public broadcaster founded in 1922. At home it was funded mainly by the UK television licence fee, so it started free of ads. The BBC bought the bbc.com domain in 1999 for $375,000, and banner ads were added in November 2007. Its World Service gives it reach well beyond the UK.
By the numbers
502 millionglobal weekly audience across bbc news, world service and bbc studios content (2025/26 (BBC figures reported July 2026))
208 millionweekly reach of bbc english-language news (world service english, bbc.com and the bbc news channel combined) (2025/26 (BBC figures reported July 2026))
A Chinese video community known for anime, games, vlogs and user-made videos, with comments that scroll across the video.
Why it succeeded
It started in 2009 as a fan site for Hatsune Miku and took the Bilibili name in 2010. It grew around a young audience that loves anime, games and user-made content, then added a paid membership in 2016, mobile games and original programming. It listed on NASDAQ in 2018 and on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2021.
Microsoft's web search engine. People use it for web, image, video and news search, and for AI chat answers built into search.
Why it succeeded
Microsoft launched Bing on 3 June 2009 to replace Live Search, which itself grew out of MSN Search from 1998. In February 2011 it passed Yahoo in US search share for the first time. In 2023 Microsoft added AI chat to Bing, and it then said the service had grown past 100 million daily active users. Wikipedia also notes it is the second-largest search engine in the world.
By the numbers
More than 100 milliondaily active users (May 2023)
A travel site for booking hotels, apartments and other places to stay around the world. It is one of the brands of Booking Holdings.
Why it succeeded
It began in 1996 as Bookings.nl, started by a University of Twente student. In 2000 it merged with Bookings Online and took the Booking.com name. Priceline Group, now Booking Holdings, bought it in July 2005 for $133 million and later merged it with ActiveHotels.com. Wikipedia notes the deal has been called one of the best acquisitions in internet history. In 2020 the US Supreme Court ruled the Booking.com name could be trademarked.
By the numbers
$186.1 billiongross travel bookings across all booking holdings brands (booking.com, priceline, agoda, kayak and opentable) (2025)
An online design tool where people make social posts, presentations, documents and videos from templates, free or on a paid plan.
Why it succeeded
Canva was released in August 2013 and had more than 750,000 users in its first year. It reached profitability in 2017 with 294,000 paying customers. Its co-founder and COO said annual recurring revenue hit $4 billion by the end of 2025, and more than 31 million people were paying by then.
An AI chatbot from OpenAI that answers questions, writes and edits text, and works with images and voice. People use it for everything from homework and coding help to everyday research.
Why it succeeded
ChatGPT went public on 30 November 2022 and was among the first chatbots that regular people could just try for free. It reached 100 million monthly active users within two months. OpenAI runs it as a freemium product, with paid tiers on top, and in 2026 it began testing ads in the free version for adults in the US.
A plain, free-to-browse classifieds site for jobs, housing, items for sale, services and community posts, organised by city.
Why it succeeded
Craig Newmark started it in 1995 as an email list to friends about Bay Area events. It became a website in 1996 and began spreading to other US and Canadian cities in 2000. Wikipedia describes it as having no advertising and optional sign-up, and says it ran with only about 50 staff in 2019. Most posting is free; fees apply to categories such as jobs in many areas, dealers and some apartment listings.
A chat, voice and video app built around communities called servers, first popular with gamers and now used by many other groups of friends and fans.
Why it succeeded
Jason Citron, who started a game studio in 2012, was joined by Stanislav Vishnevskiy in 2013. They released Discord in May 2015 as a chat app for gamers. By its third anniversary in 2018 it had 130 million registered users. Humam Sakhnini took over as CEO in April 2025, and Bloomberg reported in January 2026 that the company had confidentially filed for an IPO.
A cloud storage and file sync service for keeping files, sharing them and working on them with other people, on free and paid plans.
Why it succeeded
Two MIT students, Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, founded the company in May 2007 and launched Dropbox at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2008. It grew to 700 million registered users by 2021 and went public on Nasdaq on March 23, 2018. Revenue was US$2.52 billion in 2025.
A privacy-focused search engine and browser. People use it to search without being tracked or profiled.
Why it succeeded
Gabriel Weinberg launched DuckDuckGo on 25 September 2008 and built it around not collecting personal data. Its ads mostly come from the Yahoo-Bing network and are matched to the words in a search, not to a user profile. It passed 100 million searches in a single day in January 2021, and in April 2024 it added a paid subscription.
By the numbers
102.2 milliondirect searches in a single day (record cited by wikipedia) (2021-01-11)
A free language-learning app and website built around short, game-like lessons. People use it to pick up a new language a few minutes a day.
Why it succeeded
Duolingo opened in private beta in late 2011 and went fully public in June 2012. The core app is free and supported by ads, while paid plans remove ads and add features, and in-app purchases add more income. The company listed on Nasdaq under DUOL after filing for its IPO in June 2021.
An online marketplace where people and businesses sell new and used goods, by auction or at a fixed price. Buyers use it for everything from collectibles to everyday items.
Why it succeeded
Pierre Omidyar started it as AuctionWeb in September 1995 and the name changed to eBay in 1997. Sellers pay a commission when something sells, so the site earns when trades happen. It grew fast: about 500,000 users in 1998 and 22.5 million registered users by the end of 2000. It listed on the stock market in September 1998.
By the numbers
$23.2 billiongross merchandise volume in the quarter (Q3 2026)
An online marketplace for handmade, vintage and craft goods, run by independent sellers. Buyers use it to find things that mass retailers do not stock.
Why it succeeded
Etsy launched in 2005 and kept adding tools to help sellers get seen, such as tag-based categories and search options, plus a Shop Local tool. It hit its one-millionth sale on 29 July 2007. By its 2015 stock market listing it had 54 million members and $1.93 billion in sales for 2014. Etsy sold Depop to eBay on 30 July 2026, so its results now cover the Etsy marketplace only.
By the numbers
$2.6 billiongross merchandise sales in the quarter (etsy marketplace, up 8.8% on the year before) (Q3 2026)
A social network where people keep up with friends and family, join groups, follow pages and share posts, photos and video.
Why it succeeded
Zuckerberg and four fellow Harvard students launched it on 4 February 2004, and it spread from there into a network used worldwide. Meta, the company that owns it, says Facebook changed the way people connect. TechCrunch reported in July 2023 that Facebook had passed 3 billion monthly active users, and it sits at the centre of Meta's family of apps.
By the numbers
More than 3 billionfacebook monthly active users (Q2 2023, reported 2023-07-26)
A platform where developers store, share and collaborate on code. Teams use it to manage projects, review changes and run automated workflows.
Why it succeeded
GitHub launched on 10 April 2008 and grew from over 100,000 users in 2009 to over 100 million developers by January 2023. Microsoft announced it would buy GitHub for US$7.5 billion on 4 June 2018, and the deal closed on 26 October 2018. It has free and paid tiers, plus self-managed Enterprise deployments for big companies.
By the numbers
More than 225 milliondevelopers on github (12 months ending 30 September 2026)
The world's most used search engine. People type a question or a few keywords and get ranked web results, plus maps, images, news and AI answers.
Why it succeeded
Page and Brin built the early search engine as Stanford students, and it became the first product of the company they started in 1998. Google says it now sees more than 5 trillion searches a year, and Wikipedia estimates it holds about 90% of the global search market. Alphabet reported Search and other revenue of over $63 billion in Q3 2026 alone.
By the numbers
$63,350 million, up 12% year over yeargoogle search and other revenues (one quarter) (Q3 2026)
Added 1 November 2026 · Last checked 1 November 2026
Every entry is written up from the linked sources and re-checked on the date shown. "Successful" here means a website that ranks among the most visited in the world or leads its category by users or revenue. Numbers are as reported by each source, often the company itself, for the period shown, so treat them as claims, not audited results. Owners, traffic and revenue change, so check the source before you rely on a figure. Spot something out of date? Tell us and it will be fixed. Company and product names belong to their owners, and we are not affiliated with any of them.
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