"Which is more popular?" sounds like a simple question until you try to answer it. Sales numbers are private. Follower counts are bought. Search scores are relative. Most comparisons online are somebody's opinion with a chart pasted on.
Here's a method that's fair, free, and repeatable: compare how many people read about each thing on Wikipedia, month by month, for five years. I made a free Google Sheet that does it in one step, the Wikipedia Trends Tracker.
The short answer
To compare the popularity of two things, chart the monthly Wikipedia page views of each article side by side over several years. Page views are real counts of human readers, published free by Wikimedia. Paste both Wikipedia links into the Trends Tracker template and it draws the chart for you.
Why Wikipedia readers are a fair measure
- Same yardstick for both. One source, one method, one scale. Brands can't buy Wikipedia readers.
- It's interest, not just buzz. People open a Wikipedia article when they want to understand something, not just when they see a headline.
- It works across categories. Apps, sports, foods, people, companies, places. If it has an article, it has a number.
- History is free. You get every month back to 2015, so you can see who was ahead, and when that changed.
How to compare two things, step by step
- Find the Wikipedia article for each thing. Use the exact article, not a disambiguation page. "Obsidian" is volcanic glass; the note app is "Obsidian (software)".
- Get the free template from the Trend Tracker page and make a copy.
- Open the Controls tab. It's the first one.
- Paste one link into Page 1 and the other into Page 2.
- Set Range to All time and Daily or monthly to Monthly.
- Click Fetch views + chart. The first time, Google asks you to allow the script.
- Read the big chart first: whose line is higher, and is the gap growing or shrinking?
- Then look at the smaller line. If the bigger one flattens it, the Views tab has every month's number for each page. To see the smaller line's shape, chart its column on its own.
A real example: Notion vs Obsidian
Two note-taking apps with very loyal fans. From Wikimedia's API (English Wikipedia, human readers):
- In 2023, the Notion article had about 434,000 views. Obsidian's had about 204,000. Notion was ahead by roughly two to one.
- From January to September 2026, Obsidian had about 226,000 views and Notion about 156,000. Obsidian was ahead every one of those months.
So the answer to "which is more popular?" depends on when you asked, and the chart shows exactly when it flipped. The live version is on the Notion vs Obsidian page.
How to read the result honestly
- Compare like with like. A brand article vs a product article isn't fair. Xbox vs PlayStation means the brand pages, not one console vs a whole brand.
- Look at the trend, not one month. A single news spike can put the smaller thing on top for a month.
- Remember what it measures. Readers, not customers. A thing everyone already understands can have fewer readers than a newer, more confusing thing.
- Check for renames. If one line drops to near zero, the article probably moved. Add both titles.
More comparisons to try
A few I've already charted with live data: Coke vs Pepsi, Dogs vs Cats, iPhone vs Android, and Instagram vs TikTok. Need three at once? The template takes up to five.
FAQ
Is Wikipedia page views a good measure of popularity?
It's a good measure of public interest: how many people wanted to read about something. It's not a measure of sales or usage. Use it alongside other numbers you trust.
What if one of the two things doesn't have a Wikipedia article?
Then you can't compare them this way. Try the nearest article that does exist, such as the company instead of a single product.
Why does the smaller line look flat?
On a shared axis, a big topic flattens a small one into a line along the bottom. The Views tab has every month's number for each page. To see the smaller line's shape, chart its column on its own.
Settle your own "which is more popular?" question. Get the free Wikipedia Trends Tracker and paste two links.
