Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) represents a major threat to human and animal health. Part of the AMR dimension is the circulation of extended-spectrum β-lactamases producing-
Escherichia coli
(ESBL-
E. coli
), which is now commonly reported among companion animals. However, the global perspective of the prevalence and population structure of ESBL-
E. coli
circulating in dogs and cats has not been estimated limiting our understanding of their role in the dissemination of ESBL-
E. coli
. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of ESBL-
E. coli
between dogs and cats and across countries through meta-analysis. We also performed a scoping review to summarize the current knowledge on ESBL genes and
E. coli
clones circulating among companion animals. A total of 128 studies published in PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus up to April 2020 were selected and contained information on prevalence and/or molecular characterization of ESBL genes and ESBL-
E. coli
clones. Our review shows an increase in the number of publications between 2000 and 2019, concentrated mainly in Europe. Prevalence varied across continents, ranging from 0.63% (Oceania) to 16.56% (Africa) in dogs and from 0% (Oceania) to 16.82% (Asia) in cats. Although there were twice as many studies reporting prevalence on dogs (
n
= 61) than on cats (
n
= 32), and only 9 studies focused exclusively on cats, our meta-analysis showed no difference in the global prevalence of ESBL-
E. coli
between dogs (6.87% [95% CI: 4.46–10.45%]) and cats (5.04% [95% CI: 2.42–10.22%]). A considerable diversity of ESBL genes (
n
= 60) and sequence types (ST) (
n
= 171) were recovered from companion animals. ESBL-
E. coli
encoded by CTX-M-15 (67.5%, 77/114) and SHV-12 (21.9%, 25/114), along with resistant strains of ST38 (22.7%, 15/66) and ST131 (50%, 33/66) were widespread and detected in all continents. While presence of ESBL-
E. coli
is widespread, the drivers influencing the observed ESBL-
E. coli
prevalence and the clinical relevance in veterinary medicine and public health along with economic impact of ESBL-
E. coli
infections among companion animals need to be further investigated.