Anthropic's Claude gains on ChatGPT among paying consumers, up 75%

Anthropic's Claude has been steadily gaining ground on ChatGPT among paying consumers, according to new data from credit card transaction analysis firm Indagari. The company analyzes anonymized transactions from about 28 million U.S. consumers, and while it can't provide absolute revenue numbers, the trend is clear: Claude's paying consumer base and revenue have grown approximately 75% since January 2026, with gains continuing even after Anthropic refused to let its models be used for mass surveillance by the Trump administration in March. This growth is corroborated by DataCamp, an online AI education platform with 20 million users, which reports that 'Claude' is now its most searched term—surpassing even 'AI'—and demand for courses on Claude outpaced ChatGPT by 3-to-1 among self-directed consumers, with a 18x increase in the last 30 days alone.

Despite Claude's impressive consumer traction, ChatGPT remains the dominant AI platform by a wide margin across all metrics. Sensor Tower data shows Claude growing well in 2026 but still far behind ChatGPT's total user base. However, the Indagari data indicates that ChatGPT's growth has been more modest recently due to its enormous scale, while Anthropic is rapidly closing the gap in consumer dollars. This trend is significant as both companies approach their potential IPOs, though Anthropic faces headwinds after the U.S. government banned its most powerful cybersecurity models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, from being used by non-Americans, forcing the company to pull them from the market entirely. So far, every available data point suggests Anthropic's overall business continues to expand across both consumer and enterprise segments.