Based on data from the analytics firm Indagari, which specializes in credit card transaction analysis, consumers paying for AI services are increasingly choosing Anthropic’s Claude. This indicates that the company boasts a broader and more loyal customer base compared to the niche it typically targets—enterprise developers and startups using Claude Code. However, in absolute numbers, OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains ahead.
Indagari examined billions of anonymized credit card transactions from approximately 28 million U.S. consumers. While this data cannot provide exact figures on Anthropic’s revenue or total customer count, the sample is large enough to reveal overarching trends. And for Anthropic, that trend is on the rise.
The analyzed data covers weekly transactions from 2025 through May 10, 2026, and includes payments for items such as subscriptions and API token fees. It shows that both the number of paying customers and Claude’s revenue are growing month after month. Since January 2026, they have increased by roughly 75%. This growth persisted even after the company experienced a sharp surge in consumer demand in March, when it refused to allow the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to use its AI models for mass surveillance of Americans and the development of autonomous weapons.
Another indicator of Claude’s growing popularity among consumers is DataCamp, an online platform for training consumers and enterprise employees in AI skills, which has about 20 million users.
Interest in Claude among DataCamp’s consumers has skyrocketed since the start of the year. “Claude” is now the most popular search term on the service’s website. It is even used more frequently than the term “AI,” DataCamp told TechCrunch.
Although ChatGPT courses remain far more popular among companies offering corporate training, among consumers learning Claude independently, demand for Claude courses is three times higher than for ChatGPT courses, DataCamp reports. The same report notes that over just the past 30 days, demand for courses on Claude has grown 18-fold.
Despite Claude’s impressive growth, ChatGPT remains the most popular AI among consumers. For instance, recent data from the analytics firm Sensor Tower shows that Claude is experiencing solid growth across all platforms this year, but it still significantly lags behind ChatGPT.
Indagari’s data reveals that while ChatGPT’s recent growth has been more modest (largely due to its already massive reach), it still has far more paying subscribers.
However, the analysis makes it clear that this year, Claude has begun to catch up with ChatGPT in terms of consumer revenue attracted, as well as in overall awareness and consumer interest.
All available evidence suggests that Anthropic continues to expand its user base among both regular consumers and corporate clients, even amid its latest legal battle with the U.S. government. Earlier this month, the U.S. government prohibited Anthropic from offering its most powerful AI models focused on cybersecurity (Mythos 5 and Fable 5) to non-Americans, effectively forcing the company to remove them from the market.
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