Claude tops ChatGPT in revenue per user, report shows
▼ Summary
– ChatGPT reached 1 billion monthly users in May, the fastest app to hit that milestone, but its market share fell below 50% for the first time in March.
– Claude earns more revenue per user than ChatGPT, with $2.76 average revenue per mobile user in the US compared to ChatGPT’s $1.74, and a 13% subscription conversion rate.
– Claude has no cheap tier, starting at $20 a month, while ChatGPT and Gemini chase scale with low-cost options, diluting their average revenue per user.
– OpenAI’s deal with the US Department of Defense triggered a spike in ChatGPT uninstalls, boosting Claude’s US audience share, which more than tripled.
– AI app spending is growing fast, with consumers expected to spend over $4 billion in the first half of 2026, up 36% from the previous six months.
OpenAI still dominates the AI landscape by sheer user volume, but the competitive gap is tightening. ChatGPT’s mobile apps crossed 1 billion monthly users in May, the fastest any application has ever reached that milestone, according to Sensor Tower’s State of AI 2026 report. However, when it comes to the metric that truly matters for profitability, Anthropic’s Claude is now pulling ahead, generating more revenue per user than ChatGPT.
Claude’s average revenue per user on mobile in the US has surged dramatically, climbing from less than $0.50 last September to $2.76 in May. Forbes, citing the full report, notes that this figure is roughly 1.5 times higher than ChatGPT’s $1.74. Claude also boasts the best conversion rate among major AI assistants, with 13 percent of its users now paying for a subscription.
Meanwhile, ChatGPT’s lead in raw user numbers is shrinking. Its market share dipped below 50 percent for the first time in March, falling from a commanding 81 percent two years earlier. By the end of May, it stood at 46.4 percent, as Google’s Gemini (27.7 percent) and Claude (10.3 percent) steadily gained ground.
Why is Claude outperforming ChatGPT in revenue per user? Part of the answer lies in pricing strategy. Claude offers no cheap tier; its plans start at $20 per month, meaning the users it retains are typically heavier, paying customers. In contrast, ChatGPT and Gemini prioritize scale with low-cost options, which boosts user counts but dilutes average revenue. The other significant factor is political sentiment.
OpenAI’s deal with the US Department of Defence in February triggered a measurable spike in ChatGPT uninstalls, indicating that users weigh a company’s values, not just its features. Claude was a clear beneficiary, with its US audience share more than tripling during that period.
This does not mean Anthropic is out-earning OpenAI overall. The data comes from Sensor Tower’s consumer-app estimates, measuring money made through phone apps, not the enterprise and API contracts where both companies generate most of their revenue. Additionally, ChatGPT still retains new sign-ups better than Claude, though the report shows Claude closing that gap as well.
A price war is now brewing. As the cost of running AI begins to bite, The Wall Street Journal reported last week that OpenAI is considering major price cuts to compete with Anthropic. Google has already reduced its cheapest Gemini plan to $5 per month. The squeeze may intensify further, as Apple is about to ship a new Siri that runs some AI on the device itself, requiring no subscription.
Despite these pressures, the market continues to expand rapidly. Sensor Tower expects consumers to spend more than $4 billion on AI apps in the first half of 2026, a 36 percent increase over the previous six months and well above the $1.83 billion spent a year earlier.
(Source: The Next Web)
