OpenAI maintains a commanding lead with three times as many paid U.S. subscribers as Anthropic or Google. While ChatGPT's scale is dominant, including 1B+ monthly actives on mobile, Anthropic has gained traction by passing Gemini in U.S. paid subscriptions and leads in spending in Montana, California, and Massachusetts. The report also highlights a disconnect between usage and monetization, noting that 29 of the top 50 revenue-generating AI firms do not even appear on a16z's traffic lists for web or mobile visits.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
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ChatGPT's U.S. Paid Subscribers Triple Those of Claude and Gemini
AI14 days ago
Fewer than 5% of adults in the United States pay for access to artificial intelligence assistants, as mass adoption has not yet translated into widespread subscription revenue. According to a new report from a16z, only 4.5% of U.S. consumers pay for services like ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, but spending is concentrated among an elite group of power users. The top 1% of payers spend an average of $903 per month on personal credit cards, up from $504 in January 2025, and collectively drive more revenue than the bottom 50% of payers combined, whereas the median customer spends just $25.
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