Anthropic is starting to close the gap with OpenAI in the race for paying business users, as new data points to a shift in how companies adopt AI tools. While OpenAI still leads, recent figures suggest that growth in business adoption is slowing, while Anthropic is gaining traction.
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According to data from payments company Ramp, nearly 30% of U.S. businesses paid for Anthropic’s tools in March. That marks a rise of more than 6 percentage points in just one month. In contrast, OpenAI’s share held steady at about 35%.
This gap remains meaningful, yet the trend shows a clear change in momentum. As one analyst at Forrester noted, the data points to a “clear shift in momentum” toward Anthropic, even as broader market conditions remain stable.
The shift appears tied to how each company is positioning its products. Anthropic has focused on tools that help with coding and office work, which are areas where businesses tend to spend more. Its Claude platform includes features that automate tasks and integrate into daily workflows.
As a result, Anthropic is seeing strong growth in sectors such as financial services and professional services, while also expanding into areas like construction and hospitality. This suggests that its tools are moving beyond early adopters and into wider business use.
An economist at Ramp said that Anthropic has been “extremely successful at going from power users and early adopters to something that is applicable outside of that ecosystem.”
Meanwhile, OpenAI still leads in overall usage. The company has said it has about 900 million weekly active users, though only just over 5% are paying customers. This gap highlights a key issue, as strong consumer use does not always translate into business revenue.
Growth Slows for OpenAI, but Scale Remains Strong
OpenAI’s growth remains substantial, yet some signs of slowing are emerging. ChatGPT downloads rose 5% in March, which is modest compared to earlier periods. In addition, U.S. weekly active users declined month-over-month for the first time since early 2024, according to third-party data.
At the same time, downloads of Anthropic’s Claude app tripled to 21 million over the same period. This suggests rising interest, even if overall usage still trails ChatGPT.
OpenAI has pushed back on some of the data. The company said it does not recognize the figures cited and pointed to its own metrics. It noted that its AI systems process more than 15 billion tokens per minute and that ChatGPT has “six times the monthly web visits and mobile sessions of the next largest AI app.”
In addition, OpenAI said its coding tool Codex reached 3 million weekly users, up from 2 million the month before. The company also highlighted early traction in advertising, stating that its ad pilot reached a $100 million run rate in six weeks.
For now, OpenAI remains the largest player by scale. However, Anthropic’s progress suggests that the race for enterprise AI customers is far from settled.
Using TipRanks’ Comparison Tool, we’ve compared notable companies that employ chatbots, such as Claude by Anthropic and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The comparison tool helps investors gain a broader outlook on each stock and the industry as a whole.
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