Claude Sees Significant Consumer Growth
Indagari, which analyzes billions of anonymized credit card transactions from approximately 28 million U.S. consumers, reports a strong upward trend for Claude. The data, covering weekly transactions from 2025 through May 10, 2026, shows Claude’s paying consumers and associated revenue have grown by approximately 75% since January 2026 within this segment. This growth continued even after a spike in March 2026, following Anthropic’s refusal to allow its models for certain government uses including mass surveillance.
Further evidence of Claude’s growing consumer appeal comes from DataCamp, an online education platform with about 20 million users focused on AI skills. According to DataCamp, “Claude” is now the most searched term on its site, surpassing “AI” itself. While ChatGPT courses remain more popular for corporate training, self-directed consumers show a three-to-one preference for Claude courses. Demand for Claude courses specifically increased 18 times in the last 30 days alone.
ChatGPT Maintains Market Lead
Despite Claude’s impressive gains, ChatGPT remains the dominant AI with consumers across all metrics. Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower’s recent data confirms Claude’s growth this year but highlights its considerable distance behind ChatGPT. Indagari’s data also suggests that while ChatGPT’s recent growth has been more modest due to its already extensive reach, it still commands significantly more paying users.
Government Ban and Market Position
Anthropic and OpenAI are both reportedly on the cusp of becoming public companies, making insights into their business foundations critical. Earlier this month, the U.S. government banned Anthropic from allowing its powerful cybersecurity models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, to be used by non-Americans. This led Anthropic to withdraw these models from the market. However, available data still suggests Anthropic continues to grow both its consumer and business/enterprise users. Anthropic declined to comment on these developments.
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