Claude Revenue Up 75%: Fastest Growth Among Paid AI

Anthropic's Claude has grown its paid user base by roughly 75% since January 2026, according to Indagari, a firm that analyzes anonymized credit card transactions from 28 million US consumers. The data, which tracks both subscriptions and API spending through May 10, captures what is arguably the most reliable signal of genuine product traction: people choosing to spend money on something, repeatedly.

The education signal is even sharper. DataCamp, a platform with 20 million users that teaches technology skills, reported that 'Claude' has overtaken every other term on its search bar — including the word 'AI' itself. Demand for Claude-focused courses jumped 18 times in a single month, and among self-directed learners, Claude outpaces ChatGPT by three to one. The corporate training picture looks different: enterprises still prefer ChatGPT-centric courses when buying seats in bulk, which reflects inertia at the procurement level more than end-user preference.

What the numbers actually mean

Claude is still far smaller than ChatGPT by total paying users — OpenAI has a multi-year head start, a much larger free user base to convert, and brand recognition that reaches well outside the tech world. A 75% growth rate is impressive, but 75% growth on a smaller base does not automatically mean parity. What the data signals is a directional shift: the most engaged, highest-value segment of the AI market — people who pay out of their own pockets and actively invest in learning tools — is moving toward Claude faster than the overall numbers suggest.

There is a plausible reason for this. Claude's reputation among people who actually use AI heavily is strong: it handles long, complex tasks with fewer interruptions, tends to follow nuanced instructions more faithfully, and the Claude Code experience has become a genuine draw for builders. People who spend time in these tools notice, and they vote with their credit cards. The DataCamp numbers suggest they also invest time in learning to use Claude well — which tends to create stickier customers than people who drift between tools looking for the fastest autocomplete.

Why this matters if you are building things

When your target user is a tech-forward person who pays for AI tools, the market research is pointing at Claude. That matters for product decisions: if you are building an AI-assisted product and choosing which underlying model to feature or default to, the answer that resonates with paying early adopters may differ from the answer that resonates with the average consumer. Claude's growth in the paid segment also gives Anthropic more runway to invest in the model itself — revenue is what funds the research that keeps the gap between frontier models and everyone else from closing too fast.