AI app market shift? Anthropic’s Claude earns $2.76 per user against ChatGPT’s $1.74, finds report
Anthropic’s Claude is earning an average of $2.76 per user (1.5 times what ChatGPT generates) and converting a higher share of the iOS base into paying subscribers, according to new Sensor Tower data, as OpenAI’s dominance of the AI app market weakens significantly.
Findings from Sensor Tower’s State of AI report show that user volume and revenue per user vary across the AI application industry. ChatGPT maintains its lead in total monthly active users but is giving up on the metrics that matter most to the platform’s economics.
ChatGPT’s billion user milestone
ChatGPT’s iOS and Android apps reached 1 billion monthly active users in May 2026, just three years after the app first appeared on smartphone platforms.
Despite this, OpenAI’s share of the AI application market fell below 50% for the first time in March this year, a sharp decline from 81% in March 2024.
Claude’s money making leader
Sensor Tower’s data places Claude well ahead of ChatGPT in terms of revenue efficiency. Claude generates an average revenue of $2.76 per user, compared to $1.74 for the OpenAI app, and 13% of Claude’s iOS users are paying subscribers, compared to 8% for ChatGPT.
Claude’s pricing reflects its premium positioning: The app doesn’t offer a reduced entry-level tier, with basic plans starting at $20 per month. ChatGPT’s most affordable option, the “Go” plan, costs $8 per month.
Pentagon deal: ChatGPT removal wave
The OpenAI deal signed with the US Pentagon in March, following Anthropic’s exclusion from US defense contracts, triggered a measurable backlash among users. ChatGPT removals rose 202% above baseline in the second week of the same month.
The Sensor Tower report notes that “users are willing to try alternative AI assistants,” and Claude has emerged as the primary beneficiary of this shift. Global market share increased from 5.1% in February to 10% in April.
Gemini and Western markets
Google’s Gemini is growing faster than its rivals in many key markets, including the United States, Canada, most of the European Union, Japan and South Korea.
Google also dropped the price of its Gemini AI Plus plan from $8 per month to $5 per month earlier this month. ChatGPT remains the most widely used AI application by monthly active users in most countries outside Russia and China.
Retention rates: ChatGPT and Claude
ChatGPT led the industry in user retention with 86% last month. Claude’s retention rate increased to 73.7%, and the gap closed as the user base expanded through 2026.
AI application spending: $4.25 billion forecast for the first half of 2026
Consumer spending on AI applications is accelerating sharply. Sensor Tower predicts that AI application spending will be $4.25 billion in the first half of 2026, compared to $1.83 billion in the same period of 2025 and $3.1 billion in the second half of last year.
The pricing environment across the industry is also changing. Wall StreetJournal It was reported last week that OpenAI was considering significant reductions in the cost of its enterprise tools as a response to competitive pressure from Anthropic, rather than a change in consumer prices.
On the consumer side, Apple is expected to expand Siri with features that run natively on devices and do not require a subscription; A development that may bring new competitive pressure to the artificial intelligence application market later this year.
