Claude is finding paying users where ChatGPT still owns the crowd

Claude is up about 75% among paying US consumers since January 2026, according to Indagari data cited by TechCrunch. That matters more than another neat benchmark: it suggests Anthropic is collecting consumer money outside the narrow developer world.

Claude is growing through wallets, not just attention

TechCrunch cites Indagari, a transaction analysis company that looks at billions of anonymized card transactions from about 28 million US consumers. The dataset covers weekly payments from 2025 through May 10, 2026 and includes subscriptions as well as API tokens.

In that sample, Claude paying users and revenue have grown month by month. The segment is roughly 75% higher since January 2026. Indagari does not provide Anthropic's absolute customer count or total revenue, so this is a directional signal from a large US sample, not a full company ledger.

DataCamp adds a second signal. The education platform, which says it has about 20 million users, told TechCrunch that “Claude” is now its most searched term. Among self directed consumers, demand for Claude courses is outpacing ChatGPT courses by 3 to 1, and Claude course demand has risen 18 times in the last 30 days.

Anthropic needs consumers for distribution, not vanity

Anthropic has mostly been legible through enterprise, API usage and developer workflows around Claude Code. Consumer growth changes another layer of the business: people who pay directly create habits, not just procurement line items.

For product teams, the course data is the sharper clue. It suggests that some users treat Claude as a work tool worth learning, not just as an app to sample after an ad. That kind of intent is more durable than a download spike.

Sensor Tower points in the same direction at market level. ChatGPT reached 1 billion monthly active mobile users in May 2026, but its True Audience share fell below 50% in March while Claude's US share more than tripled. That is not a coup. It is a crack in default behavior.

The sample is US centric and ChatGPT still owns the main road

The biggest caveat is scope. Indagari measures US consumers visible through card transactions and does not capture free users or enterprise contracts. DataCamp measures course interest on its own platform, not the whole market.

ChatGPT remains much larger by adoption, paid users and overall reach, according to both TechCrunch and Sensor Tower. Claude is not taking the crown. It is selecting users who are willing to pay and learn the product more deeply.

Retention will show whether paid curiosity becomes habit

The next meaningful signal is not another viral chart. It is retention. If Claude keeps growing after marketing waves and political news cycles fade, Anthropic will have evidence that consumer distribution is not just a side effect of developer hype.

The important details are geography, plan mix and repeat payments. A US card transaction in May says a user opened the wallet. OpenAI has a real problem only when that wallet opens every month.

Lilith's verdict

Claude is not knocking ChatGPT off the billboard yet. But it now has its own checkout line, and the people in it are not merely sampling a free chatbot.