Fewer users, fatter wallets is why Anthropic tops OpenAI in LLM revenue stakes
Anthropic generated more revenue than OpenAI in Q1 2026 despite having significantly fewer users, according to Counterpoint Research. The company's higher average revenue per user—$16.20 compared to OpenAI's $2.20—reflects a more monetization-focused strategy. While major tech firms invest heavily in AI infrastructure, user growth isn't consistently translating into revenue or investor confidence.
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AI + ML Fewer users, fatter wallets is why Anthropic tops OpenAI in LLM revenue stakes AI boom splits between companies hoarding eyeballs and those actually charging for them Carly Page Thu 30 Apr 2026 // 12:20 UTC Anthropic is pulling in more LLM revenue than OpenAI, despite having a fraction of the users. New stats from Counterpoint Research put Anthropic on top of the global LLM revenue table in Q1 2026, with a 31.4 percent share, narrowly ahead of OpenAI on 29 percent, but the real story lies beneath that near-tie. Anthropic is doing it with around 134 million monthly users, compared to OpenAI's roughly 900 million, and extracting far more revenue from each one.
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