Anthropic’s Claude’s popularity with paying customers is increasing

Even the final results of Anthropic from his argument and the Department of Defense, the interest it has created – in addition to the humor of the company Super Bowl commercials focus on OpenAI and growing popularity of Claude Code – has made Anthropic more popular with consumers than ever before.

An analysis of billions of anonymous credit card transactions from nearly 28 million US consumers, conducted by TechCrunch and Searchconsumer research firm, shows Claude getting paid subscribers in record numbers.

Now, as with any big data analysis, there is a caveat. Although this data is large, it does not include every consumer. This means that Indagari cannot account for all existing or new Anthropic numbers. It doesn’t include Claude’s business (which is its bread and butter) or users who don’t pay for Anthropic at all). Estimates of Claude’s users are all over the map (we’ve seen numbers ranging from 18 million to 30 million) but Anthropic hasn’t disclosed this. A spokesperson told TechCrunch, however, that Claude’s paid subscriptions have doubled this year.

What’s clear is that shoppers pulled out their wallets in Claude’s numbers between January and February. Interestingly, previous users returned to Claude in the February numbers, Indagari told TechCrunch.

Indagari tells us that most of the new subscribers are low-end, “Pro” users ($20 per month, compared to $100 or $200 per month).

Data through early March confirm that enrollment continues to grow. (Data is available with a two-week delay.)

Explaining why consumers might be more aware of Claude since January: Anthropic released a series of Super Bowl ads that mocked ChatGPT’s decision to show ads to users — and promised that Claude wouldn’t do the same. Spots it was funny and helpful (also got under the skin of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman).

But the big hullabaloo started in late January when several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal and Axios, began reporting on the growing conflict between Anthropic and the DoD. At its core, the debate was about what the military could and couldn’t do with Anthropic’s AI.

Anthropic refused to allow the DoD to use its AI models for autonomous operations (AI that could kill people) or to spy on American citizens. The bull got even bigger, with Anthropic boss Dario Amodei providing production a definite statement in the group on February 26 amid threats by the DoD to destroy Anthropic’s business, citing the company as a supply threat. What the DoD did. Lawsuits are now flying, though a federal judge this week temporarily blocked the department’s appointment.

New user growth peaked during this period. The increase is particularly noticeable between media reports at the end of January and what Amodei said on February 26.

Beyond this drama, Claude Code is Claude Cowork – the design and production tools released in January – have been driving subscriptions. The Computer Usage The article, which was released this week, has also triggered an operation, Anthropic tells TechCrunch. This feature allows Claude to be able to look at the computer on his own – clicking, scrolling, and taking actions on his own. It works with Dispatch, which allows users to dispatch tasks from their phones. These features are not available to free users.

However, for Anthropic’s growth among US consumers who want to pay for AI, Claude is still a long way from ChatGPT.

While OpenAI is uninstalls spiked immediately after announcing a partnership with the DoD – a move that stood in contrast to Anthropic’s defense – Indagari data shows that OpenAI is still gaining new subscribers who are paid quickly and remains the largest AI platform for all purchases.