Fewer users, fatter wallets is why Anthropic tops OpenAI in LLM revenue stakes

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 …

[itscomplicated]

Analogy

Anthropic is the Apple of AI.

[mostly average]

I'm doing my part!

So if lower total users means more revenue, how much am I helping by actively avoiding all of them?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is very difficult to get any reliable financial info for OpenAI or Anthropic.

The only definite number I've seen quoted is that by March this year Anthropic had earned total gross revenue of "over $5 billion" (but not enough over to be, say, 5 and a half) since they started.

Also note that they are both still losing money on each user, hence the current switch to token-based charging, no doubt to be followed by further 'tuning'.

[druck]

FTFY: Also note that they are both still losing money on each user, hence the current switch to token-based charging, no doubt to be followed by further 'frog boiling'.

[Nonymous Crowd Nerd]

So total costs very much more than revenue?

So the infrastructure this year will cost $725bn and the total revenue might be 20.7x12 ~ $250bn.

That sounds like a loss of about $500bn.

(I wonder what the running costs are.. and how much the infrastructure costs will drop over time. How long is the infrastructure planned to last before needing replacement?)

All in all.. It doesn't look like a great investment.

[ariels-again]

I'm old enough to remember

When businesses were measured on profits.

[ArguablyShrugs]

Re: I'm old enough to remember

To be "fair", it's a Ponzi scheme, not really a business…

[rgjnk]

OpenAI is not a real business

It never has been.

Anthropic might be as full of shit as most in this game but it was always a bit more functional than the weird setup that 'Open'AI was.

The clown Altman running the circus should give the game away.

It's still a Musk style pseudo business where product and profit are secondary to hype and aiming to sell inflated stock to mug punters.

[v13]

What about profit?

Revenue doesn't say much. It's the profit margin per user that counts. If Anthropic makes $100 per user but that costs $150 to them, it's bad.

I'm not referring to the total costs because they are all expanding and investing right now. But the serving cost per user must be taken into account when one talks about the revenue per user.