OpenAI starts closing the gap with Anthropic among business users
New data from expense platform Ramp shows OpenAI narrowing Anthropic's lead among US business customers in recent months, even as Anthropic remains ahead overall.
Corporate expense management company Ramp has released new data showing a shifting competitive picture between OpenAI and Anthropic among American business customers, offering a rare window into how the two AI labs are performing ahead of their expected IPOs, when financial disclosures will become public.
According to Ramp, OpenAI — long the dominant player among both businesses and consumers — lost its lead among Ramp's paying business users back in May, when Anthropic reached 41% market share compared to OpenAI's 39%. OpenAI has not regained the top spot since. By July, Anthropic held nearly 44% share versus OpenAI's nearly 40%.
Data spans more than 70,000 businesses
Ramp's figures are drawn from more than 70,000 American businesses that collectively spend billions of dollars through its bill-pay and corporate card products. While Ramp's customer base spans multiple industries, it skews somewhat toward tech companies given its popularity as a corporate card provider in Silicon Valley.
Ramp economist Ara Kharazian noted that the most recent data shows OpenAI growing faster than Anthropic among this customer segment so far in the third quarter, though a month remains before the quarter closes and trends could shift again. Kharazian linked OpenAI's growth to its newer model gaining favor among developers, while suggesting Anthropic's newest high-end model tier underperformed in adoption, partly due to its price and data-retention requirements imposed by regulators. Anthropic previously drew criticism after warning users it must retain their data for 30 days.
Ramp cautioned that its data excludes large enterprises that rely on other expense-management providers such as American Express, meaning it does not capture the full market but still offers a useful market indicator.
Overall AI spending keeps climbing
The data also suggests both companies' business revenue is likely growing overall, since the broader market for enterprise AI spending continues to expand. The share of Ramp customers paying for AI tools passed 50% in March and reached nearly 56% by July.
