OpenAI Regains Momentum as Anthropic Holds Lead in Business AI Market

OpenAI is gaining ground on Anthropic among US businesses, even as Anthropic continues to hold the lead in a closely watched measure of corporate AI spending.

Data from Ramp, a corporate card and expense management platform, shows that Anthropic overtook OpenAI among Ramp's paying business customers in May. Anthropic captured 41% of the measured market at the time, compared with 39% for OpenAI.

That lead widened through July, when Anthropic accounted for nearly 44% while OpenAI stood at close to 40%. The figures do not represent the entire US business AI market, but they offer a useful indication of how companies are spending on the two leading AI providers.

Ramp's dataset covers more than 70,000 US businesses and billions of dollars in spending through its corporate card and bill-pay products. Its customer base is particularly strong in the technology sector, meaning the figures may lean toward the purchasing habits of tech companies.

OpenAI Is Growing Faster Again

The latest figures show that the competition is not moving in only one direction.

Ramp economist Ara Kharazian found that OpenAI has been growing faster than Anthropic among the businesses tracked by Ramp during the third quarter so far. That shift suggests OpenAI may be narrowing the gap after Anthropic's strong gains earlier in the year.

The change comes as both companies compete aggressively for business customers looking to use AI for coding, research, writing, customer service and other workplace tasks.

OpenAI has a major advantage in the sheer reach of ChatGPT, which has become one of the most widely used consumer and workplace AI products. Anthropic, meanwhile, has built a particularly strong position in enterprise software development through its Claude models and Claude Code.

The two companies are therefore competing not only on model performance but also on how deeply their products can become embedded in everyday business operations.

Anthropic Still Has the Lead

Despite OpenAI's faster recent growth, Anthropic remains ahead in Ramp's latest measurement.

That distinction matters because the companies do not publicly disclose comparable financial results that would allow investors and the broader market to directly compare their business performance.

Ramp's figures provide one of the more detailed snapshots available, but they should not be treated as a definitive measure of overall market share. Companies that use other corporate spending platforms, including large enterprises working with providers such as American Express, are not represented in the dataset.

The technology-heavy makeup of Ramp's customer base is another limitation. Spending patterns among startups and technology companies may differ considerably from those of banks, manufacturers, retailers and other large businesses.

Still, the movement is significant. Anthropic's rise above OpenAI in May showed how quickly corporate preferences can change in the AI market. OpenAI's subsequent acceleration suggests the gap could narrow again as the companies release new models and expand their enterprise offerings.

For now, Anthropic has the advantage in Ramp's business-spending data, but OpenAI is showing signs that it is not prepared to give up its position without a fight.