Anthropic’s Claude AI assistant has experienced record growth in paid consumer subscriptions, with the company reporting that paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year, according to new analysis published by TechCrunch.
The growth comes amid heightened public attention from Anthropic’s dispute with the Department of Defense and Super Bowl advertising campaign targeting OpenAI. Consumer transaction analysis firm Indagari examined billions of anonymized credit card transactions from about 28 million U.S. consumers to track Claude’s subscriber growth patterns.
The data shows consumers signed up for Claude subscriptions in record numbers between January and February 2026, with previous users also returning to the service in record numbers during February. The majority of new subscribers chose Claude’s lowest-tier “Pro” plan at $20 per month, compared to higher tiers priced at $100 or $200 monthly. Data through early March confirms subscriber growth is continuing.
Two factors appear to have driven consumer awareness of Claude since January. Anthropic released Super Bowl commercials that “mocked ChatGPT’s decision to show ads to its users — and promised Claude would never do the same,” according to TechCrunch reporter Julie Bort. The company also became embroiled in a public dispute with the DoD over military use of its AI models.
The Department of Defense conflict escalated when Anthropic refused to allow military use of its AI for “lethal autonomous operations” or “mass surveillance of American citizens.” CEO Dario Amodei issued a public statement on February 26 amid DoD threats to label Anthropic a supply risk, which the department subsequently did. While the analysis doesn’t capture enterprise customers or free users, estimates for total Claude consumer users range from 18 million to 30 million, though Anthropic has not disclosed official figures.
