The Revenue Models Behind Today’s Top AI Platforms

The to-do list used to take an hour. Now it takes a prompt. More than 6 in 10 U.S. consumers used a dedicated artificial intelligence platform in the past year, according to PYMNTS Intelligence, and the average user relies on two to three tools. Each time OpenAI, Google or Anthropic releases a new model, overall usage grows rather than shifting between them. And the three AI platforms are taking different paths to making money.

Stefano Pontoni, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, sees no clear loser. “All of them are being successful,” he said in a Knowledge at Wharton interview on YouTube. “All of them will likely continue to be successful, but in their own different way.”

OpenAI Bets on Volume

OpenAI has 900 million weekly active users, according to The Information, the highest in the category. Paid subscribers stood at roughly 15 million as of mid-2025, with paying business users exceeding 9 million by February 2026. OpenAI posted approximately $4.3 billion in first-half 2025 revenue. Inference costs are projected to reach $14.1 billion in 2026, as reported by Sacra.

As PYMNTS reported, ads now run at the bottom of answers on OpenAI’s free and $8-per-month Go tiers, clearly labeled and separate from responses. Pro, Business and Enterprise accounts remain ad-free. In-chat commerce runs alongside, with OpenAI taking a commission on purchases made inside the chatbot. The company has sought a minimum of $200,000 for its tightly controlled beta rollout.

“They have a free plan, which is what the large majority of people are using, and that doesn’t make them any money,” Pontoni said. OpenAI is building revenue from that free base through advertising while maintaining paid tiers for higher-value users.

Google Folds Gemini Into Search

Pontoni said Google is the only fully vertically integrated lab of the three. It builds the model, owns the consumer products and controls the cloud. Its advertising business generated more than $200 billion in 2025. AI Overviews, powered by Gemini, now appear in nearly half of all Google searches, with ads appearing in about 25% of AI Mode results, according to Adweek.

Gemini’s standalone app draws hundreds of millions of users but hasn’t broken the search habit built over two decades. Pontoni said AI Overviews have become Google’s core monetization surface. The chatbot drives usage as a productivity tool rather than the default starting point for most consumers. Google has also introduced subscription tiers, AI Pro at $19.99 per month and AI Ultra at $249.99, to capture higher-intent users alongside its ad-driven base.

Anthropic Charges More per User

Pontoni called Anthropic’s approach a premium niche strategy. Claude’s user base is smaller than ChatGPT’s and Gemini’s, but its revenue per user runs about 40 times higher than Gemini’s, he estimates. Developers and professional teams are the core customers, drawn by measurable gains in coding and complex document work.

Claude Code’s run-rate revenue reached over $2.5 billion, according to a February news release from Anthropic. Business subscriptions to Claude Code quadrupled in the first two months of 2026. Enterprise contracts now account for half of Claude Code revenue.

Company-wide run-rate revenue has reached $30 billion. More than 500 customers now spend over $1 million annually, up from roughly a dozen two years ago. Eight of the Fortune 10 are now Claude customers, the company said.

One Market, Three Prices

PYMNTS Intelligence data shows ChatGPT anchors the stack across every user segment, while other platforms win slots by task and complexity. Power users already juggle two to four tools. Mainstream users are moving in the same direction, with AI use for personal tasks reaching 54% among U.S. consumers in January 2026, up 5 percentage points from December 2025.

Pontoni pointed to the streaming model. A Netflix subscription does not replace Spotify. “If we can have five streaming services, we can have at least one AI service,” he said.

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.