ChatGPT still leads as few Americans pay for AI

Andreessen Horowitz’s consumer AI ranking shows ChatGPT still leading, few Americans paying, and top spenders accounting for a large share of spending.

Andreessen Horowitz partner Olivia Moore discussed the firm’s seventh ranking of the top 100 consumer AI apps, which now includes observed U.S. card spending from YipitData panels. ChatGPT remains far ahead in web traffic—about double Gemini and six times Claude—while Suno and ElevenLabs show staying power, and dating, retail, travel, finance, and health have no top-100 entrants. The sources use different payment figures: Moore said only about 2.2% of U.S. households pay for AI, while the ranking finds 4.5% of U.S. consumers had a paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude in August, roughly double a year earlier. The top 1% of spenders average about $900 a month and account for nearly a fifth of observed AI spending, versus about $25 for a typical payer. Claude passed Gemini among paid U.S. subscribers in March 2026, and a16z says the heaviest spending is on prosumer building, marketing, work-management, automation, and creative tools such as Cursor, Lovable, ElevenLabs, n8n, and Figma. Moore expects cheaper and open-source models, including ChatGPT’s $8 Go plan, to matter more for true consumer products.

• Andreessen Horowitz’s seventh Top 100 consumer AI ranking, discussed by partner Olivia Moore, adds observed U.S. card spending from YipitData panels.
• ChatGPT leads web traffic, about double Gemini and six times Claude; Suno and ElevenLabs show staying power.
• Sources differ on who pays: Moore said about 2.2% of U.S. households pay for AI, while the ranking says 4.5% of U.S. consumers had a paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude in August, up from roughly half that a year…
• The top 1% of spenders average about $900 a month and account for nearly a fifth of observed AI spending, versus about $25 for a typical payer.
• Claude passed Gemini among paid U.S. subscribers in March 2026.
• Dating, retail, travel, finance, and health have no top-100 AI apps.
• Heaviest spending is on prosumer building, marketing, work-management, automation, and creative tools such as Cursor, Lovable, ElevenLabs, n8n, and Figma.
• Moore expects cheaper and open-source models, including ChatGPT’s $8 Go plan, to matter more for true consumer products.