Ramp Spend Data: Anthropic Edges OpenAI in Business Adoption — First Crossover
Ramp’s May AI Index: Anthropic hit 34.4% business adoption in April (+3.8 pp) vs OpenAI 32.3% (−2.9 pp); overall AI adoption 50.6% among U.S. Ramp businesses. Transaction-based paid-spend share — not surveys — and the first measured OpenAI loss of the business-adoption lead in this series.
Surveys ask what people intend to buy. Ramp measures what businesses already pay for. The first Anthropic > OpenAI crossover on that series is a procurement signal — with the sample caveat that it is Ramp’s merchant universe, not the whole U.S. economy.
Ramp (May 13 AI Index): in April 2026, Anthropic reached 34.4% business adoption (+3.8 pp MoM), edging OpenAI at 32.3% (−2.9 pp). Overall AI adoption among U.S. businesses on Ramp: 50.6% (+0.2 pp). Anthropic quadrupled business adoption over the past year (Ramp). Data: anonymized card and bill-pay transactions across tens of thousands of U.S. businesses.
Method
Ramp tracks paid subscriptions to AI models, platforms, and tools via corporate card and bill pay (roughly 50k–70k U.S. businesses in coverage descriptions). Adoption = share of businesses with paid AI spend — transaction-based, not survey.
April snapshot
| Metric | April 2026 |
|---|---|
| Anthropic | 34.4% (+3.8 pp) |
| OpenAI | 32.3% (−2.9 pp) |
| Overall AI | 50.6% (+0.2 pp) |
Claims vs checks
Figures are Ramp Economics Lab / AI Index primary, relayed by Axios, Business Insider, VentureBeat. Independent in the sense of not being a lab blog — but not a census: Ramp customers skew fintech/SaaS-friendly SMBs and mid-market. Coding-heavy Anthropic spend can move this needle faster than ChatGPT consumer seats that never hit a corporate card.
Limits
- Ramp merchant sample ≠ all U.S. businesses.
- Paid-spend share ≠ seat count, token volume, or NPS.
- MoM swings can reflect billing cycles and promotions.
Sources
- Axios: “Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in workplace AI adoption” (May 13, 2026).
- Business Insider (May 13, 2026) on Ramp AI Index.
- Ramp AI Index (May 2026 update).
- VentureBeat and related outlets confirming April numbers.