Industry

Ramp AI Index: Anthropic Surpasses OpenAI in Business Adoption for First Time

According to Ramp's May 2026 AI Index released on May 13, 2026, Anthropic overtook OpenAI in business adoption for the first time in April, with 34.4% of businesses using Ramp paying for Anthropic products compared to 32.3% for OpenAI.

Tech Insights Reporter May 13, 2026 5 min read New York, NY

TLDR

Ramp's latest AI Index, published May 13, 2026, shows Anthropic achieving 34.4% business adoption in April 2026 (+3.8 percentage points month-over-month), edging past OpenAI at 32.3% (-2.9 pp). Overall AI adoption among U.S. businesses using Ramp's platform reached 50.6% (+0.2 pp). The data is based on anonymized transaction records from tens of thousands of U.S. businesses.

Ramp AI Index Methodology

Ramp tracks paid subscriptions to AI models, platforms, and tools through its corporate card and bill pay data across more than 50,000 to 70,000 U.S. businesses. Adoption is measured as the share of businesses with paid AI spend. This provides a transaction-based view of real business usage rather than surveys.

Key April 2026 Findings

Anthropic adoption: 34.4% (up 3.8 pp from March).
OpenAI adoption: 32.3% (down 2.9 pp).
Overall AI adoption: 50.6% (up 0.2 pp).
Anthropic quadrupled its business adoption over the past year.

The crossover marks a shift after OpenAI's long lead driven by consumer ChatGPT momentum carrying into enterprises.

Why this story matters

This marks the first time a major frontier lab other than OpenAI has led in measured business adoption according to spend data. It reflects Anthropic's strong performance in coding, enterprise features, and recent compute expansions (e.g., SpaceX Colossus deal) translating into real customer wins. The data underscores how quickly preferences can shift in the AI market as models differentiate on capability and reliability for production use.

Sources

Axios (May 13, 2026): "Anthropic overtakes OpenAI in workplace AI adoption" citing Ramp data.
Business Insider (May 13, 2026): Reporting on Anthropic topping OpenAI in AI business spending per Ramp AI Index.
Ramp Economics Lab / AI Index references in contemporaneous coverage (ramp.com/data/ai-index updates noted for May 2026).
VentureBeat and other outlets confirming the April numbers from the May release.

Featured Image Alt Text

Chart showing Anthropic line crossing above OpenAI in business AI adoption percentage over time, with Ramp logo and April 2026 data callout at 34.4% vs 32.3%.