Andreessen Horowitz has published the seventh edition of its Top 100 consumer AI apps report, and this time it follows the money rather than the traffic.
The headline numbers
As of August 2026, just 4.5% of US consumers had an active paid personal subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. Most people who use these assistants do so for free.
Among those who pay, ChatGPT has three times more US paid subscribers than either Claude or Gemini. Claude has now passed Gemini on paid subscribers, making it the clear third.
The interesting number
7.3% of Claude's paying users are on Max, its most expensive individual plan, which starts at $100 a month. The equivalent figure is 1.3% for Google and 1.1% for ChatGPT.
In other words, Claude has fewer customers but a far larger share of heavy ones. That fits how it is generally used: long coding sessions and agent work, where a $20 plan runs out quickly.
How people actually spend
The median paying user spends $25 a month on AI subscriptions, and that figure has barely moved. The top 1% average about $903 a month. Spending on AI is not broad; it is concentrated in a small group of people who use it for work.
What it means if you are choosing
Popularity and fit are different questions. ChatGPT's lead in subscribers reflects breadth of use. Claude's concentration of high-tier users reflects depth in particular kinds of work. If your task is long-running coding or agent work, the second number is the more useful signal. If you want one assistant for everything, the first one is.
And the 4.5% figure is a reminder that the free tiers are good enough for most people. Pay when you hit a limit, not before.