Introduction
In the competitive landscape of generative artificial intelligence, a strategic rivalry is emerging that redefines industry dynamics: Anthropic, backed by giants like Amazon and Google, is building a significantly different business model compared to OpenAI. While OpenAI recently announced multi-billion dollar deals to build data centers and consolidate its position, its less-flashy rival may have identified a more sustainable path to profitability.
Anthropic generates 80% of its revenue from corporate customers, an approach that sharply contrasts with OpenAI's mass market strategy. This strategic focus has enabled the company to reach an annual revenue run rate of $7 billion, with growth projections up to $9 billion by year-end. The difference isn't merely quantitative: it represents two opposing philosophies on how to monetize AI.
Two Strategies Compared: Enterprise vs Mass Market
Both OpenAI and Anthropic develop advanced language models that power chatbots, image generators, and a vast array of AI tools. However, their paths diverge radically when it comes to generating revenue.
OpenAI, outside of its close partnership with Microsoft that integrates its models into the Redmond company's software products, primarily targets the consumer market. Its user base largely replaces search engine queries with bot conversations, a formula that has proven immensely popular. ChatGPT boasts over 800 million weekly users as of October 2025, contributing to an annual revenue run rate of approximately $13 billion, of which only 30% comes from business customers.
Anthropic has generated significantly less mass-market appeal, instead concentrating on the corporate segment with approximately 300,000 business clients. This strategic choice has produced remarkable results: the company has surpassed OpenAI among business users, capturing a 32% market share in overall enterprise AI use, compared to OpenAI's 25% according to Menlo Ventures estimates.
Claude's Supremacy in Coding and Enterprise Applications
Anthropic's Claude language models have received particular recognition for their coding capabilities. A July 2025 report from Menlo Ventures estimated that Anthropic holds a 42% market share for coding, compared to OpenAI's 21%. This technical superiority in specific domains translates into tangible competitive advantages for corporate customers.
Companies are developing a multitude of AI applications that generate concrete savings in areas like coding, legal document drafting, and billing acceleration. These use cases are set to expand and attract more customers to Anthropic, especially as return on investment becomes easier to measure.
Anthropic's competitiveness was further confirmed when Microsoft, despite its ties to OpenAI, announced in September 2025 that the Claude model would be offered within its Copilot suite. A move that testifies to growing demand for Anthropic solutions among corporate customers.
The Consumer Monetization Dilemma
OpenAI's consumer revenue model remains more nebulous. The company has yet to define a compelling way to monetize beyond subscription fees: it offers a "plus" plan at $20 per month and a "pro" plan at $200 per month, in addition to a free tier with query limits and reduced speed. However, these subscriptions aren't sufficient to offset the massive costs of developing and deploying cutting-edge AI.
The most obvious revenue stream for OpenAI's consumer business would be advertising. However, it's unclear how OpenAI or its competitors could inject ads into chatbots. It won't be as straightforward as search ads: users would likely not welcome brand placement in their bot conversations. Furthermore, OpenAI finds itself in the uncomfortable position of competing with Google, which has its own suite of mass-market AI tools and much deeper roots in the advertising sector.
Reputation and Perception in the Corporate Market
There's a possibility that OpenAI's mass-market appeal becomes a disadvantage for corporate customers who want AI to be more austere and useful rather than fun and edgy. OpenAI recently announced it would allow adults to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT and has advocated for a hands-off approach to AI regulation. Even if the company makes its products more constrained in corporate contexts, this libertarian reputation could limit its enterprise penetration.
Anthropic, in contrast, has positioned itself as a more reliable and focused partner for enterprise needs, prioritizing agentic and business-oriented use cases. Vals AI, a startup that evaluates AI models, ranks the latest version of Anthropic's Claude large language model as best in a business-focused benchmark encompassing finance, legal, and coding tasks.
"Anthropic is laser-focused on these agentic enterprise use cases and they're playing a very competitive game with OpenAI right now."
Rayan Krishnan, Co-founder / Vals AI
Tech Giants Investor Support
Both companies benefit from investments by tech giants: Microsoft for OpenAI, and a combination of Amazon and Google for Anthropic. These investments provide AI computing infrastructure and expose their products to a vast set of customers.
However, Anthropic's growth path is much easier to understand than OpenAI's. Corporate customers are devising a plethora of AI uses that generate savings, and these uses are set to expand attracting more customers, especially as ROI becomes easier to measure.
Conclusion
Despite all of OpenAI's spending and media attention captured by CEO Sam Altman, Anthropic has proven to be equally competitive, if not superior, in AI arenas that matter to businesses. With a revenue run rate growing from $7 to $9 billion in 2025 and an expanding enterprise market share, the Amazon and Google-backed company deserves greater attention.
The rivalry between these two players highlights a fundamental question: in the generative AI sector, an enterprise-first business model might prove more sustainable and profitable than mass-market consumer. While OpenAI continues seeking the right balance between consumer popularity and monetization, Anthropic has already charted a clear course toward profitability through the corporate market.
FAQ
What is the main difference between Anthropic and OpenAI?
Anthropic focuses on the enterprise market with 80% of revenue from corporate clients, while OpenAI primarily targets the mass consumer market with over 800 million weekly users but only 30% business revenue.
Why is Anthropic surpassing OpenAI in the corporate market?
Anthropic holds a 32% market share in enterprise AI use thanks to Claude model's technical superiority, particularly effective in coding (42% market share) and business-oriented tasks like finance and legal work.
What is Anthropic's revenue run rate in 2025?
Anthropic has reached an annual revenue run rate of $7 billion with growth projections up to $9 billion by the end of 2025, despite having a much smaller user base compared to OpenAI.
How does OpenAI monetize its consumer service?
OpenAI monetizes through subscriptions at $20/month (Plus plan) and $200/month (Pro plan), but these fees don't offset development costs and the company is exploring advertising models not yet defined.
Who financially supports Anthropic and OpenAI?
Anthropic is backed by Amazon and Google providing AI computing infrastructure, while OpenAI has a close partnership with Microsoft that integrates its models into software products.
What is Claude's competitive advantage over ChatGPT?
Anthropic's Claude excels in coding and business-oriented benchmarks, and is ranked best by Vals AI for finance, legal, and coding tasks, surpassing OpenAI's models in these specific domains.