Whatever the final outcome for Anthropic from its feud<\/a> with the Department of Defense, the attention it has generated \u2014 coupled with the company\u2019s funny Super Bowl ads<\/a> taking aim at OpenAI and the surging popularity<\/a> of Claude Code \u2014 has made Anthropic more popular with consumers than ever.<\/p>\n An examination of billions of anonymized credit card transactions from about 28 million U.S. consumers, conducted for TechCrunch by Indagari<\/a>, a consumer transaction analysis company, shows Claude gaining paid subscribers in record numbers.<\/p>\n Now, as with all big-data analysis, caveats exist. While this data is substantive, it doesn\u2019t include every consumer. That means that Indagari can\u2019t calculate Anthropic\u2019s total current or new user numbers. It also doesn\u2019t include Claude\u2019s enterprise business (which is its bread and butter) or its free-tier users (those not paying Anthropic at all). Estimates for total Claude consumer users are all over the map (we\u2019ve seen figures ranging from 18 million to 30 million) but Anthropic has not disclosed this data. A spokesperson did tell TechCrunch, however, that Claude paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year.<\/p>\n What\u2019s notable is that consumers pulled out their wallets in record numbers for Claude between January and February. Also interesting, previous users returned to Claude in record numbers in February as well, Indagari told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n Indagari tells us that the majority of new subscribers are at its lowest tier, \u201cPro\u201d users ($20 per month, compared with $100 or $200 per month).<\/p>\n Data through early March confirm that subscriber growth is continuing. (Data is available with a two-week delay.)<\/p>\n To recap why consumers may have become so much more aware of Claude since January: Anthropic released several Super Bowl commercials that mocked ChatGPT\u2019s decision to show ads to its users \u2014 and promised Claude would never do the same. The spots were funny and effective<\/a> (and also got under the skin of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman<\/a>).<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span> But the bigger hullabaloo began in late January when multiple media sites, including the Wall Street Journal and Axios, began reporting on a deepening feud between Anthropic and the DoD. At its core, the dispute was about what the military could and couldn\u2019t do with Anthropic\u2019s AI.<\/p>\n Anthropic refused to allow the DoD to use its AI models for lethal autonomous operations (AI potentially killing people) or mass surveillance of American citizens. That beef grew increasingly public, with Anthropic\u2019s CEO Dario Amodei issuing a making firm public statement<\/a> on February 26 amid the DoD\u2019s threats to hurt Anthropic\u2019s business by labeling the company a supply risk. Which the DoD did. Lawsuits are now flying, although a federal judge this week temporarily blocked the department\u2019s designation.<\/p>\n New user growth climbed sharply during this period. The increase is especially pronounced between those late January media reports and Amodei\u2019s statement on February 26.<\/p>\n Beyond the drama, Claude Code and Claude\u00a0Cowork<\/a> \u2014 developer and productivity tools released in January \u2014 have been drivers of subscriptions. The Computer Use<\/a> feature, released this week, has also sparked a surge, Anthropic tells TechCrunch. That feature allows Claude to navigate a computer independently \u2014 clicking, scrolling, and taking actions on its own. It works with Dispatch, which lets users assign tasks from their phones. These features are not available to free-tier users.<\/p>\n Still, for all of Anthropic\u2019s growth among U.S. consumers willing to pay for AI, Claude remains a long way behind ChatGPT.<\/p>\n![\"Claude](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Indagari-weekly-Claude-ChatGPT-consumer-subscribers.png?w=680\")
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Claude](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Indagari-Claude-new_users-09-02.png?w=680\")