Anthropic is ahead on paper. On a like-for-like basis it is still ahead, by somewhere between zero and $13 billion a year. Anthropic booked $16.8 billion in the third quarter of 2026, about $67 billion a year at that pace. OpenAI told investors in October it runs at $50 billion a year. Anthropic counts cloud resales gross. OpenAI counts Microsoft sales net.
Today I posted on LinkedIn about the Reuters report: OpenAI is racing to raise $30 billion before Anthropic goes public in mid-November. My post asked who you would put your money on. Here are the numbers behind that question, with the source and the date of every figure, and the one adjustment you need before comparing them.
- Anthropic: $16.8 billion revenue in Q3 2026, up 45% from about $11.6 billion in Q2 (FT, Reuters, CNBC).
- OpenAI: about $50 billion annualized at the end of September, net of partners' share. The gross figure it used before was $68 billion.
- Anthropic books sales through Amazon and Google gross. OpenAI books its Microsoft revenue share net. Both are allowed under US GAAP.
- Using OpenAI's own haircut from April, Anthropic's Q3 pace drops to about $49 billion. The 6-10% haircut reported by Axios keeps it $10-13 billion ahead.
- Anthropic filed a confidential draft S-1 on June 1. Reports point to a Nasdaq listing before November 26.
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“OpenAI is racing to raise $30 billion. Anthropic is why.”
What Is Anthropic's Revenue in 2026?
Anthropic made $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026 and $16.8 billion in the third quarter alone. The first-half number comes from its draft prospectus, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters on October 20. The third quarter was reported by the Financial Times and Bloomberg on October 14, after an investor meeting. Anthropic itself has not published quarterly results.
The run-rate is what Anthropic does announce. On February 12 it said $14 billion. On April 6 it said more than $30 billion, up from about $9 billion at the end of 2025. On May 28, with its $65 billion Series H at a $965 billion valuation, it said more than $47 billion. Bloomberg and CNBC then reported $65 billion for July.
For context, 2025 was a different company. Reporting on the prospectus puts full-year 2025 revenue at about $4.6 billion, with an operating loss of about $8.1 billion. Reuters, citing a leaked copy of the prospectus, put the 2025 net loss at $42 billion, about $34 billion of it a non-cash accounting charge. In the first half of 2025 Anthropic made $1.1 billion. In the first half of 2026 it made fifteen times that.
What Is OpenAI's Revenue in 2026?
OpenAI runs at about $50 billion a year, according to what it told investors in October. On March 31 its own announcement said $2 billion of revenue per month, more than 900 million weekly ChatGPT users and over 50 million subscribers. Bloomberg and CNBC reported $40 billion in August. The FT and CNBC reported about $50 billion at the end of September.
That $50 billion is a net number. CNBC noted on October 8 that an earlier $68 billion figure included partners' gross revenue. OpenAI now projects $70 billion by year-end. For 2025, leaked documents covered by Ars Technica put revenue at $13.07 billion. Treat that one as a leak, since OpenAI has not published it.
One myth to drop: OpenAI is no longer mostly a consumer business. CFO Sarah Friar told investors in August that the majority of revenue is now enterprise. The year started at about 60% consumer and 40% enterprise.
If you are choosing between the two for your own team, my comparison of Claude vs ChatGPT for business covers plans, data controls and where each one wins.
Anthropic vs OpenAI Revenue: Who Is Really Ahead?
On the numbers each company reports, Anthropic leads by about $17 billion a year. On a like-for-like basis the gap shrinks, and with OpenAI's own correction it disappears. The table puts both on the same footing. Anthropic's annualized figure is my math: the Q3 revenue times four.
| Basis | Anthropic (Q3 2026 x 4) | OpenAI (end of September) | Who leads |
|---|---|---|---|
| As each company reports | $67.2B gross | $50B net | Anthropic by $17B |
| Both gross | $67.2B | $68B (earlier figure incl. partners) | Tie |
| Anthropic net, 6-10% lower (source to Axios) | $60.5B to $63.2B | $50B | Anthropic by $10-13B |
| Anthropic net, OpenAI's own haircut ($30B became $22B) | about $49.3B | $50B | Tie |
One caveat on the last row. Dresser's $8 billion was a gap at one point in April. Scaling the same ratio to Q3 is my assumption, and it is the harshest case for Anthropic.
The fair reading: Anthropic is at least level, and, on the 6-10% haircut a source gave Axios, about $10-13 billion ahead on net revenue. Different periods matter too. Anthropic's figure is a full quarter of revenue, as told to investors and not yet audited. OpenAI's is a run-rate at a point in time, which can flatter a month with a big launch, such as GPT-6 Astra.
Why the gap opened at all: Anthropic sold to developers and companies first, with the API and Claude Code, which alone passed a $2.5 billion run-rate in February. OpenAI built the biggest consumer product first and is now catching up on business, where most of its revenue sits today.
Why Do Gross and Net Accounting Change the Answer?
Because the same $100 sale can be reported as $100 or as less. When a company sells Claude through Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud, Anthropic records the full price as revenue and the cloud's cut as a cost. OpenAI records only its own share of what Microsoft sells. This is not a free choice. US accounting rules (ASC 606) decide it by who controls the sale: the principal books gross, the agent books net.
This is the core of the fight. In April, OpenAI's then chief revenue officer Denise Dresser wrote to staff that Anthropic's stated $30 billion run-rate was inflated by about $8 billion. The memo said Anthropic was "grossing up" revenue shared with Amazon and Google. At the time, OpenAI's math put Anthropic at $22 billion, behind OpenAI's own $24 billion. Six months later, the same math gives a tie.
OpenAI repeated the charge to Reuters on October 19. Anthropic told Reuters its bookkeeping follows widely accepted methods.
My take: neither company is lying, and neither is giving you the number you want. Anthropic's gross figure measures demand. OpenAI's net figure measures what it keeps. Compare demand with demand, or take-home with take-home, and the race is close. My bet: when the S-1 footnote lands, it will sit closer to Axios than to Dresser.
Anthropic vs OpenAI Revenue Growth: How Fast Is Each One Moving?
Anthropic has grown faster in 2026, but its growth is slowing. Its run-rate went from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $65 billion in July. The quarter grew 45%, below some investors' hopes, the FT and Reuters reported. OpenAI went from $2 billion a month in March to about $50 billion a year in September. It told investors its run-rate grew 77% in the third quarter, and 107% in enterprise (CNBC, October 8).
| Date | Anthropic | OpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| End of 2025 | about $9B (official) | n/a |
| February 12 | $14B (official) | n/a |
| March 31 | n/a | $2B per month, about $24B a year (official) |
| April 6 | over $30B (official) | n/a |
| May 28 | over $47B (official) | n/a |
| July / August | $65B in July (reported) | $40B in August (reported) |
| End of September | Q3 revenue $16.8B (reported) | about $50B net (reported) |
| Year-end target | under $100B (FT) to $110B (WSJ) | $70B (OpenAI to investors) |
Notice the last row. The FT expects Anthropic below $100 billion, the WSJ says investors expect $110 billion. That spread is why the IPO price is still open.
Anthropic vs OpenAI Revenue and Profit
Anthropic is profitable on an adjusted basis. OpenAI is not. Bloomberg reported an adjusted operating margin above 11% for Anthropic in Q3, and what Bloomberg called an adjusted margin of 85%. On a reported basis Anthropic lost $80.7 billion in the first half, but $72 billion of that was a non-cash charge on convertible notes, per the prospectus reporting.
OpenAI had an operating loss of about $21 billion in 2025 on $13 billion of revenue, and a net loss of $38.5 billion, according to the leaked documents. There is a concentration risk on Anthropic's side: two customers made about 20% of its revenue, according to the same draft prospectus reporting. Neither number is audited and public yet.
Margins this high usually mean prices have room to fall. I wrote about that pressure in the AI price war with China.
When Is the Anthropic IPO?
There is no official date. Anthropic confirmed on June 1, 2026 that it confidentially submitted a draft S-1 to the SEC. Bloomberg reported on October 1 that marketing could start the week of November 9, with trading before November 26. It named Nasdaq on September 13, and investor talk of $1.8 to $2 trillion on October 14. Reuters says some investors want about $1.5 trillion.
As of today there is no public S-1 on the SEC's EDGAR database. When it appears, it will carry audited revenue under Anthropic's own policy, and the gross versus net question will be answered in a footnote. OpenAI also filed confidentially in June but targets 2027. That is why it is raising privately now: about $30 billion at over $1.4 trillion, with SoftBank and MGX in talks, per Reuters.
What Does This Mean If You Buy Claude or ChatGPT?
For a buyer, the revenue race is good news. Two vendors this size, both raising money against each other, compete on price and limits. We saw it this year: OpenAI paused new ChatGPT Pro sign-ups on September 10 and reopened the plan on September 29 at the same $200, with half the usage.
My agency runs its GTM agents on Claude Code. A Claude price change lands in my costs the same month. A ChatGPT cut lands in my next vendor negotiation.
- Do not sign annual contracts on the assumption that today's price holds. Ask for a price-drop clause.
- Keep your prompts and agent skills portable between Claude and ChatGPT.
- Watch the S-1. Customer concentration and margins tell you how hard Anthropic will push enterprise prices.
- Check usage limits before list prices. That is where plans change first.
Current prices for Claude are in my guide to Claude pricing.
Plan limits are in my guide to Claude Max usage limits.
Want AI agents doing real outbound work for your team? Our B2B lead generation service runs them on research and prospecting, and keeps people on the calls.
Frequently asked questions
Is Anthropic's revenue bigger than OpenAI's?
On reported numbers, yes. Anthropic booked $16.8 billion in Q3 2026, about $67 billion a year at that pace, against OpenAI's $50 billion annualized. But Anthropic counts cloud resales gross and OpenAI counts Microsoft sales net. With OpenAI's own haircut they tie. With the 6-10% haircut reported by Axios, Anthropic stays about $10-13 billion ahead.
What is Anthropic's annual revenue in 2026?
Anthropic has not published a full-year figure. It made $16.3 billion in the first half of 2026 and $16.8 billion in the third quarter, per reporting on its draft prospectus and the FT. Its run-rate reached $65 billion in July. Forecasts for year-end range from below $100 billion to $110 billion.
What is Anthropic's revenue run rate?
The last official figure is over $47 billion, announced on May 28, 2026 with the Series H. Bloomberg and CNBC reported $65 billion for July. The Q3 revenue of $16.8 billion implies about $67 billion a year. A run-rate is a snapshot multiplied by twelve or four, so it is not audited revenue.
Why does OpenAI say Anthropic inflates its revenue?
Because Anthropic records the full price of Claude sold through Amazon and Google as revenue, and the cloud's share as a cost. OpenAI records only its net share of Microsoft sales. An April memo by OpenAI's then revenue chief said this added about $8 billion to Anthropic's $30 billion run-rate.
When is the Anthropic IPO date?
Anthropic has not announced one. It confidentially filed a draft S-1 on June 1, 2026. Bloomberg reported a Nasdaq listing, trading before November 26 and investor talk of $1.8 to $2 trillion. Watch the SEC's EDGAR database: the public S-1 comes out before the roadshow.
Sources
Anthropic, Series H announcement, May 28, 2026.
Anthropic, Google and Broadcom compute partnership (run-rate over $30B), April 6, 2026.
Anthropic, Series G announcement ($14B run-rate), February 12, 2026.
OpenAI, Accelerating the next phase of AI, March 31, 2026.
Reuters, OpenAI seeks to accelerate fundraising ahead of Anthropic IPO, October 19, 2026.
CNBC, Anthropic's third-quarter revenue hits $16.8 billion, October 15, 2026.
CNBC, OpenAI revenue reporting ($50B net vs $68B), October 8, 2026.
CNBC, OpenAI CFO says enterprise is now bigger than consumer, August 14, 2026.
Axios via Yahoo Finance, Anthropic and OpenAI's revenue chasm, explained, September 3, 2026.
Calcalist, Anthropic draft prospectus figures, October 2026.
CNBC, Anthropic's IPO prospectus shows sweeping AI vision, surging costs (Reuters), September 28, 2026.
Quartz, Anthropic Q3 revenue and adjusted profit, citing Bloomberg, October 15, 2026.
Bloomberg, Anthropic said to target mega IPO before Thanksgiving, October 1, 2026.
