The short version
● Market — about 1.07 billion pounds a year
● Claude — 7.4% to 29.4% of spending in seven months
● ChatGPT — 73.5% down to 52.5%
● By subscribers — ChatGPT 71.2%, Claude 27.1%
UK consumer spending on AI subscriptions runs at about 1.07 billion pounds a year on July's rate, according to a working paper titled Who Pays for AI? by Nikhil Datta and Peter John Lambert of the University of Warwick and Patrick Schneider of Imperial Business School. They analysed de-identified records from 14.2 million UK accounts supplied by a financial data aggregator.
Between December 2025 and July 2026, Claude's share of that spending went from 7.4% to 29.4%, roughly quadrupling. ChatGPT's fell from 73.5% to 52.5%, leaving a lead of about 23 percentage points on spending. The subscriber picture is different and worth holding alongside it: in July, ChatGPT held 71.2% of active subscribers to Claude's 27.1%. Claude is taking a disproportionate share of money rather than of people, which is what you would expect from a higher average price per subscriber.
Two caveats the authors state. The study excludes employer-purchased licences, so it measures consumers rather than the market; and it counts accounts rather than people. Including estimated app store payments lowers Claude's July spending share to 22.8%, which is a material difference and the number to use if you are citing a conservative figure. Our Claude vs ChatGPT breakdown on who actually pays works through what the gap between spend share and subscriber share means.
More from 6 November
Full dated index: every AI release in November 2026.
Sources