---
title: "Anthropic's Best AI Model Struggles to Attract Users as Cheaper Tools Thrive"
source: "Simon Willison 博客（Atom）"
source_tier: "t2"
url: "https://simonwillison.net/2026/Aug/23/anthropics-best-ai-model-struggles-to-attract-users-as-cheaper-t/"
permalink: "https://feed.astralor.com/items/itm_d6c0f7eda20e5ccabef02302"
published: "2026-08-23T20:24:52.000Z"
score: 72
channel: "finance"
tags: ["Anthropic","Fable 5","GPT-5.6","OpenAI","Opus 5","Ramp"]
---

# Anthropic's Best AI Model Struggles to Attract Users as Cheaper Tools Thrive

## AI commentary

> What makes this piece worth reading is how it juxtaposes revenue with actual model spend, debunking the illusion that the best model is the most popular. For anyone tracking AI commercialization or doing model selection, this data is far more convincing than any product launch.

## At a glance

According to a Financial Times story citing people with knowledge of the matter, Anthropic's annualized revenue for July reached $65 billion, up from $47 billion in May, and the company expects Q3 to be profitable using the same model that declared Q2 profitable. However, Ramp's AI index, which tracks model adoption via billing data from 70,000 companies, shows that in July 2026 Anthropic model spend was led by Opus 4.8 at 28.0%, while the newly released flagship Opus 5 only captured 3.5%, and Fable 5, which costs more, accounted for 8.0%. OpenAI's annualized revenue has jumped 35% in the quarter to date to over $40 billion, boosted by the July launch of GPT 5.6 after a sluggish start to the year. The data suggests the best model is not necessarily the most adopted; cost and practicality remain critical for enterprises.

## Key points

- Anthropic's annualized revenue reached $65 billion in July, up from $47 billion in May, with Q3 profitability expected.
- Anthropic told investors it has 6,000 customers spending $100,000 or more annually.
- Ramp's AI index shows Opus 5 captured only 3.5% of Anthropic model spend in its first week, versus 28% for Opus 4.8.
- OpenAI's annualized revenue is over $40 billion, with GPT 5.6 driving a strong quarterly rebound.

## Full text

Anthropic’s best AI model struggles to attract users as cheaper tools thrive A few interesting numbers in this FT story gathered from "people with knowledge of the matter": Anthropic's "annualized revenue" for July is up to $65bn - it was $47bn in May, and I collected more historic numbers here. Anthropic expect Q3 to be profitable according to the same model they used to declare Q2 profitable. "It also told investors that it had 6,000 customers that spend $100,000 annually or more." As for OpenAI, "annualised revenue has jumped 35 per cent in the quarter to date and is now over $40bn, with the launch of GPT 5.6 in July jolting the company’s performance after a sluggish start to the year". This article also introduced me to the Ramp AI index, which uses billing data from 70,000 Ramp credit card using companies to estimate model adoption. Here's Ramp's breakdown of Anthropic model spend for July 2026, which looks reasonable given that Opus 5 was only released on July 24th, and supports the idea that Fable's cost has made it a less popular model: Opus 4.8: 28.0% Sonnet 4.6: 8.3% Fable 5: 8.0% Opus 4.6: 6.9% Sonnet 5: 3.6% Opus 5: 3.5% Opus 4.7: 1.7% Sonnet 4.5: 1.3% Haiku 4.5: 1.0% Opus 4.5: 0.7% Via Hacker News Tags: ai, openai, generative-ai, llms, anthropic, claude, claude-mythos-fable

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