OpenAI Tops Anthropic by $1B in Q1 Revenue, but the Gap Is Closing Fast

OpenAI Holds the Lead, For Now

OpenAI generated approximately $5.7 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2026, beating rival Anthropic by nearly $1 billion. Anthropic posted $4.8 billion over the same period. The gap between the two leading AI labs, however, may be narrowing faster than anyone expected, and the numbers behind the scenes tell a more complicated story about who is actually winning the AI race.

Anthropic's Breakneck Growth

Even with OpenAI in front, Anthropic is growing at a pace with few precedents in software history. The company told investors it expects revenue to more than double to $10.9 billion in the June quarter, a 130% jump from Q1. That single quarter would exceed Anthropic's entire 2025 revenue of roughly $6 billion.

More strikingly, the June quarter is projected to deliver Anthropic's first-ever operating profit, around $559 million. If those numbers hold, Anthropic would reach profitability years ahead of OpenAI, which internal documents forecast will lose $14 billion in 2026 and not turn profitable until 2029.

A major engine behind this surge is Claude Code, Anthropic's agentic coding tool, which reached $1 billion in annualised revenue within six months of its mid-2025 launch and climbed to over $2.5 billion in run-rate revenue by February 2026. Anthropic now counts more than 1,000 enterprise customers each spending over $1 million annually.

OpenAI Faces Internal Pressure

The comparison lands at an awkward moment for OpenAI. The company has missed multiple internal monthly revenue targets this year and fell short of its goal to reach one billion weekly active ChatGPT users. CFO Sarah Friar has reportedly raised concerns about financing future compute contracts and has suggested pushing a planned IPO from 2026 to 2027.

OpenAI's enterprise business currently accounts for around 40% of revenue, with the company targeting 50% by year-end. The pressure to convert consumer dominance into enterprise spend is intensifying.

A Shifting Competitive Landscape

The broader picture suggests a realignment is underway. Anthropic is reportedly capturing more than 73% of all spending among companies buying AI tools for the first time. Its annualised revenue run rate jumped from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $30 billion by April 2026, a trajectory CEO Dario Amodei called "just crazy".

At the same time, Anthropic is raising more than $30 billion at a valuation above $900 billion, likely its final private round before an anticipated IPO. The race is no longer just about who has the bigger model. It is about who builds the most durable business, and right now both giants are running very different playbooks.