Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has integrated user spending data into its latest report on consumer AI services. In August, the top 1% of payers in the US spent an average of $903 per month on AI products, accounting for 19.5% of total observed expenditures. This figure represents an 80% increase over the past 18 months, while the median user expenditure remains stable at approximately $25 per month.
The report highlights a significant disparity in spending patterns. The top 10% of users contribute roughly half of all observed AI service revenue. Only 4.5% of the analyzed US user panel held an active paid subscription to ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude in August, up from 2.1% a year prior. Furthermore, only 13% of paying users subscribe to more than one AI service simultaneously.
ChatGPT leads the market in both web traffic and mobile audience, significantly outperforming competitors. However, specialized tools show higher monetization efficiency relative to their traffic. For instance, Suno and ElevenLabs rank much higher in spending metrics than in web traffic rankings. Among AI-native products, 84% utilize subscription models, while 64% offer usage-based or credit-based payments.
The analysis notes that 29 of the top 50 services by consumer spending do not appear in the top 50 lists for web or mobile traffic. Only seven products, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Notion, rank in the top 50 across all three categories. A16z suggests that reliance on direct payments may currently limit broader mass-market adoption of AI tools.
