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Anthropic appears to lead OpenAI in UK small-business AI spending only in one recent dataset. Capital on Tap’s anonymised UK SME card transactions through the second quarter of 2026 assigned 54.1% of AI spend to Anthropic and 27.3% to OpenAI. A separate Spendesk sample produced a different result: in its 2025 UK platform data, OpenAI and Dust each accounted for 42% while Anthropic represented 14%. The figures show rapidly rising adoption, not a single definitive national leaderboard.
What the latest UK spending data shows
| Dataset and period | Anthropic | OpenAI | What the figures measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capital on Tap, Q1 2023–Q2 2026; Q2 2026 snapshot | 54.1% of AI spend | 27.3% of AI spend | Anonymised transactions from UK small and medium-sized businesses using its business cards |
| Spendesk, 2025 UK platform sample | 14% of spend | 42% of spend | Companies that use Spendesk for spending and payments; Dust also recorded 42% |
| Spendesk, 2024 platform sample | €14,574 billed, up from €323 in 2023 | €656,355 billed, up from €183,052 in 2023 | Absolute billing recorded on Spendesk’s platform, rather than a national market share |
These percentages cannot be combined. The providers, company populations, payment records and observation periods differ, so they answer different questions. Capital on Tap’s result is the clearest evidence of an Anthropic lead among its card-using SME customers by the second quarter of 2026; it is not proof that Anthropic leads every UK small business.
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AI-tool expenditure has climbed sharply
Spendesk recorded fivefold growth from 2022 to 2024
Spendesk reported that UK small and medium-sized businesses increased their spending on AI tools fivefold between 2022 and 2024. Within its 2024 sample, OpenAI billing reached €656,355, compared with €183,052 in 2023. Anthropic’s recorded spend rose from just €323 in 2023 to €14,574 in 2024. The very different totals reflect the companies and billing flows captured by the platform, not the total amount paid by all UK businesses.
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Capital on Tap calculated average quarterly AI spending of £288 among its SME card customers. Its analysis used anonymised, aggregated card transactions from the first quarter of 2023 through the second quarter of 2026. The figure is an average for that card-user population, not a typical budget for every UK small business.
Why Anthropic leads in one sample and OpenAI in another
The customer base is different
Capital on Tap observes businesses that pay with its cards. Spendesk observes companies that manage expenditure through its platform. Each service attracts different sectors, sizes, procurement policies and levels of software centralisation. A business may also pay one provider by card, another through an invoice and a third through an app store, leaving only part of its AI budget visible in any one dataset.
The time windows are different
The 54.1% and 27.3% shares describe Capital on Tap’s Q2 2026 snapshot. Spendesk’s 42%, 42% and 14% figures describe its 2025 sample, while the euro billing totals describe its 2024 sample. Product launches, team-wide roll-outs, annual contracts and changes in exchange rates can all alter a provider’s share between periods.
Paid transactions are not total usage
- Free tiers and free trials may not generate a transaction.
- Large enterprise agreements paid by invoice may not appear in card data.
- Employees using personal accounts or reimbursed expenses can be missed.
- One company may hold several subscriptions that are booked under different merchants or cost centres.
For those reasons, the datasets are useful indicators of paid demand but are not complete national censuses of AI use.
How widely UK businesses are using AI
The UK Government’s 2026 survey found that 41% of businesses handling digitised data used AI-based technologies during 2025–2026. Integration is less common among the smallest firms: 31% of small businesses and 27% of microbusinesses said AI tools were integrated into existing systems. The survey measures business use, while the card and spend-platform studies measure payments, so the percentages should not be treated as equivalent adoption or market-share figures.
What the numbers say about Claude versus ChatGPT
Is Anthropic ahead?
In Capital on Tap’s Q2 2026 UK SME card data, yes: Anthropic’s 54.1% share was roughly twice OpenAI’s 27.3%. That is a sample-specific result for card-using SMEs.
Has Anthropic overtaken OpenAI across UK SMEs?
The available evidence does not establish a universal overtake. Spendesk’s 2025 UK sample put OpenAI at 42% and Anthropic at 14%, and its 2024 absolute billing was also much higher for OpenAI (€656,355 versus €14,574). Those observations point in the opposite direction, but they describe Spendesk customers and recorded billing rather than the entire SME market.
Which work are businesses paying for?
The published spending datasets do not break provider payments down by task, department or workflow. They therefore cannot show whether a pound went to writing, coding, customer support, analysis or another use. They do show that paid subscriptions are spreading and that some firms are connecting AI tools to existing systems.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsHow to read the figures when setting an AI budget
- Define the population. Decide whether you are benchmarking card users, platform customers, or your own complete accounts-payable records.
- Separate recurring and one-off costs. Record monthly subscriptions, annual contracts, usage-based charges and implementation fees independently.
- Include non-card payments. Reconcile invoices, app-store purchases, employee reimbursements and centrally negotiated contracts.
- Track integration, not just licences. Note which tools connect to existing systems and how many people actively use them; a licence count alone cannot show operational adoption.
- Compare like with like. Use the same period, currency, business-size bands and definition of “AI spend” before drawing a provider comparison.
The takeaway for UK small businesses
UK spending on AI tools is clearly accelerating: Spendesk’s fivefold increase from 2022 to 2024 and Capital on Tap’s £288 average quarterly spend both indicate a market moving beyond experimentation. Anthropic’s lead in Capital on Tap’s latest card sample is significant, but Spendesk’s 2025 results and 2024 billing show why it should not be presented as a nationwide ranking. The defensible conclusion is that both Anthropic and OpenAI have become major paid providers, while the apparent leader depends on who was measured, how businesses paid and which period was analysed.
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