Consumer AI Apps: Power Users Drive Spending

a16z’s seventh Top 100 Consumer AI Apps report shows that consumer AI usage is broad, but monetisation remains concentrated among prosumers, including developers, creators and other professionals. The top 1% of US AI subscribers generated 19.5% of tracked spending, exceeding the combined 16.6% share of the bottom 50%. These heavy users spent an average of $903 a month, while the median subscriber spent $25. ChatGPT remains the leading consumer AI app. Its web traffic is about twice Gemini’s, although the gap has narrowed from 2.7 times in the previous ranking. ChatGPT also has roughly three times as many US paid subscribers as Claude or Gemini. OpenAI, Anthropic, Canva, Superhuman and Higgsfield led the spending ranking, while only seven companies appeared across the web traffic, mobile usage and spending lists. The report identifies automation, developer and creative tools such as n8n, fal, Manus, Figma and HeyGen as major targets for high-value spending. Subscriptions and usage-based fees remain the dominant AI monetisation models: 84% of 44 AI-native web products offered subscriptions and 64% used usage fees or credits. Only 14% used advertising and 2% charged transaction fees. Advertising and AI-agent commerce could become important future revenue channels, but platform access and merchant partnerships remain risks. The data is based on US card samples, excludes adult products and may be affected by a16z’s investments in listed companies. For traders, consumer AI apps should be assessed through paid-user growth, spending concentration, monetisation, platform competition and the ability to expand beyond professional users. The findings may influence technology-sector sentiment, but they provide no direct catalyst for cryptocurrency prices.