Why founders are switching from ChatGPT to Claude (and how to do it)
Heather Murray
A long time ago you had to choose between Google and Apple. Moving between the two was painful, so most people picked one and stayed. The same thing is happening now with AI tools, except the movement is already underway. ChatGPT’s market share has dropped significantly over the past year. Claude is seeing rapid growth and demand spikes. Founders are switching, and they’re doing it fast.
The ones who haven’t yet are stalling for one reason: they’ve built up history, context, and habits in ChatGPT and switching feels like starting from scratch. The data shows how real this shift is. Claude hit number one on the App Store with a 60% surge in users and a doubling of paid subscriptions. At the same time, ChatGPT uninstall rates have spiked 200% month over month since OpenAI announced a deal with the DoD.
Choose the horse you’re going to back. And if you want to move to Claude, it’s easy. You don’t have to lose everything you already put in.
AI trainer and entrepreneur Heather Murray, founder of AI for Non-Techies, a platform that teaches professionals how to use AI without technical jargon, shared a 10-step process that transfers your memory and preferences from ChatGPT into Claude. Murray has worked with major brands including Salesforce, HSBC, and Toyota, and her process means you arrive in Claude with your context already loaded. But first, context.
Why founders are moving from ChatGPT to Claude
The writing sounds more human
If your output is content, copy, or anything client-facing, Claude often needs less editing than ChatGPT. Side-by-side comparisons consistently find that Claude produces more natural writing with better tone consistency. Users describe it as stronger for creative work and nuanced text tasks. The telltale AI voice that clients notice, Claude tends not to have it.
Claude holds up better when the work gets complex
Startup teams switching from ChatGPT report faster workflows and fewer errors in high-stakes tasks. For coding, analysis, and anything that requires the AI to reason through a problem rather than pattern-match its way to an answer, Claude tends to deliver more reliable results. When the task gets messy, Claude holds up.
The trust and ethics question
This one is driving more switching than most people expect. A recent surge in movement away from ChatGPT followed backlash over OpenAI’s defense-related partnerships. Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has positioned Claude more restrictively on those uses. ChatGPT is also introducing ads in some tiers. For now, Claude products are ad-free.
Make the decision that’s right for you. Read up on the founders. Check out the ethos of the team. Understand which one you want to support. This goes way beyond the technology. It goes to which company you feel most aligned with and which one is working in your interest.
How to transfer your data from ChatGPT to Claude in 12 steps
Murray’s steps make it possible to land in Claude with your preferences already loaded. As she puts it, “follow these 12 steps, and it’ll feel like Claude knows you already.”
One important note before you start, “Memory isn’t ALL of your chats as some people think, it’s just a list of key preferences really.” She recommends double checking to make sure you have what you need. With that said, here are the 10 steps.
Step 1: Go to Claude
Open Claude at claude.ai. You’ll need to be logged in.
Step 2: Your initials, bottom left
Click on your initials in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Step 3: Settings
Select Settings from the menu that appears.
Step 4: Capabilities
Navigate to the Capabilities tab within your settings.
Step 5: Import Memory from other AI providers
Look for the option labelled “Import Memory from other AI providers” and click on it.
Step 6: Start Import, then leave Claude for a moment
Click “Start Import.” Claude will generate a prompt for you. Leave Claude open and go to ChatGPT.
Step 7: In ChatGPT, select “Thinking” from the model picker
Switch your model to the Thinking model in ChatGPT before doing anything else.
Step 8: Make sure all three Memory toggles are on
In ChatGPT, click on your profile picture in the top right corner. Select Personalisation from the dropdown menu. Check that all three memory toggles are switched on. This ensures ChatGPT exports your full memory set.
Step 9: Back in Claude, copy the prompt it gave you and paste it into ChatGPT
Return to Claude and copy the prompt it generated for you in Step 6. Paste that prompt into ChatGPT and run it.
Step 10: Paste the results into the box in Claude
Copy ChatGPT’s response and paste it back into the import box in Claude. That’s it. Claude now has your memory.
Move from ChatGPT to Claude with your history intact
Picking the tool you use every day to build your business is a real decision. So is the company behind it. Founders who have made the switch describe better output quality, cleaner workflows, and a greater sense of alignment with the tool they’re spending their time in.
The simple steps above mean you don’t have to choose between moving and losing everything you’ve built up. Your preferences come with you.
Catch my free workshops on writing with AI and running a business that doesn’t run you at jodiecook.com.