For the first time, Tesla has disclosed the adoption rate of FSD, revealing a user base of 1.1 million vehicles. The disclosure was provided in Tesla’s Q4 2025 Earnings Call Investor Deck, and offered us the clearest look yet at the statistics behind FSD’s take-rate.
The Breakdown: Purchases vs. Subscriptions
While the headline number is 1.1 million, the breakdown provided during the Earnings Call indicates that the vast majority are users who purchased the package outright, whether on legacy HW3 or modern AI4 vehicles.
The total number of active FSD users is 1.1 million, and this latest number is global, not just applying to North America.
Of that 1.1 million, approximately 70% are upfront purchases (~770,000 vehicles), while the remaining 30% (~330,000 vehicles) are on month-to-month subscriptions. These are surprisingly lower than most anticipated, for both, the overall number of vehicles with FSD and the number of subscriptions versus purchases.
This split may help explain why Tesla is making such a drastic shift in its business model. With only 30% of the user base on a recurring payment plan, Tesla generates approximately $32.6 million in monthly recurring revenue (assuming the standard $99/month rate). The remaining 70% represents one-time cash injections that were recognized upon the launch of FSD V12 in 2024 and no longer contribute to quarterly cash flow.
Accelerating Growth
Tesla provided a historical view of how the FSD user base has grown over the last five years, showing a clear acceleration in 2024 and 2025 as FSD improved by leaps and bounds, and the adoption price dropped sharply.
Year | FSD Purchases/Subs | YoY |
|---|---|---|
2021 | 400,000 | - |
2022 | 500,000 | 25% increase |
2023 | 600,000 | 20% increase |
2024 | 800,000 | 33% increase |
2025 | 1,100,000 | 38% increase |
The jump from 800k to 1.1 million in a single year suggests that the price cut to $99/month and the free trial campaigns in 2025 were effective in converting vehicle owners into monthly subscribers, which means that Tesla’s latest tactics to encourage the use of FSD are effective.
In April 2024, Tesla also reduced the price of FSD from $12,000 to $8,000, further increasing the incentive to purchase the package.
Take-Rate Reality
Despite the milestone, the data expose a relatively low penetration rate. With roughly 8.9 million Tesla vehicles delivered as of the end of 2025, a 1.1 million user base represents a take rate of approximately 12.4%.
This means nearly 88% of Tesla owners are driving hardware-capable cars without paying for FSD, a massive untapped market that Tesla needs to educate and capture. However, this also includes markets where FSD isn’t available like Europe.
Moving to Subscription-Only
Tesla is sunsetting the option to purchase FSD for a one-time fee. Starting February 14, 2026, FSD will be available exclusively as a monthly subscription.
This move is designed to shift lump-sum, one-time sales to a more predictable, recurring monthly revenue model. It also gives Tesla greater flexibility to raise prices as the software evolves, as Musk has already alluded to.
Additionally, one of the milestones in Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award requires Tesla to achieve 10 million active FSD subscriptions, a lofty goal that is likely virtually impossible with the old purchase model, even if purchases count as lifetime subscriptions towards the Performance Award numbers.
The recent retirement of Autopilot, Tesla’s standard lane-assist software, is also likely a factor that will prove to benefit the adoption rate of FSD. As new users come into their vehicles, they’ll likely want some form of basic vehicle assist on the highways, and without Autopilot, the only way to get this feature is to jump straight into FSD.
