DALL-E 3
AI image generation by OpenAI, integrated with ChatGPT
DALL-E 3 is OpenAI's latest image generation model, integrated directly into ChatGPT Plus. This integration makes it the most accessible AI image generator — you can simply describe what you want in natural language and ChatGPT will handle the prompting. DALL-E 3 excels at text rendering within images and follows complex prompts more accurately than its predecessors. While the artistic quality doesn't match Midjourney, and the content filter is quite strict, the conversational interface and ease of use make DALL-E 3 the best choice for non-designers and anyone who already pays for ChatGPT Plus.
Our score
1.5 cyders
Starting Price
$20/mo
Free plan
No
✓ Pros
- ✓Integrated with ChatGPT
- ✓Excellent text rendering
- ✓Easy to use
- ✓Good prompt adherence
✗ Cons
- ✗Less artistic than Midjourney
- ✗Content filter is strict
- ✗Limited control over output
Key Features
Pricing
Included with ChatGPT Plus at $20/mo
Best For
Use Cases
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What changed, and what we found later
Rated 2026-09-16. Every note below was added after that date. Some are things the vendor changed since; others are older events we only turned up in a later pass. Each is dated by when it happened, not by when we found it, so a date earlier than the rating means we missed it first time round. They stay here rather than being quietly folded into the review.
- 2025-11-14discontinued
OpenAI announced deprecation of the DALL·E model snapshots on 14 Nov 2025 and removed dall-e-3 (and dall-e-2) from the API on 12 May 2026, directing developers to the GPT Image models.
OpenAI API documentation (Deprecations)
What it actually does
Nothing you can buy. That is the headline, and the rest is history.
DALL-E 3 was OpenAI's text-to-image model, used conversationally inside ChatGPT or called through the DALL-E API. It had strong prompt adherence and was unusually good at rendering readable text inside an image, which made it useful for quick mockups. It never matched Midjourney on artistic quality, the content filter was strict, and control over the output was limited.
It is no longer a product. In March 2025 DALL-E 3 was already replaced inside ChatGPT by GPT Image native generation, so anyone who picked the tool for the DALL-E model specifically stopped getting that model over a year ago. The DALL-E API was retired earlier in 2026. The official DALL-E GPT inside ChatGPT shut down on 30 August 2026 and was replaced by ChatGPT Images.
What it costs
There is no separate price and there has not been one for some time. Image generation is bundled into ChatGPT, so the only way to pay for it is a ChatGPT subscription, which is $20 a month for Plus.
If you are here because a comparison chart listed DALL-E 3 at $20, that $20 is ChatGPT. You would be buying a chat assistant that happens to generate images, and the image model behind it is GPT Image rather than DALL-E 3.
Developers who built on the DALL-E API had to migrate when it was retired. Ahead of the 30 August shutdown, Inc. reported that OpenAI encouraged users to download any images they wanted to preserve, and OpenAI did not say what happens to images left sitting in old DALL-E GPT threads. If you have work in there and have not exported it, assume it is gone.
Where it falls down
The failure here has nothing to do with image quality. The product was withdrawn in stages while people were still using it, and the replacement arrived with a download-your-files deadline attached.
It is part of a wider cull. Inc.'s reporting places the DALL-E GPT shutdown alongside o3 retiring on 26 August 2026, ChatGPT Atlas shutting down on 9 August 2026, and Sora 2 scheduled for full shutdown on 24 September 2026. That is four things paying users lost inside roughly two months.
There is no DALL-E 4 and no indication of one. Users on Reddit and the OpenAI forums reported that DALL-E output quality degraded after changes aimed at speed rather than improving, though that is anecdotal and we could not verify it.
The 1.5 score is not a judgment on how the model performed when it worked. It reflects that there is no product here to recommend, and that any review page still presenting DALL-E 3 as something you can buy is out of date.
Who should buy it
You cannot buy it. There is no purchase to make, and anyone telling you otherwise is working from stale information.
If you want OpenAI image generation, buy ChatGPT Plus at $20 a month and use the image generation built into it, with the understanding that it is GPT Image and that OpenAI has now demonstrated it will retire image tooling on short notice.
If you specifically wanted DALL-E 3's behaviour, its prompt adherence and its text rendering, there is no way to get that model back. Evaluate other image generators on their own merits instead of trying to recreate a discontinued one.
If you are a developer with code still calling the DALL-E API, that migration is not optional and the endpoint has already gone. Check your error logs now rather than waiting for a user to report a broken image.
Our verdict
1.5FlatThere is nothing left to buy. The DALL-E API was retired earlier in 2026 and the DALL-E GPT inside ChatGPT shut down in August 2026, replaced by GPT Image. If you want OpenAI image generation, you want a ChatGPT subscription, and this page exists so you stop looking for a product that no longer ships.
Scored 2026-09-16 from public reviews and published reporting, not from any vendor relationship. How we score.
Starting price checked against DALL-E 3's own pricing page on 2026-09-16 (source). Vendors change plans often, so confirm the current price before you buy.
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