DALL·E 3 Pricing: Why There Isn't One Anymore (and What Costs Instead)
Quick answer: There is no DALL-E 3 price any more: OpenAI removed the model from its API on May 12, 2026. Its GPT Image replacements cost $0.005 to $0.211 per square image depending on model and quality. In ChatGPT, image creation is bundled into Free, Go ($8/mo), Plus ($20/mo) and Pro ($100 or $200/mo).
DALL-E 3 plans side by side
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free | $0/month | Limited image creation. Image generation has its own usage limit, which OpenAI does not publish as a fixed number; ChatGPT tells you when you reach it |
| ChatGPT Go | $8/month (US price; localized in some markets) | Everything in Free plus 10x more messages/uploads and more image creation |
| ChatGPT Plus | $20/month | More complex and accurate image creation than Go; OpenAI states Plus usage limits 'may vary based on system conditions' rather than a fixed quota |
| ChatGPT Pro ($100 tier) | $100/month | Pro models, Codex, deep research, and image creation at the lower of two Pro usage tiers; this is the only Pro tier open to new sign-ups during the Pro $200 pause |
| ChatGPT Pro $200 (Pro 20x) | $200/month | Same feature set as Pro $100 with a higher usage allowance and 'unlimited and faster image creation' per OpenAI's pricing page copy; OpenAI paused new sign-ups/upgrades to this tier on September 10, 2026 — existing subscribers keep it |
| API — dall-e-3 | No longer purchasable — discontinued | Deprecated November 14, 2025; removed from the API on May 12, 2026. Any integration still calling this model id now fails |
| API — gpt-image-1-mini | $0.005 – $0.036 per image (1024x1024, low → high quality) | The cheapest of OpenAI's recommended replacements for dall-e-3 |
| API — gpt-image-1 | $0.011 – $0.167 per image (1024x1024, low → high quality) | OpenAI's direct, same-tier recommended replacement for dall-e-3 |
| API — gpt-image-1.5 | $0.009 – $0.133 per image (1024x1024, low → high quality) | Released between gpt-image-1 and gpt-image-2; cheaper than gpt-image-1 at every quality level for square images |
| API — gpt-image-2 | $0.006 – $0.211 per image (1024x1024, low → high quality); also sold as $4.00 input / $1.00 cached / $15.00 output per 1M tokens on the Batch API | The newest per-image model, with the widest price range and more output sizes than the three listed in OpenAI's table |
| API — gpt-image-2.5 (Sunburst / Flare) | $8.00 image input / $2.00 cached / $30.00 output per 1M tokens (standard); $5.00 / $1.25 per 1M text-input tokens | OpenAI's newest image models ("most capable" and "fast, high-quality" respectively); billed per token, not per image, so no single per-image price is published |
Prices checked on against DALL-E 3's official plans page. OpenAI told developers on November 14, 2025 that dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 would leave the API, and shut both down on May 12, 2026. Its current pricing and model pages no longer mention DALL-E at all, old per-image price included, so that figure is not reported here. ChatGPT plan prices were read on archived copies of OpenAI's official pages, because openai.com and chatgpt.com block automated access. API prices exclude tax.
Once you stop asking what DALL-E 3 costs and look at what OpenAI bills today, the real spread is between the GPT Image models, not between DALL-E and its successor. gpt-image-1-mini at $0.005 per low-quality 1024x1024 image is the cheapest image generation OpenAI sells; at high quality the same model costs $0.036. gpt-image-2 spans the widest range, from $0.006 to $0.211. The newest gpt-image-2.5 Sunburst and Flare models are not priced per image at all: they are billed per token like a text model, so you cannot compare them in dollars per picture without measuring your own output tokens. On those 2.5 models, the Batch API halves the rate ($4 instead of $8 per 1M image-input tokens) for jobs that can wait. For most designers and marketers the choice is simpler than the API menu suggests: image creation already comes with ChatGPT, so the API only matters when software, not a person, needs to generate the images.
Visit DALL-E 3How OpenAI bills image generation now
- OpenAI's current flagship image models (gpt-image-2.5-sunburst and gpt-image-2.5-flare) bill per 1M tokens, not per image: $8.00 image input / $2.00 cached input / $30.00 output, plus $5.00 / $1.25 for text input, per 1M tokens on the standard tier.
- Older-generation models kept for compatibility (gpt-image-1, gpt-image-1-mini, gpt-image-1.5, gpt-image-2) have an official flat per-image price by size and quality (low/medium/high) instead — e.g. gpt-image-1 at 1024x1024 runs $0.011 to $0.167 depending on quality.
- The Batch API bills the 2.5 models at half the standard token rate ($4.00 image input / $1.00 cached / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, against $8.00 / $2.00 / $30.00), and lists gpt-image-2 at the same batch rate, but only for asynchronous, non-interactive jobs.
- On ChatGPT, OpenAI does not publish fixed image-generation quotas for Free, Go, or Plus; it states limits 'may vary' and that the product notifies you and shows a reset time once you hit yours.
- ChatGPT Pro's $200 tier (Pro 20x) has been closed to new sign-ups and upgrades since September 10, 2026 — new Pro buyers can currently only get the $100 tier, though existing $200 subscribers keep their plan and allowance.
Which plan fits which kind of user
Developers with code still calling dall-e-3
Your integration broke on May 12, 2026 when OpenAI shut the model down. Point it at gpt-image-1 for the closest drop-in replacement, or gpt-image-1-mini if you mainly need low-cost thumbnails and drafts.
Marketers and content teams comparing ChatGPT plans
Image generation is not a separate product: it is a feature of ChatGPT Free, Go, Plus and Pro. Most people searching for 'DALL-E 3 pricing' really want to know which ChatGPT plan to buy; Go at $8 and Plus at $20 both raise the image limit of the free plan.
Indie creators and agencies doing bulk image generation via the API
At $0.005 to $0.036 per square image, gpt-image-1-mini is the cheap end of OpenAI's API. If you need the 2.5 models, running jobs through the Batch API halves their token rate, as long as results can arrive later.
Anyone who just wants to know what happened to DALL-E 3
It's gone. OpenAI deprecated it in November 2025 and shut it down in May 2026; the model, its docs, and its old pricing have been removed from OpenAI's site entirely.
How DALL-E 3 compares on price
Every vendor meters usage in its own unit, so a credit here is not a token or a compute unit there. The fair comparison is the entry paid plan and what it includes.
| Tool | Free plan | Entry paid plan | Price | Included | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DALL-E 3 | Yes | ChatGPT Go | $8/month (US price; localized in some markets) | Everything in Free plus 10x more messages/uploads and more image creation | 2026-10-04 |
| Adobe Firefly | Yes | Firefly Standard | $9.99/mo | 2,000 generative credits per month | 2026-09-27 |
| Leonardo.Ai | Yes | Essential | $10/mo billed yearly ($12 monthly) | 8,500 fast tokens per month | 2026-10-03 |
DALL-E 3 pricing FAQ
- Is DALL-E 3 still available in the OpenAI API?
- No. OpenAI announced the deprecation of dall-e-2 and dall-e-3 on November 14, 2025, and removed both from the API on May 12, 2026. Any code still calling dall-e-3 now fails outright; OpenAI's own recommended replacements are gpt-image-2, gpt-image-1, or gpt-image-1-mini, all priced differently.
- How much did DALL-E 3 cost before it was shut down?
- OpenAI no longer publishes that number anywhere on its live pricing or docs pages — once a model is deprecated, its old pricing table disappears too. We checked platform docs, the pricing page, and web.archive.org snapshots and could not verify a current official figure, so we won't guess one.
- What replaced DALL-E 3 in the OpenAI API?
- OpenAI's own deprecation notice names gpt-image-2, gpt-image-1, and gpt-image-1-mini as the direct replacements for dall-e-3. Per-image cost at 1024x1024 ranges from $0.005 (gpt-image-1-mini, low quality) up to $0.211 (gpt-image-2, high quality); the newest gpt-image-2.5 Sunburst and Flare models are billed per token instead of per image.
- How much does ChatGPT cost for generating images?
- Image creation is built into every ChatGPT plan, not sold separately. Free is $0/month with limited image creation, Go is $8/month with more, Plus is $20/month with more complex and accurate results, and Pro is $100 or $200/month with unlimited, faster generation. Exact quotas aren't published.
- Is ChatGPT Pro $100 or $200 a month?
- Both exist. Pro has two tiers: Pro $100 and Pro $200 (also called Pro 20x), with Pro $200 giving the higher usage allowance. Since September 10, 2026, OpenAI has paused new sign-ups and upgrades to Pro $200; existing Pro $200 subscribers and the Pro $100 tier are unaffected.
- Can developers still use DALL-E 2 either?
- No. DALL-E 2 was deprecated alongside DALL-E 3 in the same November 14, 2025 notice and removed from the API on the same date, May 12, 2026. Both model families are gone from OpenAI's current model catalog and pricing pages entirely.
- Why doesn't OpenAI's pricing page mention DALL-E 3 at all anymore?
- Because it's been fully removed, not just hidden. We searched the live developers.openai.com pricing and models pages for every DALL-E and dall-e mention and found zero — the only place the name still appears is the deprecations log, which records when and why it was shut down.