Our DALL·E review
DALL·E earns its place in the AI image generation shortlist for blog art, provided less stylised than Midjourney is not a dealbreaker.
We score DALL·E 4.5 out of 5 — excellent ease of use, strong performance and strong value for money.
What DALL·E is
DALL·E is OpenAI's AI image generation product, launched in 2021. Image generation built into ChatGPT with excellent prompt adherence and text rendering.
It is aimed at beginner users — the learning curve is very gentle. Day one you would use it for blog art, slides and social posts. It runs on Web, iOS, Android and API, including a mobile app, and there is an API if you want it inside your own systems.
Where it shines
In testing against the rest of the category, two things stand out: easiest to use and great legible text. The feature set behind that is prompt adherence, in-chat editing, text in images and API access.
We rate performance 4.4/5 and answer accuracy around 89% for the tasks in this category, which is why it holds up for blog art and slides.
Where it falls short
Where it frustrated us: less stylised than Midjourney.
Nothing here needs training, so the risk is not difficulty — it is paying for capability you never use.
Pricing and value for money
Pricing is Included with ChatGPT Plus $20/mo. At $20 a month that is $240 a year per person, at the expensive end of its category (the category median is about $10). A free tier exists, so you can test it properly before paying.
If budget is the constraint, Midjourney at $10/mo does much of the same work. Our cost calculator will show what adding DALL·E does to your monthly stack before you commit.
Who should use DALL·E
DALL·E is the right call for blog art, slides and social posts. Skip it if less stylised than Midjourney is a bigger problem for you than easiest to use is a benefit.
The alternatives worth comparing are Midjourney ($10/mo) and Ideogram ($8/mo). Put them side by side before you buy.
Recommended: DALL·E at $20/mo is best used for blog art and slides, and it earns 4.5/5 from us.