OpenAI announced the pricing for DALL.E 2 on July 20, 2022.
In case you are not familiar with DALL.E 2, here’s what it is all about:
DALL.E 2 is a text-to-image AI model that was trained on billions of labeled data to generate images from the natural language description known as a prompt. Anyone who can write prompts can get realistic artwork in no more than 60 seconds. It also has an inpainting feature to edit AI-generated images.
In this article, I have simplified the prices of DALL.E 2.
DALL.E 2 Pricing
DALL.E 2 pricing can be seen from an individual as well as enterprise/agency perspective.
DALL.E 2 Individual Pricing
As an individual user, you will get 50 free credits upon signup. Then, 15 more free credits every subsequent month. One credit will be debited every time you generate or make variations or edit.
If you run out of free credits, you can buy more credits at any time for a minimum of $15 USD per 115 credits and a maximum of 11,500 credits for $1,500 USD at once. I.e $0.032 per image.
Let’s do the math:
1 credit = 4 images
115*4= 460 images. For, $15 USD, you can generate 460 images.
At a maximum level, with 11,500 credits, you can generate 46,000 images.
The price is quite high compared to its competitor Midjourney, which offers 200 generations $10 per month and Stable Diffusion, which is completely open-source and free to use.
DALL.E 2 Enterprise Pricing
Currently, OpenAI does not have any structured plan for enterprises and agencies. Meaning, OpenAI has not issued any plan for API integration like it did for GPT-3 model.
But, companies like Jasper, OpenArt, and Playground have integrated DALL.E 2 on their platform. How?
They must have approached the OpenAI team personally. If you are in need of integrating DALL.E 2 API, you can contact the team via chat. To do so, log in to DALL.E 2 and click the “profile icon” in the upper right corner. Then, click “Help” followed by “Send us a message“.
DALL.E 2 has an “Artist Assistance Program” that subsidizes access to qualified artists who are in need of financial assistance. To avail of this program, artists need to submit this form.
Conclusion
For individuals, there is no confusion. $15 USD for 115 credits. If you feel like the price is high same as the Reddit community, you can try Midjourney or Stable Diffusion.
My view is that, compared to the prices human artist charge for their work, DALL.E 2’s $15 is not at all expensive.
If you are an agency or enterprise looking to integrate the API, you have to contact the OpenAI team personally.
A bonus tip to get free DALL.E 2 credits: How to Get More DALL.E 2 and Stable Diffusion Credits.
FAQs
1. Can I use DALL-E for free?
Yes, but only till 50 free credits. OpenAI offers 50 free credits for users upon signing in. The free credits come with an expiration period of one month. After that, 15 free credits will be given every subsequent month.
2. Does Paid Credits Expire in DALL.E 2?
Yes, same as free credits, paid credits also have an expiration date. The paid credits in DALL.E 2 are subject to expiry in 12 months from the date of purchase whereas the free credits will be expired within one month.
