OpenAI turns ChatGPT into an app platform, with no revenue share yet

By EnkiEdited by VK, Editor

Published 30 Sep 2026, 11:32 UTC

Reporting from TechCrunch, OpenAI, The Verge, The Decoder

At DevDay, OpenAI let developers build app-like plugins inside ChatGPT, added Sign in with ChatGPT and an enterprise marketplace, and launched its own documents, slides and workspace. It announced no way for app makers to charge users.

What it means for founders

Distribution is real, monetization is not. A spot in the sidebar of a product with a billion weekly users is a serious channel, but you still need your own checkout and your own account relationship to get paid.
Ranking is the new app store risk. When ChatGPT decides which plugin to suggest, one change to that logic can move your acquisition overnight, so avoid letting it become your only funnel.
Office tools now compete with you. If you sell documents, decks, meeting notes or team wikis, OpenAI just bundled a default inside the tool your users already open daily.
Watch for any revenue share or in-ChatGPT payments announcement, and for Sign in with ChatGPT opening to all developers, which would lower the cost of serving AI features for apps that join.

The story

OpenAI used DevDay on September 29 to reposition ChatGPT as a place where third-party software lives, not just a chatbot that calls it. Developers can now give their products a permanent spot inside ChatGPT, users can carry their subscription into outside apps, and OpenAI added its own documents, slides and shared workspace. OpenAI says ChatGPT now reaches 1.2 billion people a week, and its DevDay recap lists more than 20 launches.

Apps inside the chat

The core change is plugin extensions. A plugin that once only connected ChatGPT to a tool such as Slack or Google Drive can now sit in the sidebar, open an interactive panel beside the conversation and display the file formats its product uses. OpenAI says it has improved how the directory ranks plugins and when ChatGPT proposes one mid-conversation, and users approve each permission a plugin asks for. Builders get a Plugin Creator tool and a reworked review process where they can follow a submission, see what to fix, ask for a human reviewer and change a plugin's tools without restarting. The Decoder notes they work on every plan.

Plugins can also run inside ChatGPT Sites, so a team can share one app while each person keeps their own data and access rights. OpenAI is also adopting MCP Events, a draft specification that lets a plugin start an automation when something changes in a connected app, and Business and Enterprise customers get Team Tasks for recurring work.

Identity, allowance and a marketplace

"Sign in with ChatGPT" lets Plus and Pro subscribers log in to partner services and spend their existing usage allowance there. There are 16 launch partners, among them Cognition's Devin, Notion and Vercel. For large customers, the new OpenAI Marketplace lists more than 30 vendors, including Adobe, Figma, Salesforce and HubSpot, and lets buyers put part of their OpenAI spending commitment toward approved partner software.

An office suite of its own

OpenAI also launched Space, a shared team workspace for files, chats and agents, and Pages, a document format meant for people and agents to edit together. Collaborative Slides follows in the coming weeks with export to PowerPoint and Google Slides. ChatGPT can now be summoned by @mention in Slack and Microsoft Teams, even by colleagues without their own license. TechCrunch framed the bundle as a direct move on Microsoft's core workplace business.

What we don't know yet

OpenAI announced no billing system or revenue share for plugin makers, so there is no way yet to charge users through ChatGPT. It has not explained how the ranking and in-chat suggestions decide which app gets recommended, how partners are paid when users spend their allowance with them, or when Sign in with ChatGPT opens beyond the first 16.