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OpenAI announced the GPT Store on January 10, 2024, presenting it as a way to help people discover custom versions of ChatGPT and introducing a proposed engagement-based payment program for US builders. The announcement described a business strategy, not proof that the Store increased users or revenue: creator payments were still a future plan, and users could not directly pay creators for GPTs at launch. Current OpenAI guidance also changes the picture for people who want to publish: personal ChatGPT accounts cannot create or publish new GPTs under the Help Center guidance updated in 2026.
What is the GPT Store?
OpenAI described the GPT Store as a place to find useful and popular custom versions of ChatGPT. A GPT is a tailored version of ChatGPT configured for a particular task or audience. At launch, OpenAI said the Store would feature categories, a leaderboard, and GPTs from community builders and partners. The initial rollout began for ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Enterprise users. OpenAI’s January 10, 2024 announcement reported that users had already created more than 3 million custom GPTs; that was the company’s count of creations, not a measure of Store usage, sales, or active users.
What users could find at launch
OpenAI listed categories including DALL·E, writing, research, programming, education, and lifestyle, and said it would feature selected GPTs weekly. Examples named in the launch announcement included AllTrails for trail recommendations, Consensus for finding and synthesizing academic papers, Khan Academy for coding tutoring, Canva for presentations or social posts, Books for reading suggestions, and CK-12 for math and science tutoring. These examples illustrated the range of intended uses; their appearance did not establish any separate endorsement or referral arrangement.
Why OpenAI launched it
The Store gave users a discovery surface for GPTs built by others, extending the ChatGPT experience beyond OpenAI’s own default product. OpenAI positioned the launch around usefulness and popularity, while Reuters characterized it as a move to build on ChatGPT’s consumer success. The scale cited by OpenAI—over 3 million custom GPTs created—helped explain the discovery problem the Store aimed to solve.
There was also a commercial ambition: OpenAI announced a potential way to compensate builders whose GPTs attracted engagement. The available launch coverage establishes the company’s stated goals and product design, but it does not establish that the Store independently increased user growth, retention, revenue, or creator earnings.
How were GPT builders supposed to make money?
OpenAI’s launch post said, “In Q1 we will launch a GPT builder revenue program. As a first step, US builders will be paid based on user engagement with their GPTs.” The company said details about payment criteria would follow. This was a planned program announcement, not a published general revenue share or an open promise of payment to every builder.
Rank #2
At launch, creators could not charge users directly for GPTs, according to TechCrunch’s contemporaneous coverage. A June 2024 community discussion reproduced an OpenAI FAQ describing a limited pilot for selected US builders with popular and engaging GPTs, with additional builders not then being accepted. That is historical evidence of a restricted pilot, not confirmation of current enrollment or terms. The current availability of builder payouts and the formula for calculating them are not established by the sources cited here.
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OpenAI’s Help Center page, “Sharing and publishing GPTs,” marked updated six days before October 4, 2026, sets out rules that differ from the launch-era instructions. It says personal ChatGPT accounts cannot create or publish new GPTs. Existing GPTs remain usable and may be edited, subject to plan and permission requirements. In Business, Enterprise, and Edu workspaces, creation and publication depend on workspace settings and a person’s role permissions.
Public Store publication can also be unavailable for a particular GPT or workspace for reasons including workspace controls, unsupported app connections, a missing privacy-policy URL for actions, policy checks, or other restrictions. OpenAI’s current rules are documented in its Help Center article on sharing and publishing GPTs. They should not be confused with the original launch instructions, which asked builders to save a GPT for everyone and verify a builder profile, and described human and automated review.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happens to custom GPTs in Enterprise workspaces?
The same Help Center page says OpenAI plans to retire custom GPTs in affected Enterprise workspaces on December 11, 2026. Existing GPTs in those workspaces are expected to remain usable until then. OpenAI says other plans are expected to follow the same timeline and directs users to account or workspace notices for applicable details. This is a stated future plan, not a completed shutdown, and the Enterprise scope matters.
Quick Recap
What the launch does—and does not—show
- It shows: OpenAI launched a way to browse community and partner GPTs, initially rolling it out to Plus, Team, and Enterprise users, while proposing engagement-based payments for US builders.
- It does not show: that the Store generated a specific amount of revenue, caused user growth, or made creator payouts broadly available.
- For current publishers: the practical rules depend on account type, plan, workspace settings, role, and publication checks; personal accounts cannot create or publish new GPTs under the current Help Center guidance.
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