GPT-Image-1 API Is Here — And It's Better Than You Think

Why GPT-Image-1 can make the best AI images

Apr 25, 2025

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably felt the frustration.

You open up ChatGPT, type in a cool image prompt, and boom — you get a “decent” picture.

The image is often very good, but it’s not perfect. The images you get are fun to use and are pretty impressive, but they often aren’t quite good enough to be used for business (e-commerce needs perfect shots, for example)

That’s why the launch of the GPT-Image-1 API matters.

This isn’t a small upgrade. It reminds me of the difference between eating all-you-can-eat buffet sushi vs having a chef prepare a custom omakase plate just for me.

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What Makes the GPT-Image-1 API Better?

Most people don’t realize how limited they are until they see what’s possible.

GPT-Image-1 doesn’t just let you generate “a picture.” It hands you full creative control: different sizes, faster generation, adjustable quality levels, multiple file formats, and, yes, the ability to dial down moderation if you need a little more creative freedom.

Suddenly, you’re not stuck with square outputs or random quality.

Another point worth mentioning is that OpenAI earns a lot of money when companies use their API in their products. OpenAI wants to encourage companies to use the API, so they need to make it better than the one that is on ChatGPT for free (or there is no incentive to use it).

Also, companies pay per image for the GPT-image-1 API. Economically, OpenAI can’t afford to let free users and people paying only 20 bucks a month very much access to the high-quality version of the image generator. (It costs a lot to run just in electricity costs).

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How the GPT-Image-1 API Crushes ChatGPT Image Generation

If you’ve only ever used image generation inside ChatGPT, here’s what you’re missing out on:

True format flexibility: In ChatGPT, almost everything defaults to square. With the API, you can instantly set landscape, portrait, or square based on your needs. Sometimes, the ChatGPT version will make the image dimensions you want, but it is too random.
Speed and quality control: In ChatGPT, image generation is slow. With the API, you can select low, medium, or high quality, and adjust for faster drafts or final polish.
Batch creation: Instead of generating one image at a time, the API lets you generate multiple images at once. This is huge for businesses. If you are paying an employee to generate images, you want them to be able to generate a lot of them (or you are just wasting money on their salary while they sit there and wait).
Editable moderation settings: GPT-Image-1 lets you set moderation to “low” when needed, opening up creative possibilities for brands that need more freedom. Even if your brand doesn’t make risky or “NSFW” images, it is still better to avoid tripping up the sensitive “safety” features.
Better consistency: When you control settings directly, you get consistent, professional-grade outputs across every campaign.

In short: ChatGPT’s built-in image gen is fun. The API is professional.

How Much Does GPT-Image-1 Cost? (And Why It’s Totally Worth It)

Using GPT-Image-1 isn’t free like playing around inside ChatGPT, but if you’re serious about quality, it’s a no-brainer.

Here’s the real breakdown:

Text input tokens: $5 per million tokens.
Image input tokens: $10 per million tokens.
Image output tokens: $40 per million tokens.

So what does that mean in practical terms?

Low quality image: around $0.02 per image
Medium quality image: around $0.07 per image
High quality image: around $0.19 per image

Not even twenty cents for a polished, professional-grade image you can use in ads, Shopify stores, social media posts, email campaigns — you name it.

Why Cartario + GPT-Image-1 Is the Best AI Image Generation Software

When GPT-Image-1 came out, I saw the opportunity — and the problem. Raw access to a model is one thing. Having a real, business-focused platform that makes it usable? That’s what we need.

Cartario lets you prompt smarter, generate faster, brand consistently, and export directly where you need it. Our new Shopify app pushes AI visuals straight to your product pages and to your social media channels.

We put the moderation controls to the absolute lowest setting so that you have as much creative freedom as possible for your brand.

We also continue to add our own AI image editing software features that you can use right inside Cartario.

Cartario also uses all of the top AI image generation models and lets you choose which one you want for which image. Even though GPT-image-1 is probably the best AI image generation model overall, it is still nice to be able to access the other main ones like Flux 1.1 Pro and Google Imagen, for example. Sometimes, the other top-tier models produce better images than ChatGPT in certain situations.

Cartario AI Image Generation Use Cases

Cartario users are already seeing it.

E-commerce brands are making amazing visuals for their Shopify stores
YouTubers are getting click-ready thumbnails faster than ever.
Email marketers are dropping visuals into campaigns that actually stand out.
Agencies are building campaigns without needing an army of designers.
People are creating custom AI image models of themselves or their products
Cartario lets you post to social media directly from the platform.

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