DALL-E
Ranked 16 of 22 image generation models by recommenders
Recommended for fun image generation and quick design ideas like wedding outfits. Critics note a recognizable look and abrupt retirement of older versions.
Recommended for fun image generation and quick design ideas like wedding outfits. Critics note a recognizable look and abrupt retirement of older versions.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 12
- criticize it
- 9
- approval share
- 57%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 12 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun experimental image output
“the weird surreal images it generated were still pretty fun from an experimental point of view”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “OpenAI Livestream” “I was using DALL-E to create stickers, and was like "oh shit"”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “What was your "Oh Shit" moment with GenAI?” “It had a really nice vibe to it, so worth preserving.”
Comment from 22 Apr 2026 in “OpenAI Livestream” Impressive capability
“trying to convey the gravity of this capability to my friends”
Comment from 5 Jun 2026 in “What was your "Oh Shit" moment with GenAI?” “It was utterly mindblowing”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “What was your "Oh Shit" moment with GenAI?” Quick design iteration for outfits
“My wife actually used an early Dall E to iterate on the design for my wedding sherwani.”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “AI-Generated Images Discourage Me from Reading Your Blog” “she iterated on our wedding clothes by using Dall-E to design the ideas she had”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “AI Is Breaking the Moral Foundation of Modern Society”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Recognizable AI look
“The hacks on X calling themselves incredible artists because they can prompt Dall-E - slop.”
Comment from 2 Nov 2025 on Hacker News “I can't unsee echoes of DALE-2 horrors that color my perception of post-2022 digital art”
Comment from 1 May 2026 in “Spotify adds 'Verified' badges to distinguish human artists from AI” “the same “ugh another one” feeling as Dall-E generated images would give”
Comment from 9 May 2026 in “Using Claude Code: The Unreasonable Effectiveness of HTML” Color cast and flat output
“Most DALL-E 3 images have a orange-blue cast, which is absolutely not an unintended artifact.”
Comment from 12 Nov 2025 in “We ran over 600 image generations to compare AI image models” “they output flattened raster images”
Comment from 24 Nov 2025 in “Mew Design – Natural language to editable UI/graphic design” Older versions shut down abruptly
“OpenAI hadn't killed Dall-E labs with almost no heads-up”
Comment from 27 Dec 2025 in “Rob Pike Goes Nuclear over GenAI” “Then they killed Dall-E 2 and my credits vaporized.”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “OpenAI set to discontinue Sora video platform”
Other image generation models people recommend
The four most recommended other image generation models, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nano Banana | 265 | 159 | 63% | 12 | 6 mo5 owners | — |
| gpt-image-1 | 79 | 79 | 50% | 12 | — | — |
| FLUX.2 | 66 | 51 | 56% | 10 | — | — |
| gpt-image-2 | 63 | 26 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| DALL-EThis page | 12 | 9 | 57% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
21 of the 22 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they are still using Dall.e 1 apparently”
“My wife actually used an early Dall E to iterate on the design for my wedding sherwani.”
“they went closed source and tried to monetize it, but within a few years the entire concept just fell apart”
“I was using DALL-E to create stickers, and was like "oh shit"”
“It was utterly mindblowing”
“definitely DALL-E image generation for me”
“trying to convey the gravity of this capability to my friends”
“the same “ugh another one” feeling as Dall-E generated images would give”
“I can't unsee echoes of DALE-2 horrors that color my perception of post-2022 digital art”
“the weird surreal images it generated were still pretty fun from an experimental point of view”
“It had a really nice vibe to it, so worth preserving.”
“Then they killed Dall-E 2 and my credits vaporized.”
“OpenAI hadn't killed Dall-E labs with almost no heads-up”
“If I generate art using DallE or Stable Diffusion, then edit in Krita/Photoshop/etc. it doesn't suddenly cover up the fact that I was unable to draw/paint/photograph the initial concept.”
“How about picture gen though on Dall-E?”
“she iterated on our wedding clothes by using Dall-E to design the ideas she had”
“all food models seem to generate obviously fake food and/or misinterpret the fun constraints”
“they output flattened raster images”
“Most DALL-E 3 images have a orange-blue cast, which is absolutely not an unintended artifact.”
“Peak quality in terms of realistic color rendering was probably the initial release of DALL-E 3.”
“The hacks on X calling themselves incredible artists because they can prompt Dall-E - slop.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.