With Sign in with ChatGPT and a partner marketplace, OpenAI builds an app-store alternative without the cut

TechCrunch's Sarah Perez argues that OpenAI's DevDay launches, including Dots agents, new models and platform updates, combine into an alternative to the app store model. ChatGPT, which has 1.2 billion weekly users, will suggest apps during conversations, connect them and run interactive plugin extensions inside chat. Related coverage is in OpenAI's expanded plug-ins and the DevDay 2026 recap.

"Sign in with ChatGPT" lets users carry their AI allowance into third-party apps, so developers can offer AI features without billing users separately for model usage. The 16 launch partners include Cognition's Devin, Notion, Vercel, T3, OpenClaw and Dactyl.

OpenAI also launched an enterprise marketplace with more than 30 partners, including Adobe, Figma, Sierra, Decagon, HubSpot, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Harvey, Legora, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike and Baseten. Eligible customers can apply their OpenAI commitment spend to approved partner software, which changes procurement math by letting a single AI budget cover multiple vendors. Dots, meanwhile, connect to more than 4,000 apps and can do proactive, read-only research.

Partners already building on OpenAI, such as Ringg's customer-call agents, illustrate the kinds of services that could be distributed through these channels.

Notably, OpenAI did not announce a billing or revenue-share layer comparable to Apple's or Google's mobile app stores. For now, the competitive threat to those platforms lies in discovery: if users find and use services through ChatGPT conversations, the app store becomes less central even if apps are still installed through it. Meta is pursuing similar agent-mediated experiences, such as letting AI agents handle WhatsApp Business setup.

For developers, the practical response is to treat ChatGPT as another surface alongside the App Store and Google Play. Key signals ahead include any revenue-share or in-app-purchase announcement, the quality and fairness of in-conversation app suggestions and growth of Sign in with ChatGPT beyond its launch partners. More in our tools coverage and OpenAI coverage.