The news
OpenAI used its DevDay event in San Francisco on September 29, 2026 to turn ChatGPT plugins into something closer to full apps, and to build an identity layer and an enterprise marketplace around them. The moves position ChatGPT as a place where customers find and use software, a role Apple and Google have held through their mobile app stores.
According to TechCrunch, plugins can now have their own home in the ChatGPT sidebar, interactive panels that users work in while they chat, and viewers for different file formats. OpenAI also improved how plugins are discovered and ranked, and added support for MCP Events, an extension of the Model Context Protocol (a standard for connecting AI models to outside tools) that lets events in other software trigger automations. Developers get a Plugin Creator tool, a redesigned submission process and per-user permission approvals. TechCrunch cited Slack, SharePoint, Airtable and Google Drive among the plugins shown.
OpenAI also launched Sign in with ChatGPT, which lets people use their ChatGPT identity in third-party apps and bring their AI allowance with them, TechCrunch reported. It has 16 launch partners, including Cognition's Devin, Notion and Vercel. Digital Today reported that Plus and Pro subscribers can use their plan usage across those partners' tools.
For businesses, OpenAI opened the OpenAI Marketplace, where partners can sell their apps to enterprise customers. TechCrunch counted more than 30 partners at launch, including Adobe, Figma, HubSpot, Salesforce (CRM) and ServiceNow (NOW); Digital Today put the number at 32 and also named CrowdStrike. Eligible customers can apply part of their OpenAI spending commitment toward approved partner software, according to TechCrunch.
The same day, OpenAI introduced Dots, always-on agents that each run with their own cloud computer and browser and can reach more than 4,000 connected apps, TechCrunch reported. Digital Today said Dots is first available to Pro and Business premium users. OpenAI says ChatGPT has 1.2 billion weekly users. TechCrunch noted that OpenAI did not announce a billing or revenue-sharing system comparable to the economic layer of traditional app stores.
The numbers
- ChatGPT weekly users (company figure)
- 1.2 billion
- Sign in with ChatGPT launch partners
- 16
- OpenAI Marketplace launch partners
- 30-plus (TechCrunch); 32 (Digital Today)
- Apps connected to Dots agents
- 4,000+
Why CEOs should care
For software CEOs and product leaders, the question is how much of your product should live inside ChatGPT. A plugin with its own panel and sidebar home can reach users where they already work, but it also puts OpenAI between you and your customer: OpenAI controls discovery, ranking and approval, and it holds the conversation. Decide which workflows you are willing to expose, what data your plugin returns, and how you keep a direct relationship, such as accounts, billing and support that stay on your side.
For CFOs and procurement teams, the marketplace changes how software can be bought. If part of an OpenAI commitment can pay for Adobe, Salesforce or ServiceNow products, that commitment becomes a budget line other vendors compete for. Before signing or renewing an OpenAI agreement, ask which partner products qualify, whether pricing matches buying direct, and how the spend is reported. For vendors outside the marketplace, ask whether being left out will cost deals.
For CIOs and CISOs, plugins, Sign in with ChatGPT and always-on agents widen what ChatGPT can touch. Review which plugins staff may install, who approves access to company systems, and how actions taken by automations or Dots are logged. Treat ChatGPT identities used to sign into other apps like any other single sign-on: decide whether it is allowed, and on what accounts.
The bigger picture
Software makers lost much of their direct customer relationship to app stores in the smartphone era, paying fees and following platform rules for distribution. OpenAI is assembling the pieces of a similar platform: discovery, identity, enterprise purchasing and agents that act across apps. The missing piece, according to TechCrunch, is a billing and revenue-sharing system; if OpenAI adds one, the comparison to Apple and Google would be complete.
What’s next
Watch whether OpenAI introduces payments or revenue sharing for plugins, which large software vendors join or stay out of the marketplace, how many apps adopt Sign in with ChatGPT beyond the first 16, and how Apple and Google respond to apps being found and used inside ChatGPT.
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