Today there are 87 different AI art generators. We spent 150 hours comparing the top 50 to find the seven best you can use to generate your AI art with.
What is the Best AI Art Generator?
- Ideogram — best of the best
- NightCafe — best for versatility
- Fotor — best for NFT art
- Midjourney — best for advanced users
- GPT Image — best for illustrations
- OpenArt — best for consistent characters
- Leonardo.Ai — best for flexibility
1. Ideogram
Our Verdict — Best Of The Best
Price: Starts at $20/month
The Best Part:
- Unlimited slow generations. Plus and Pro plans include unlimited slow generations on top of your monthly priority credits, so you can iterate without watching a meter.
The Worst Part:
- Priority credits are capped. Fast generations draw from a monthly credit pool — on heavy days you’ll be buying top-up credits on top of your plan.
Get it if you want AI art that stays faithful to your prompt, with text that actually reads.
I recommend you get started with the Plus plan for $20/month.
Best For
Top Features
- Text that actually reads. Ideogram is known for typography — posters, logos, and labels come out with crisp, correct lettering.
- Prompt fidelity. The image matches what you asked for, so your art holds up beyond the prompt box.
- Reliable editing. Refine and edit generated images instead of re-rolling from scratch until something sticks.
- Consistent characters. Unlimited character consistency on paid plans keeps the same character across generations.
- A gallery to learn from. Explore the community gallery to see exactly what prompts others used, so you always know where to start from.
Pricing
Ideogram offers four pricing plans:
- Plus: $20/month, or $15/month billed yearly, with 2,400 priority credits a month plus unlimited slow generations.
- Pro: $60/month, or $42/month billed yearly, with 7,500 priority credits, batch generation, and the best cost per credit.
- Team: $30 per user/month, or $20 billed yearly, with 3,600 credits per user and central billing.
- Enterprise: Custom pricing, for organizations that want private custom models trained on their own visual data.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 33% discount.
Try Ideogram today.
2. NightCafe
Our Verdict — Best For Versatility
Price: Starts at $12.49/month
NightCafe is a very flexible tool. We think it’s the best for versatility because it hands you more control over the output.
The Best Part:
- NightCafe hands you more control. This tool offers lots of control for advanced users, great algorithms and tons of tweaking options.
The Worst Part:
- Too many ads on the free plan. The free plan is great, but you’ll see a lot of ads all over the website, for as long as you’re not on the pro plan.
Get it if you want to have a lot of control over your art creation.
I recommend you start with the free plan, then upgrade to the paid option that meets your needs.
(free plan)
Best For
NightCafe is best for artists who feel comfortable with technology.
Top Features
- Test it for free, right now. If you head to NightCafe’s site right now, you can start creating a few images without even needing to sign up.
- A spice for every taste. NightCafe has more algorithms than most competitors out there, with several models to choose from, plus some very cool features, like the AI Face Generator or the NFT Art Generator, for example.
- Artistic heaven. NightCafe’s art-focused algorithms are heavenly for creators, and can create very unique, beautiful art in very unique styles.
- Earn free credits. You can earn more credits for free, no matter if you're on a free or paid account, by doing some easy stuff, like creating a profile, sharing a creation on social media, or publishing a creation.
- Keep your art private. NightCafe allows you to keep your creation private, and only get published when you want to.
Pricing
NightCafe offers five pricing plans:
- AI Hobbyist: $12.49/month, or $89.91/year, for casual creators who want 200 fast credits per month and access to all AI image models.
- AI Enthusiast: $24.99/month, or $179.91/year, for daily creators who want 500 fast credits per month and all AI video models.
- AI Creator: $39.99/month, or $287.93/year, for prolific artists who want 850 fast credits per month.
- AI Artist: $62.49/month, or $449.91/year, for serious content creators who want 1,400 fast credits per month.
- Credit Packs: From $7.99 to $299.99, for artists who don’t want to commit to monthly plans.
Annual subscriptions provide a 40% discount.
Try NightCafe today with the free plan.
3. Fotor
Our Verdict — Best For NFT Art
Price: Starts at $10.99/month
Fotor is a very interesting AI art generator that has a powerful add-on: a full-blown online image editor. We think it’s the best for NFT creators because of its user-friendly interface, which allows you to create your NFT art with no sweating.
The Best Part:
- Beginner-friendly. Fotor is super simple to use. Even if you have never created a single piece of AI art or an NFT yet, you’ll get good results on your first try… And the free plan comes with a few credits, so you can test it before you pay.
The Worst Part:
- May not be flexible enough for more advanced users. In the name of simplicity, Fotor doesn’t offer advanced tweaks such as number of steps, or strength… Which could be a blessing for beginners.
Get it if you want the most straightforward way to generate NFT art without spending hours learning how to engineer your prompts.
I recommend you get started with the free Fotor Basic plan to get the hang of the tool, then upgrade to Fotor Pro+ for $23.99/month to get 300 credits a month.
(free plan)
Best For
Fotor is best for anyone who is or wants to be an NFT artist as soon as today.
Top Features
- Click around and find out. Fotor’s user interface is full of switches to make it easier to help achieve the right look for your NFTs — you can turn on and off stuff like “Realistic Images”, "Golden Hour”, or “Oil Painting”, for example.
- 10,000+ DFY templates. Even if you’ve got zero imagination for designing, you can use their templates and always have somewhere to start from.
- Create and manipulate. When on the Pro+ plan, all it takes is one click to bring your art into a powerful web-based image editor so you can upscale, remove backgrounds, remove objects, and so much more.
- ‘Image to Image’ capabilities. You can create NFT art by giving Fotor an image to start from, and turn it into something brand new.
- Feel like a modern Da Vinci. Fotor enables you to become a master painter, a world-class photographer, or a pencil drawer with but a few clicks. Pick a style, and boom — you can create just about any type of art.
Pricing
Fotor offers four pricing plans:
- Fotor Basic: Free forever for people getting their toes wet in the AI generation world.
- Fotor Pro: $10.99/month, or $47.99/year, for 100 credits a month and 10 concurrent generations.
- Fotor Pro+: $23.99/month, or $69.99/year, for 300 credits a month, 30 concurrent generations, and 100 GB of cloud storage.
- Fotor Max: $49.99/month, or $167.92/year, for 1,000 credits a month, 50 concurrent generations, and 500 GB of cloud storage.
Annual plans provide up to a 76% discount.
Try Fotor today with the free plan.
4. Midjourney
Our Verdict — Best For Advanced Users
Price: Starts at $10/month
Midjourney is an AI image and video generator with four subscription plans and a mix of fast and relaxed GPU time. We think it’s the best for advanced users because it rewards prompt craft with repeats, permutations, and batch jobs, plus a private Stealth Mode on the bigger plans.
The Best Part:
- Unlimited relaxed images. From the Standard plan up, Relax Mode lets you generate as many images as you want without burning your fast GPU hours.
The Worst Part:
- Subscription only. Every Midjourney plan is a paid subscription that renews monthly or yearly until you cancel.
Get it if you want gallery-quality AI art and don’t mind learning the craft of prompting.
I recommend you start with the Basic plan for $10/month, then move to Standard for unlimited relaxed images.
(starts at $10/month)
Best For
Midjourney is best for digital artists and designers who want the most artistic results from their prompts.
Top Features
- Fast and Relax modes. Use fast GPU hours when you need speed, and relaxed generations when you can wait.
- AI video. Turn your images into short videos, in SD on Basic and in SD and HD on the other plans.
- Stealth Mode. Keep your images and videos private on the Pro and Mega plans.
- Repeat and permutations. Queue up to 40 jobs from a single prompt with repeats and permutations on Pro and Mega.
- Free GPU time. Rate images in the gallery to earn free fast GPU time.
Pricing
Midjourney offers four pricing plans:
- Basic: $10/month, or $96/year, for 3.3 hours of fast GPU time a month and SD video.
- Standard: $30/month, or $288/year, for 15 fast hours a month, unlimited relaxed images, and HD video.
- Pro: $60/month, or $576/year, for 30 fast hours a month, unlimited relaxed images and SD videos, and Stealth Mode.
- Mega: $120/month, or $1,152/year, for 60 fast hours a month and everything in Pro.
Annual subscriptions provide a 20% discount.
Try Midjourney today.
5. GPT Image
Our Verdict — Best For Illustrations
Price: Starts at $8/month
GPT Image is the image generation built into ChatGPT, so you create pictures by describing them in a chat. We think it’s the best for illustrations because you can ask for changes in plain words, one message at a time, until the drawing looks the way you pictured it.
The Best Part:
- Edit by talking. Ask ChatGPT for changes to your image in plain words, right in the same conversation.
The Worst Part:
- Tight limits on the free plan. Image creation is limited on ChatGPT Free, and the faster, unlimited image creation is reserved for Pro.
Get it if you want to create illustrations by chatting instead of writing complex prompts.
I recommend you try image creation on the free plan, then upgrade to ChatGPT Plus for $20/month for more complex, accurate images.
(free plan)
Best For
GPT Image is best for writers, marketers, and teachers who want custom illustrations without learning an art tool.
Top Features
- Images from a chat. Describe a scene in your own words and get an illustration back in the conversation.
- Upload a reference. Share a photo or a sketch in the chat as a starting point, with more uploads on the paid plans.
- Unlimited on Pro. Get unlimited and faster image creation on ChatGPT Pro.
- Image generation with Thinking. Let ChatGPT reason through a request before drawing, for more complex scenes.
- Everywhere you use ChatGPT. Create images on the web, iOS, and Android.
Pricing
GPT Image comes with four ChatGPT pricing plans:
- Free: $0/month, for limited image creation alongside everyday chats.
- Go: $8/month, for more image creation, more uploads, and longer memory.
- Plus: $20/month, for more complex and accurate image creation and advanced reasoning models.
- Pro: From $100/month, for unlimited and faster image creation and the most advanced models.
Try GPT Image today with the free plan.
6. OpenArt
Our Verdict — Best For Consistent Characters
Price: Starts at $14/month
OpenArt is an AI creator studio for images, video, and audio, with more than 100 premium models under one subscription. We think it’s the best for consistent characters because it keeps the same characters consistent across new images and scenes.
The Best Part:
- One cast, many scenes. Your saved characters keep their look from one generation to the next, which is hard to get from a single prompt.
The Worst Part:
- Credits run out. Every plan runs on a monthly credit pool, so heavy video work drains it much faster than images.
Get it if you want the same character to show up across a whole series of AI art.
I recommend you start for free, then get the Starter plan for $14/month.
(free to start)
Best For
OpenArt is best for comic, storybook, and social media creators who need a recurring character in every image.
Top Features
- 100+ premium models. Switch between top image, video, and audio models without paying for each one separately.
- Consistent characters. Keep up to about 13 characters on Starter and up to about 353 on Wonder.
- Director. Every plan includes access to Director, OpenArt’s video tool.
- Parallel generations. Run from 8 generations at once on Starter to 32 on Pro and Wonder.
- Watermark-free. Every paid plan exports clean images, and Plus and up add commercial use rights.
Pricing
OpenArt offers four pricing plans:
- Starter: $14/month, or $13/month billed yearly, for 4,000 credits a month and up to about 13 consistent characters.
- Plus: $34/month, or $27/month billed yearly, for 12,000 credits a month and commercial use rights.
- Pro: $56/month, or $44/month billed yearly, for 24,000 credits a month and 32 parallel generations.
- Wonder: $240/month, or $175/month billed yearly, for 106,000 credits a month and priority support.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 27% discount.
Try OpenArt today for free.
7. Leonardo.Ai
Our Verdict — Best For Flexibility
Price: Starts at $12/month
Leonardo.Ai is an AI platform for creating images, video, design, and motion, with access to more than 80 models on its paid plans. We think it’s the best for flexibility because you can switch between models, presets, and your own trained AI models to match any style.
The Best Part:
- A free plan that refills daily. The free plan gives you 150 fast tokens every day, so you can keep experimenting without paying.
The Worst Part:
- Free creations are public. On the free plan your images are public and you only get the Auto model.
Get it if you want to try many AI models and styles from one place.
I recommend you start on the free plan, then upgrade to Essential for $12/month.
(free plan)
Best For
Leonardo.Ai is best for creators who like to experiment with different models and train their own styles.
Top Features
- 80+ models. Pick from more than 80 models on any paid plan.
- Personal AI models. Train up to 10 models on Essential and up to 50 on Ultimate to keep a style consistent.
- Private creations. Keep your work private on every paid plan.
- Relaxed generation. Generate unlimited images with select models at a relaxed pace on Premium and Ultimate.
- Token bank. Roll unused tokens into a bank of up to 25,500 on Essential and 180,000 on Ultimate.
Pricing
Leonardo.Ai offers four pricing plans:
- Free: $0/month, for 150 fast tokens a day and the Auto model.
- Essential: $12/month, or $10/month billed yearly, for 8,500 fast tokens a month and 80+ models.
- Premium: $30/month, or $24/month billed yearly, for 25,000 fast tokens a month and unlimited relaxed images.
- Ultimate: $60/month, or $48/month billed yearly, for 60,000 fast tokens a month and unlimited relaxed images and videos.
Annual subscriptions provide up to a 20% discount.
Try Leonardo.Ai today with the free plan.
Our Top Three Picks
Here’s a quick summary of our top three picks:
Here’s a quick comparison of our top seven picks:
Tool | Entry Offer | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
Ideogram | Up to 33% off yearly | Starts at $20/mo |
NightCafe | Free plan | Starts at $12.49/mo |
Fotor | Free plan | Starts at $10.99/mo |
Midjourney | None | Starts at $10/mo |
GPT Image | Free plan | Starts at $8/mo |
OpenArt | Free to start | Starts at $14/mo |
Leonardo.Ai | Free plan | Starts at $12/mo |
Here are the top 50 AI art generator tools we considered in this review:
- Ideogram
- NightCafe
- Fotor
- Midjourney
- GPT Image
- OpenArt
- Leonardo.Ai
- Playground
- Wombo Dream
- Starry AI
- Deep Dream Generator
- DeepAI
- BigSleep
- Lensa AI
- Stability AI
- Reface App
- Artbreeder
- Dawn AI
- Stablecog
- Mage Space
- Dezgo
- Lexica Aperture
- AI Horde
- Adobe Firefly
- Hotpot AI
- Krea
- YouCam Makeup
- AIPaintr
- Neural.Love
- ChatSonic
- Canva
- NeuroFlash
- AdCreative.ai
- Remini
- FaceApp
- Craiyon
- Recraft
- RunDiffusion
- Deep Art
- Flux
- PicsArt
- Simplified
- Photoleap
- Ostagram
- AI Picasso
- AISEO Art
- MagicAI
- Wonder
- Pikazo
- Hypotenuse AI
Frequently Asked Questions About AI Art Generators
What is the best AI art generator?
Ideogram is our top pick. It stays faithful to your prompt and renders readable text inside images, so your art needs fewer retries.
What is Ideogram best known for?
Ideogram is our best-of-the-best pick. It is known for rendering readable text inside images and staying faithful to the prompt.
Are there free AI art generators?
Yes. NightCafe, Fotor, GPT Image, and Leonardo.Ai all have free plans, and OpenArt lets you start for free before you pick a paid plan.
Which AI art generator is best for NFT art?
Fotor is our pick for NFT art. It is beginner-friendly and comes with a built-in image editor and image-to-image, so you can iterate on a piece until it is right.
Which AI art generator is best for advanced users?
Midjourney is our pick for advanced users. There is no free trial, so you start on the Basic plan at $10/month.
Can AI generate art from a text prompt?
Yes. These tools turn your text prompts into images, and Ideogram pairs generation with editing tools, so you can refine a result instead of starting over.
What should I look for when choosing an AI art generator?
Look for an intuitive interface, strong prompt-to-image quality, a capable neural network, and a wide range of art styles. Weigh people-generation, social media sizing, processing speed, background removal, and specialized generators for needs like NFTs and headshots.
Ideogram vs NightCafe, which is better?
Ideogram is our overall pick and NightCafe is our pick for versatility. Ideogram leads on prompt fidelity and text rendering, while NightCafe gives you a free plan plus paid tiers and several algorithms to pick from, though the free plan runs heavy ads.
Which other AI art generators are worth trying?
Beyond the ranked picks, plenty more are worth a look. Try Playground, Wombo Dream, Starry AI, DeepAI, Lensa AI, Artbreeder, Stablecog, Canva, Craiyon, and PicsArt.
What to look for when buying AI art generator software?
- An intuitive interface that works for both professional digital artists and casual users
- Creating fully detailed images from simple prompts
- Powerful neural networks and image models that are capable of producing quality AI-generated images
- A wide range of artistic styles to choose from
- Ability to create images of people
- Tools for social media posts image generation
- A smooth user experience with quick processing and many image options
- Background remover tools
- NFT Art Generators, Waifu Generators and Headshot generators are good examples of super-specialized AI art generators.
- Alternatively, maybe you're looking for uncensored AI art generators?
The Bottom Line
To recap, here are the best AI art generators to try this year: