The Best AI Image Generators

I tested NBP with various test prompts and it outshined the first version of the model in every instance (check out the related articles to the right). It's really impressive how it can perfectly morph two images into one which the former model often struggled with. Changing perspectives for image-to-image is no issue and it can also create realistic or beautiful images like no other. Therefore it had to climb on top, there's no way around it. If you work a lot with AI video and images, it makes sense to access this model via Artlist, because they also have the best video generators and a modular pricing structure.

NB 2: Is also incredible, the realism is crazy! So much detail and what a sharp image. Not always perfect, I feel like at times it adds too much detail, but overall a great package together with the NBP. I love also prompt 4 here because the image actually looks like me, even though I just uploaded one reference image and asked it to change my expression.

Also check out my blog post about 'Nano Banana 2 vs NBP', find the link here to the right --->

I honestly love Freepik! The very best part about this tool is that it lets you access literally over 30 models (I've added them below) which is bonkers. All my designer and creative friends have Freepik subscriptions because it's just the best deal right now. Freepik also assembles the best AI video generators, this means you basically pay for one subscription and are always up to date in these two AI tool categories. Plus, they have made such a huge transition since the first time I tested them: from a mediocre AI image generator, to this super powerhouse for genAI. Instead of having to think of everything within your prompt, you can choose Character, Effects, Object, Colours, Compositions, and Styles in a template catalog. And they have added more and more features like image upscalers and editors to their palette. I'm also a big fan of their 20 daily free images.

Key Features:
Daily Downloads, Daily AI Text-to-Image Generation, AI Art Generator with Pikaso, Online Editor, Vectors, Photos, AI Images, Icons, Videos, AI Background Generator, AI Image Generator, Image Upscaler, Background Remover, Photo Editor, SVG File Download, Background Remover

Models:
Flux.2 Klein, Flux.2 Max, Flux.2 Pro, Flux.2 Flex, Flux.1 Kontext Max, Flux.1 Kontext Pro, Flux.1, Flux.1.1, Flux.1 Realism, Flux.1 Fast, Google Nano Banana Pro, Google Nano Banana, Google Imagen 4, Google Imagen 4 Ultra, Google Imagen 4 Fast, Google Imagen 3, Seedream 4.5, Seedream 4 4K, Seedream 4, Mystic 2.5 Flexible, Mystic 2.5, Mystic 2.5 Fluid, Mystic 1.0, GPT 1.5 - High, GPT 1.5, GPT 1 - HQ, GPT, Z-Image, Reve, Ideogram, Qwen, Grok, Classic Fast, Classic, and Auto.

For the generated images above, I've used their own Classic model.

Kling AI is starting to become one of my favorite creative AI tools, for example currently they are the best for videos with start- and endframe. And also as an image generator, they are starting to win my heart. What used to look a little bit too shiny and artificial, is now becoming better and much more realistic. I love the space background from prompt 1, but not so much the lighting for my second prompt an older tarot lady in a mystic light, it just added a weird grey layer.
Prompt 3 and 4 are super nice, I really like what they made out of the mars landscape and the modern stil life. Sadly I wasn't able to generate prompt 5 (morphing 2 pictures in one), because at the moment Kling only allows one reference image.

They also got rid of the annoying constant popups on their page and the dashboard feels much cleaner now to before. For me this is a front runner for overall creative platform (which is a category I'm adding because in 2026 almost all image generators are going in this direction).

Another reason I like Kling recently more is that they now have a free plan: after signup you receive 65 credits, with one image generation only costing 1 credit.

Key Features:
Text-to-Image, Image Upscaler, Advanced Editing, High-Resolution Output, Background Remover, Object Remover, Fast-Track Generation, Watermark Removal, Beta Test Invite, Unlimited Task Queuing

Images above are generated with Kling 3, their newest model!

My very first go at Recraft was via fal.ai, an aggregator of different AI models. The V3 generation was terrible, but after testing Recraft on their own platform I completely changed my mind on it.

It's very much targeting designers and the platform allows a very professional approach. For example, you can create your own colour palette, so all images stay within your brand colours.

Also, they have a feature to vectorize an image and a mockup generator that adds your design to different product images.

The generated images are 'hipsterized', pretty perfect for advertising or generating hip social media posts.

When exporting images you can set size and DPI, which is so clever. Your dashboard is like a canvas where you can place images in any order and size you like, making it easy to compare the best generations.

Overall this is such a well thought-out platform and the V4 model is super capable. All that's missing is more model variety, and it would have made it into the top 3.

Prompt 1 - My standard prompt with the cyborg and the lady in space:
I really like the cyborg, and the lady's outfit looks very casual, which makes her even more realistic. But it still has an unnatural filter to it. Also, the background could look a bit more appealing, but that's a question of taste, and the prompt was followed 100%.

Prompt 2 - A lady with wrinkles laying tarot cards:
So far, all image generators have interpreted there to be a table to lay the cards on, and at first I thought "Where is it?" but when I re-read the prompt, I realised that it was just my and the other image generators' bias. Otherwise, it's a really beautiful generation, very life-like, and the too-perfect beauties from Flux model 1 are gone (great!).

Prompt 3 - Mars landscape with chrome elements
This generation is a bit boring, and it looks like the chrome objects were pasted onto the picture rather than being part of the scenery. Also, I've never seen proper mountains on mars, but then I've never been there.

Prompt 4 - Still life with fantasy style
I'm a bit undecided on this. I like the output, but expected something more magical. Decide for yourself.

Key Features:
Multi-reference support, photoreal detail, text rendering, 4MP resolution, color control, pose control, LoRA training, prompt adherence, layout rendering, fast generation.

Artlist for image generation is so nice because of its various model integrations, for example Nano Banana Pro or the newest Flux models. Google's image generator is able to do a few things others have not been able to do. I'm most impressed by how it can change the perspective of an image, I've added it in the image carousel above (first the original, which I also generated within Artlist, but with the Flux 1.1 model).

I also love the mars landscape it created, looks so different from the others. For that I've used Flux Pro Ultra.

Flux via Artlist is also really good with adding text into an image (explained here too), which is great for lots of marketing purposes. Another thing I like about the Artlist AI image generator feature is the style catalog they provide just under the input field. It really helps finding new ideas for styles and their names.
The only thing I don't like so much is that the input field for prompts is small, and I can't see the whole text at once, and there is a limit of 100 words.
And if you're looking for an all creative toolbox including video and voice generator, Artlist is the best deal out there currently.

Key Features:
Text-to-Image Generation, Image-to-Image, Animation from Static Images, Text-to-Video, Multiple Visual Styles (Cinematic, 3D, Portrait), HD Quality Outputs, Commercial Licensing Included, Integration with Stock Footage Library, Aspect Ratios, Output Formats

New Model GPT Image 2:

After testing ChatGPT 1.5 last year with decent generations, I'm testing the latest model and I'm a bit surprised. It's as if ChatGPT has taken the shiny style from prompt 4 onto generations 3 and 1, because I didn't generate the images in the correct order.

So now the cyborg and lady shaking hands in space is more a fairy tale instead of Sci Fi scene. And even the mars landscape is shiny and sparkly. Let's not even speak about the moonshine style from prompt 4, where it actually fits the intended style.

I love how it generated prompt 2, the tarot lady. The mysticism came through, also she really has wrinkles and the background is spot on. She's maybe a bit too beautiful, but I had also not specified that.

Overall: It's a pity that it applied this flurescent style everywhere, because otherwise the generations are great.
And I feel like ChatGPT image still seems to understand what I want really well. Also it's so nice that we can create about 3-5 images daily for free. The free generations take quite a while, which is a little bit annoying, but as I said, they're free so that's great.

Key Features:
Text-to-Image Capabilities, Advanced Image Generation, Image-to-Image Transformations, Style and Concept Blending, Editable Image Attributes, High-Resolution Outputs, Image Editing

Midjourney is was the very first image generator I heard of, long before anyone could imaging creating Ghiblified selfies and such. All designers I know love this image generator, so especially for advanced users it's great. Not so much for beginners in my opinion. Also I don't like that they no longer offer a free trial. Interesting to see though how they are very community focused and build their tool with that in mind.

Key Features:
Character Consistency, Text-to-Image, Community Gallery, Community Chat, Instant Setup, Unlimited Generations, Multi-Account Management, Image Queueing, Real-Time Updates, Omni-Reference (--oref), Personalization Profiles (--p), Style References (--sref), Draft Mode (--draft)

You really notice how Adobe and with understands the situation well: they just simply have to offer more than just image generation, because so many other tools can do that too. So cleverly they add special features like camera angle or suggestions for templates to add the image to to upload it on instagram. Well done Adobe, I'm glad you are not the next Kodak. The generated images are so so, but given that they were free and you get daily 10 generations just like that, it's pretty good.

Key Features:
Generative Audio and Video, Text to Image, Generative Fill, Generative Expand, Vector Generation, Image Generation, Style Transfer, Adjust Style Intensity, Camera Angles, Collage Maker, Text Effects, Pattern Generation, Color Palette Creation, Image Editing, Template Library, Generate Own Templates, Social Media Templates, Collaboration Tools, Integration with Adobe Apps, User-Friendly Interface, Export Options, Learning Resources

First when I tested it, I've heard a lot of praise about ideogram from creative friends and I understood why. But recently it has gotten a bit quite around this image generator, they haven't released anything spectacular like others and no one mentions it anymore.

I really like the way Ideogram generates humans, they look life-life like the tarot lady from prompt 2 and less perfect than with other models.

Prompt 3 turned out a bit simple with the spikey chrome elements and prompt 4 is pretty weird: It cracked the screen of the phone, and then the fluffy cotton candy clouds around it which look like a prop. See, this is why it's not in the top 5 image generators.

One positive is that it's a great tool if you are new at creating images; its magic prompt feature adds helpful details to your original prompt. This can also help you learn what a good prompt looks like.

Key Features:
Text-to-Image, Realistic Image Generation, Creative Design Capabilities, Sets of Image Style Tags, Adjustment of Aspect Ratio and Resolution

You have to dig a bit to find the image generator apps within canva. None of them is specifically amazing to be honest. I always generate images elsewhere and just upload them to Canva. But I have to give it to them that their AI image editing features are pretty amazing: magic edit, magic expand or just simply their background remover are tools I use almost every day because they work so well.

Key Features:
Video Background Remover, Thousands of Free Templates, Print Designs, Stunning Charts, Share in a Click, Millions of Free Assets, Drag-and-Drop Editor, Edit Existing Files, Professional Styles

To be fair I should say that I tested Higgsfield with it's own model and also the images added here, are generated with "Higglsfield Soul".

As you see the generations are rather simple and immature. Whenever I see this style that reminds me of animations - like from the first prompt with the cyborg - I know the model isn't very advanced.
The tarot lady from prompt 2 looks too unnatural, her skin is too smooth and the mystic aura is completely missing.
Prompt 5, where I ask the image generator to morph two images into one, was created with NBP and I added it simply because it's hilarious. According to the prompt I'm supposed to look excited, this generation reminds me more of a wild club night in Berlin.
What I do like about Higgsfield is the character integration, which let's you add a predefined character to any image. And the daily free credits are really generous.

Don't know how this can be, but on Dreamina (Byte Dance's creative platform which also houses capcut) I can't access their newest model Seedream 4.5, but on Artlist I can.
Because I wanted to understand their unique offer, I tested the tool via their own platform and with model 4.1.

The cyborg from prompt 1 is so immature. And Seedream could have done much better with prompt 2, the lady doesn't look mysterious but more like she just told me I will die.

Generally the platform is annoying to use, there are a lot of glitches and annoyances (see cons), I almost didn't have the patience to do all 4 prompts. If I access Seedream 4.5 via Artlist, then it works quite well.
On their own platform Dreamina, it's not my favorite for sure.

DeepAI may be gratis, but it didn’t follow my prompt at all. The result is by far the worst of all 11 tools I’ve tested and therefore an absolute waste of time. I’ve also tested it for my AI Logo Maker Review because it kept popping up during my search. But it is to the same extent incapable of creating a logo as an image. There are many better tools out there; you can ignore DeepAI. From now on, I will do the same.

Key Features:
Create an Image from a Text Prompt