AI Image Generators
Text-to-image models and editors for illustration, photography and design work.
9 tools
- CanvaDesign platform with AI generation built into a template-based editor.Official: canva.comfrom $15/mo
- ChatGPTThe most widely used assistant, with image generation and a large plugin ecosystem.Official: chatgpt.comfrom $20/mo
- GeminiGoogle's assistant, tightly integrated with Search, Gmail and Workspace.Official: gemini.google.comfrom $20/mo
- MidjourneyImage generator known for a distinctive aesthetic that needs little prompt tuning.Official: midjourney.comfrom $10/mo
- FluxImage models noted for prompt adherence and legible text in images.Official: bfl.aiFree tier available
- Stable DiffusionOpen-weight image models you can run on your own hardware.Official: stability.aiFree tier available
- IdeogramImage generator specialising in typography and text-heavy designs.Official: ideogram.aifrom $8/mo
- Leonardo.AiImage platform aimed at game and product art, with reusable trained styles.Official: leonardo.aifrom $12/mo
- PromptBaseMarketplace for buying and selling prompts, mostly for image models.Official: promptbase.comPaid only
Text-to-image tools went from novelty to production workflow in about three years, and the category now splits along a line worth understanding: some are built for a person typing a description and accepting what comes back, others for a designer who needs the same character, the same product or the same style across dozens of images. Those are different problems and the tools that solve one tend to be mediocre at the other.
What to look at when choosing
Consistency matters more than any single image
Judging these tools by their best sample image tells you almost nothing. The real question is whether you can get the same face, the same product or the same visual language twice — through reference images, character features or style controls. For one-off illustrations this does not matter. For anything that ships as a set, it is the whole game.
Editing is where most of the work happens
Generating something roughly right is the easy part now. Fixing the one hand, changing the background, extending the canvas, swapping the text on a sign — inpainting and editing controls are what turn an interesting output into a usable asset. A tool with a beautiful first pass and no editing tools will cost you more time than one that is slightly worse but controllable.
Commercial rights are not uniform
Terms vary by vendor and often by plan — some free tiers grant no commercial use at all, some require attribution, some reserve rights to your prompts and outputs. If the images are going into anything you sell or advertise with, read the current terms of the specific plan rather than assuming the category works one way.
When you probably do not need one
For a logo, a brand identity or anything that must be reproducible at any size and edited later, you want a vector tool and probably a designer — generated raster images are a poor foundation for identity work. And for a photograph of a real product or place, an actual photograph remains both cheaper and more honest.