Piotr Olszewski · updated October 12, 2026The best image generator for everyday work right now is Nano Banana in Gemini: it edits photos from plain-language instructions, keeps a character's look consistent across shots and has a free plan. For posters, logos with lettering and typography I pick Ideogram, for vectors and consistent brand graphics - Recraft, and for an "artistic" look, still Midjourney. If you want many models under one subscription, look at Magnific (formerly Freepik), Adobe Firefly or Dreamina.
Prices come from official pricing pages. Midjourney's site and docs block automated access, so I'm not quoting its prices.
Quick picks
- Best overall: Nano Banana (Gemini) - photo editing by instruction, consistent characters, free to start.
- Best free: Gemini (Nano Banana for free), Krea (100 units per day), Bing Image Creator (10 fast generations per day).
- Best for text in images: Ideogram.
- Cheapest: Krea Basic at $5/month billed annually, or FLUX via API from $0.048 per image.
- Best for designers in Adobe's ecosystem: Adobe Firefly.
AI image generators compared
| Tool | Starting price | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano Banana (Gemini) | $4.99/mo AI Plus (US App Store) | yes | photo editing, consistent characters |
| Midjourney | pricing page not accessible | not confirmed | aesthetics, illustration, moodboards |
| Ideogram | $20/mo ($15 billed annually) | 30 credits per week | lettering, posters, logos |
| Recraft | prices not readable | yes, no commercial rights | vectors, icons, brand graphics |
| FLUX (Black Forest Labs) | $0.048 per image | no | API, photorealism, your own apps |
| Magnific (formerly Freepik) | varies by region | not confirmed | many models in one subscription |
| Krea | $9/mo ($5 billed annually) | 100 units per day | quick model comparison, LoRA |
| Adobe Firefly | $9.99/mo | daily free generations | commercially safe, Photoshop |
| Dreamina (Seedream) | varies by region | daily free credits | social media graphics |
| OpenArt | $13/mo | free start | models and characters in one place |
| Bing Image Creator | $0 | 10 fast generations per day | quick free images |
Nano Banana (Gemini)
Nano Banana is Google's image model built into the Gemini app. Upload a photo and describe what to change: background, lighting, outfit, framing. It preserves a person's look well across successive edits, so it works for a series of graphics with the same character.
US App Store in-app prices on October 12, 2026:
- Free - $0, Nano Banana for generation and editing;
- Google AI Plus - $4.99/month;
- Google AI Pro - $19.99/month;
- Google AI Ultra - $199.99/month, higher-resolution editing up to 4K.
Nano Banana Pro, the stronger version, is also available through resellers such as Dreamina and Magnific.
Who it's for: anyone editing photos or making thumbnails and social graphics.
Downsides: free plan limits aren't given as numbers, and Google describes plan differences with multipliers.
Midjourney
Midjourney still has the most recognizable aesthetic: illustration, cinematic frames, moodboards. The directory has a separate tool, Midjourney Sref, with style codes for Midjourney, but I describe the generator itself without a card.
Price: Midjourney's site and docs blocked automated access to pricing when I checked, so I'm not quoting amounts. Check the current plans in your account settings before buying.
Who it's for: illustrators, concept artists and people who value style over literal prompt-following.
Downsides: weaker at precise text in images than Ideogram, and editing a specific photo is easier in Nano Banana.
Ideogram
Ideogram is the generator I reach for when an image needs legible lettering: a poster, cover, logo or banner.
Per Ideogram's docs on October 12, 2026:
- Free - 30 credits per week, but only if you sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft (email-and-password accounts don't get free credits), and all images are public;
- Plus - $20/month ($180/year), 2,400 credits;
- Pro - $60/month ($504/year), 7,500 credits;
- Team - $30 per user ($240 per user per year), 3,600 credits per user.
Unused monthly credits don't roll over.
Who it's for: people making posters, covers and graphics with text.
Downsides: always proofread the lettering before publishing, and credits expire at the end of each period.
Recraft
Recraft is a design-focused generator: SVG vectors, icons, illustrations in one style and brand graphics. Several model generations are available through its API.
Price: the pricing page lists Free, Basic, Pro and Teams plans with monthly or annual billing (annual saves 20%), but I couldn't read the amounts.
An important note from the pricing page: images from the free plan belong to Recraft, are public in the community gallery and have no commercial license. You only get full ownership and commercial rights on a paid plan.
Who it's for: designers, brands and anyone who needs vectors instead of PNG files.
Downsides: the free plan isn't suitable for client work.
FLUX (Black Forest Labs)
FLUX is a family of models from the German company Black Forest Labs. The pricing page lists several FLUX image models, plus tools for inpainting, object removal and virtual try-on.
Billing is usage-only, no subscription: per the vendor pricing page as of October 8, 2026, the calculator showed $0.048 for a 768 x 768 px image. Higher resolutions cost more.
Who it's for: developers and companies building image generation into their own apps.
Downsides: it's an API, not an app for regular users. You can also get FLUX in Krea, Magnific and Adobe Firefly.
Magnific (formerly Freepik)
Freepik has been renamed Magnific, and one subscription gives you several image and video models, including Nano Banana, FLUX, Seedream and an OpenAI image model, plus Kling, Seedance and Veo for video.
It offers Premium, Premium+ and Pro Starter plans, about 25% cheaper on annual billing, with prices shown in local currency. On annual plans, credits are valid for the whole year, with no monthly reset.
Who it's for: designers and marketers who want stock assets and several AI models on one invoice.
Downsides: it's easy to burn credits on pricier models, and I didn't find a free plan on the pricing page.
Krea
Krea is a platform for real-time generation and model comparison. Good for quick sketches and training your own style (LoRA).
Per the pricing page as of October 8, 2026:
- Free - 100 units per day, LoRA training with up to 50 images, upscaling to 2K;
- Basic - $9/month ($5 billed annually), about 64 Nano Banana generations per Krea's estimate;
- Pro - $35/month ($21 billed annually), about 257 generations;
- Max - $105/month ($63 billed annually), about 771 generations.
Who it's for: people who want to cheaply try several models and train their own style.
Downsides: different models eat units at different rates, so keep an eye on the counter.
Adobe Firefly
Firefly is Adobe's generator, integrated with Photoshop and Express. Besides its own model, it gives you partner models from Google, OpenAI, Black Forest Labs, Runway, Kling, Luma and ElevenLabs.
Per the vendor pricing page as of October 8, 2026 (USD):
- Free - daily free generations across image, video and audio;
- Standard - $9.99/month, 2,000 credits, unlimited standard image generations;
- Pro - $19.99/month, 4,000 credits, Photoshop on web and mobile;
- Pro Plus - $49.99/month, 10,000 credits;
- Premium - $199.99/month, 50,000 credits.
Prices vary by country, and Adobe sometimes runs first-year discounts on higher tiers.
Who it's for: people who work in Photoshop and companies that want a tool from a major vendor.
Downsides: credits are shared across image, video and audio and run out fast with partner models.
Dreamina (Seedream)
Dreamina from ByteDance (CapCut) offers Seedream image models plus Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro, with Seedance for video. Paid plans start with Basic (1,575 credits), with prices shown in local currency. Daily free credits let you start without paying.
Who it's for: social media creators who make images and video in one place.
Downsides: Dreamina notes that prices on the site are approximate, and final prices show after login.
OpenArt
OpenArt combines many image and video models with consistent character creation.
Per the pricing page as of October 8, 2026:
- Starter - $13/month, 4,000 credits;
- Plus - $27/month, 12,000 credits, commercial use rights;
- Pro - $44/month, 24,000 credits;
- Wonder - $175/month, 106,000 credits.
A free account lets you start without a card.
Who it's for: people building series with one character.
Downsides: the pricing page only lists commercial rights from the Plus plan.
Bing Image Creator
Bing Image Creator from Microsoft is the simplest free generator: signed in with a Microsoft account, you get 10 fast generations per day and unlimited generations in the slower Standard mode.
Who it's for: people who occasionally need an image for a presentation or post.
Downsides: little control over the result and no advanced editing.
How to choose an AI image generator
- You edit photos: Nano Banana in Gemini.
- You need lettering on a graphic: Ideogram.
- You need vectors or icons: Recraft.
- You care most about style and aesthetics: Midjourney.
- You're building an app: FLUX via API.
- You work in Photoshop: Adobe Firefly.
- You want many models on one invoice: Magnific or Dreamina.
- Check the license - Recraft's free images aren't yours, and OpenArt's commercial rights start at Plus.
Common mistakes
- Using free images commercially without checking the license. Recraft explicitly says free plan images belong to Recraft.
- Publishing text in images without proofreading. Letters and spelling can come out wrong - check every character or add the text in an editor.
- Paying for several services with the same models. Nano Banana, FLUX and Seedream are available in multiple aggregators at once.
- Letting credits expire. In Ideogram, unused credits don't roll over to the next month.
- Writing vague prompts. Describe the lighting, framing, lens and background instead of "a nice photo of a cat".
FAQ
What is the best free AI image generator?
Gemini with Nano Banana gives you the most for free. Add Krea (100 units per day), Bing Image Creator (10 fast generations per day), Ideogram (30 credits per week when signing in with Google, Apple or Microsoft) and Adobe Firefly with its daily allowance.
Is Midjourney free?
I couldn't confirm a free Midjourney plan, and its pricing page blocked automated access when I checked. You can make similar images for free in Gemini, Krea or Ideogram.
Which AI image generator is best at text?
Ideogram - that's its main specialty. Nano Banana also handles text well. Always proofread before publishing.
Can I sell AI-generated images?
Usually yes on paid plans, but rules differ between services. Recraft's free plan images have no commercial license, and OpenArt's commercial rights start at Plus. Read the terms of your specific plan.
How much does an AI image generator cost?
From free (Gemini, Bing, Krea) through $5-20 a month (Krea, Google AI Plus, Firefly, Ideogram). Via API, FLUX costs from $0.048 per image.
Midjourney vs Nano Banana: which is better?
Midjourney for a distinctive artistic look and illustration. Nano Banana for editing real photos by instruction and keeping a character consistent across edits.
Sources
- Ideogram - plans (docs) - checked October 12, 2026
- Recraft - pricing - checked October 12, 2026
- Gemini in the US App Store - checked October 12, 2026
- Magnific - pricing - checked October 12, 2026
- Adobe Firefly - plans - checked October 8, 2026
- Black Forest Labs (FLUX) - pricing - checked October 8, 2026
- Krea - pricing - checked October 8, 2026
- Dreamina - checked October 8, 2026
- OpenArt - pricing - checked October 8, 2026
- Bing Image Creator - checked October 8, 2026
- Midjourney - site blocked automated access, October 12, 2026