7 BEST Free & Paid AI Image Generators

About this video

Kevin, in partnership with Zapier, ranks seven AI image generators. 1) DALL-E 3 (OpenAI): accessible at chatgpt.com — free accounts get two images per day, Plus starts at $20 per month — or free with no stated image limit via Microsoft Bing Image Creator, which uses DALL-E 3. Strengths: detailed images, generation inside ChatGPT conversations, limited editing by regenerating a highlighted area, and API access, which he says none of the others offer, enabling Zapier automation such as turning Google Forms feedback into an image saved to Google Drive (Zapier is free but OpenAI API access is needed). Downsides: somewhat less realistic images and misspelled text. 2) Midjourney: high-quality, vibrant, cohesive images with lots of settings control, now via a web interface as well as Discord, but no free tier and plans start at $10 per month. 3) Stable Diffusion: open-source, on Hugging Face, supports in-painting and out-painting, and can run locally on your PC for privacy, but needs a fairly powerful computer and has a steeper learning curve. 4) Ideogram, launched in August 2023: specialises in legible text in images, can generate a prompt from an uploaded image, work from a colour palette, upscale and edit; the free plan is limited and takes about 30 seconds per image, with plans from $7 per month. 5) Adobe Firefly: built into Photoshop and Illustrator and free at firefly.adobe.com, with composition/style/effects settings and training on licensed data; text generation does not seem to work, and removing watermarks needs a subscription from $10 per month. 6) Flux AI: free and, in his opinion, higher quality than Midjourney and DALL-E 3, but resource-intensive and requiring a powerful PC. 7) Generative AI by Getty Images, built with NVIDIA: the most expensive at $49 for 25 generations, but images are legally secure and commercially safe because it was trained on Getty’s library; it offers fewer customisation options.

Key takeaways

• DALL-E 3 gives two free images per day in ChatGPT (Plus from $20/month), or free generation via Bing Image Creator, and is the only one of the seven he credits with API access for automation.
• Midjourney produces high-quality, vibrant images with strong settings control, but has no free tier — plans start at $10 per month.
• Stable Diffusion is open-source and can run locally for privacy with in-painting and out-painting, but needs a powerful PC and has a steeper learning curve.
• Ideogram (from $7/month) specialises in legible text inside images, while Adobe Firefly is trained on licensed data and works inside Photoshop and Illustrator.
• Getty Images’ generator costs $49 for 25 generations, trading price and customisation for images he describes as legally secure and commercially safe.

Episode details: published December 19, 2024 · 7:29 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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