The usage of AI to generate bizarre imagery is certainly one in all my favourite functions of the cutting-edge tech.
I’ve examined out AI writing instruments and AI productiveness instruments, however placing the host of AI picture generator by their paces was hands-down probably the most enjoyable I’ve had in testing instruments in ages (and I really like testing instruments).
As with different AI instruments, there is not any scarcity of synthetic intelligence picture turbines available on the market. I am certain by the point this text is revealed, about 35 extra may have simply launched.
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By now, everyone knows that AI picture era instruments can give you all kinds of fantastical, eclectic imagery. However because you’re studying the Buffer weblog, I’ll be presumptuous and assume you are both in advertising and marketing, a small enterprise proprietor, or a creator — and also you’re in all probability in search of a generative AI instrument that may do one thing you may really use in your work.
Which is quite a bit like mine. I write content material about creators and influencers for this weblog and spend a very good chunk of my day looking by free inventory picture websites for photographs to make use of as featured pictures for these articles. So, I in contrast each generative AI instrument with the identical textual content immediate for a picture I usually want to seek out:
“Generate a picture of a photo-realistic younger, Gen-Z social media influencer filming a video with their cellphone in selfie mode.”
In equity, this can be a powerful immediate — AI picture era notoriously struggles with human fingers, enamel, and screens. However there is a cause the platforms on this record are the most well-liked and talked-about AI picture turbines of 2025. Of all those I examined, these constantly generated the highest-quality pictures. (I’ve included solely the perfect on this article.)
Listed here are my favourite AI picture turbines and the way they stack up with one immediate specifically.
❗FYI: The waters are murky relating to utilizing AI-generated pictures for business functions. Learn on for tips about utilizing AI artwork for social media and advertising and marketing.
Adobe Firefly — Greatest copyright-safe AI picture generator
Adobe’s reply to generative AI, Adobe Firefly, is baked into its suite of instruments, together with Photoshop, however there’s a free net model obtainable.
What’s nice about Firefly (except for the standard of the instrument) is that the pictures generated with it are protected for business use. “Educated on Adobe Inventory pictures, brazenly licensed content material, and public area content material, Firefly is designed to be protected for business use,” Adobe says.
The free net model of the picture generator, discovered at firefly.adobe.com, is remarkably straightforward to make use of. Whenever you enter your immediate, you may select side ratio, content material kind (artwork or picture), and one in all a whole bunch of trending artwork model reference pictures (watercolor, studio pictures, you title it).
You’ll be able to even specify the angle of the picture and depth of area (close-ups, extensive angles, macro pictures, and many others.), shade and tone (pastel, monochrome, muted, and extra), and a few actually enjoyable particular results.
After that, click on ‘Generate,’ and the generative AI will ship 4 new pictures so that you can select from. Clicking a drop-down arrow on every AI-generated picture will let you generate one thing related, use it as a picture model reference for a brand new immediate, or edit it in Adobe Categorical (Adobe’s reply to Canva).
Firefly constantly created high-quality pictures, with only a few Edward Scissorhands fingers. I discovered that enjoying round with the assorted artwork kinds and results pre-generated actually helped me fine-tune my ask. One other sturdy level in Firefly’s favor was the realism within the human faces in my AI picture — there was none of that creepy Uncanny Valley impact I received with lots of the different instruments.
Adobe Firefly pricing: Free for the online model (25 generative credit month-to-month, pictures with watermarks). Plans begin at $9.99 month-to-month.
Midjourney — Greatest AI picture generator for inventive pictures
Midjourney has lengthy been one in all my favourite text-to-image turbines — you’ll even see some featured pictures on this weblog created with the instrument.
Midjourney was initially housed in Discord (which took some getting used to), however the generative AI instrument has moved over to a clean new web site.
Whereas I typically miss the chaos of the Discord server, the place you can watch different customers create pictures in actual time in a bunch chat-like interface, the simplicity of the clear new web site makes producing pictures powerful to beat.
You’ll enter the prompts by way of the ‘Create’ tab, which options slider settings to specify AI picture measurement and even ‘stylization’ and ‘weirdness.’
The picture generator will churn out 4 choices based mostly in your immediate. You’ll be able to select to run it once more, obtain one you want, or for those who’ve generated AI pictures that you just like however wish to tweak, there are a number of enhancing choices to experiment with.
My outcomes with Midjourney are constantly top quality, and the AI hardly ever has an issue producing pictures that actually do appear like photographs.
What makes Midjourney stand out is the inventive high quality of its outputs. It actually creates digital artwork, excelling at wealthy scenes and stylized portraits that really feel extra like digital idea artwork than AI renders.
In all my varied regenerations of my ‘influencer’ immediate, there have been no glitched fingers, and the folks within the AI-generated artworks did not have the creepy model vibe that’s usually a results of asking AI to create pictures that look photorealistic.
Midjourney pricing: Plans begin at $8 per thirty days (paid yearly).
ChatGPT — Greatest AI Picture generator for refining outcomes with prompts
Open AI’s ChatGPT has scrapped its previous DALL-E AI picture generator in favor of getting it baked proper into the primary product.
The mannequin has come a great distance since DALL-E, which tended to favor Uncanny Valley mannequins when creating people.
In relation to realism — and people that don’t appear like actuality TV stars — ChatGPT is basically powerful to beat.
To make use of it, simply describe what you need in plain language, simply as you’d a daily AI immediate — although you’ll must specify that it’s an AI picture and never textual content you’re after.
In contrast to a number of the different instruments on this record, ChatGPT will solely generate one picture out of your immediate — however you may proceed to immediate it to make tweaks to the outcomes, like “make it extra photorealistic” or “add a sundown within the background,” and it’ll re-render accordingly.
One other enjoyable function is that you could additionally add your individual picture and ask ChatGPT’s picture generator to edit it with particular adjustments. Assume: take away the background, change colours, or (as you’ve little doubt seen in your social media feeds) remodel it into a selected picture model, like Studio Ghibli.
Whereas it’s one of many costlier instruments on this record, ChatGPT is probably the most versatile — the generative AI can accomplish that rather more than simply create high-quality pictures. Should you’re in search of an AI Swiss military knife, ChatGPT is it.
ChatGPT pricing: Plans begin at $20 per thirty days.
Canva — Greatest AI picture generator for jazzing up different graphics
Lots of Canva’s finest options are hidden behind its paid plans — however not its free on-line AI picture generator.
You’ll be able to entry the instrument by way of canva.com/ai-image-generator (you may be required to create or signal into an account earlier than you get entry, although).
Within the Canva editor, simply seek for the “Textual content to Picture” app and enter your immediate. You’ll get just a few outcomes to begin with, and from there, you may regenerate, resize, or drop the picture straight into your design.
Canva additionally provides primary picture model choices — like “picture,” “drawing,” or “portray” — and now you can use AI to broaden pictures, take away backgrounds, and extra.
Seconds after you hit ‘enter,’ Canva will generate AI pictures to select from, which may then be pulled into your design.
I used to be actually impressed with how a lot the pictures generated for my influencer immediate seemed like pictures — till I seemed extra intently on the fingers. That mentioned, many of the pictures I generated have been usable.
Are you able to generate pictures which might be as high-quality as Midjourney or Firefly? Not fairly. However for content material creators and entrepreneurs, the comfort issue is tough to overstate. Having this highly effective AI picture generator baked into Canva is a large level in its favor, as many social media creators and entrepreneurs will seemingly already be utilizing the picture and video enhancing instrument in some capability.
The ability of Canva’s huge library of templates, coupled with AI, makes this picture generator a drive to be reckoned with. Whether or not you’re making a presentation or an Instagram carousel, being able to generate AI pictures is a very useful addition.
Whereas Canva’s AI picture generator instrument is obtainable on its free plan, customers are restricted to 50 AI credit. Every change of picture model or regeneration prices one credit score.
Canva AI Picture Generator pricing: 50 credit obtainable on Canva’s free plan.
Secure Assistant — Greatest AI Picture generator for tweaking pictures
Secure Diffusion is an open-source AI picture generator that anybody with technical know-how can obtain and construct on — however don’t fear, you don’t must know methods to do all that to make use of it.
In 2025, they’ve made the picture creator mannequin much more accessible by Secure Assistant, a chat-style interface designed to simplify the picture era course of.
You’ll be able to entry Secure Assistant straight from Stability AI’s website to create pictures. Simply kind your immediate, and the assistant will spit out a sequence of AI-generated pictures based mostly on Secure Picture Extremely (the most recent, strongest model).
You’ll be able to refine your prompts within the picture generator in actual time and even ask the assistant to clarify methods to enhance them — nice for folk who wish to stage up their prompting.
Secure Assistant has useful options past producing AI Photographs. You’ll be able to even add your individual picture and ask it to take away the background, upscale, take away or exchange sure objects, and even ‘inpaint’ (spotlight a piece of the picture to be modified based on a immediate).
I can think about this performance can be tremendous highly effective for photographers or creators who wish to velocity up some workflows with a picture creator. (Take away different vacationers out of your epic journey photographs, anybody?)
That mentioned, Secure Assistant continues to be evolving, and the outcomes can fluctuate greater than instruments like Firefly or Midjourney. However for tinkerers and those that wish to customise each pixel, it’s a robust choice.
Secure Assistant pricing: Plans begin at $9 per thirty days for 900 credit.
Gemini — Greatest free AI picture generator
Gemini is Google’s latest multimodal AI mannequin, and in early 2025, they rolled out its picture era options (changing Bard).
Should you’re logged right into a Google account, you may entry it on gemini.google.com to create pictures, utterly free.
Utilizing Gemini is quite a bit like ChatGPT, however throughout the Google ecosystem. You’ll be able to add your picture to an e mail or share it to a Google Doc, for instance, with one click on. It’s additionally just like ChatGPT in that you could ask Gemini to make adjustments by prompting, however it’s going to create completely new AI-generated pictures based mostly in your addition, moderately than tweak the unique, like ChatGPT does.
The place some instruments on this record are extra geared towards artwork or illustration, Gemini perfects clear, web-friendly illustrations and life-style photographs, with a deal with realism and accuracy.
Given how comparatively “late” Google was to the generative AI sport right here, experimenting with Gemini actually blew my thoughts — the outcomes have been constantly distinctive, stock-photo high quality. After experimenting with Gemini’s picture generator for this text, you may guess the instrument might be in my common rotation.
It’s not fairly as hands-on as Midjourney, and does not fairly ship digital artwork however for quick, contextual outcomes with a Google-level polish, Gemini is a stable guess.
Gemini pricing: Free, with paid plans for superior options beginning at $19.99 per thirty days.
Recraft — Greatest AI picture generator for designers
Recraft is likely one of the newer generative AI children on the block, however it’s already making waves for the way it blends AI illustration, vector design, and model belongings in a single glossy instrument. With it, you may create something from design mock-ups to firm logos.
You begin with a clean display and an area to your immediate. Upon getting some AI-generated pictures to work with, the enjoyable begins.
You’ll be able to mess around with scores of kinds (every thing from hyper-realistic pure gentle to clay artwork), adverse picture prompts, and even add a shade palette. Each picture you generate will seem in a Figma board-like undertaking, which designers will really feel proper at residence inside.
When you generate AI pictures you want, you may change or take away the background, upscale, and even flip a picture into an editable vector.
My outcomes with requests for photorealism have been blended — however that’s not the place Recraft actually shines. To discover its potential, I flipped the script a bit and requested it to assist me generate logos and illustrations, which it nailed. (I’m critically contemplating including a few of these illustrations to my private web site.)
What makes Recraft distinctive is its deal with brand-true output. It’s not about hyperrealism, eclectic artwork, or fantasy landscapes: it’s about getting on-brand AI-generated pictures, quick.
Additionally, I can’t oversell the flexibility to generate editable vector information (SVGs), which makes it a dream for anybody working in net or product design.
Recraft pricing: 50 credit day by day on their free plan; paid plans begin at $10 per thirty days (paid yearly).
Reve Picture — Greatest AI picture generator for sticking to prompts
Reve (pronounced “rev”) is a lesser-known however surprisingly pleasant instrument that actually, actually listens while you immediate it.
Utilizing Reve is straightforward: join on their website, enter a immediate to create pictures, and select from just a few base kinds like “Dream,” “Cinematic,” or “Minimal.” The instrument then creates a grid of AI-generated pictures you may fine-tune by deciding on components you want, or adjusting temper sliders like “heat” and “texture.”
The generative AI outcomes have been glorious — no Uncanny Valley faces or additional fingers in sight. I’d learn that Reve excelled in sophisticated picture prompts, so I added extra components to my immediate, making it longer and extra in-depth, however the instrument hardly ever missed a trick — even the tabby cat on the sting of the mattress that I requested for made it into each single outcomes.
What units Reve aside most, although, is its immediate accuracy. Should you’ve ever discovered your self writing “extremely detailed, extremely life like, cinematic lighting” solely to finish up with a Pixar-style particular person in a area of blob flowers, you’ll admire how intently Reve sticks to your imaginative and prescient.
It doesn’t hallucinate wildly or go off-script to generate pictures. You ask for a neon signal that claims “subscribe” and a sleepy cat on the sting of the mattress, and it delivers. Reve is one other picture creator that I’ll have in common rotation as a marketer and creator.
Reve pricing: 100 free credit to begin, which get topped as much as 20 per day while you get under 20. Should you want extra, you should buy 500 credit for $5.
Meta (the corporate that owns Instagram, Fb, and WhatsApp) launched its personal AI chatbot in April 2024, which is accessible on all its platforms.
It is actually the corporate’s reply to ChatGPT, with the added bonus that you should use it proper in your favourite social media app to generate pictures (which makes it very easy to become familiar with for those who’re snug on Instagram, Fb, or Whatsapp).
The generative AI can do every thing that GPT can do — assist you to create a social media content material calendar or plan dinner with no matter you’ve in your fridge.
Whereas many of the chatter I’ve seen concerning the instrument issues queries about methods to develop your Instagram following (truthful play), it includes a utterly free AI picture generator.
The draw back: all of the AI-generated pictures may have the Meta AI emblem and a watermark that reads “imagined with AI.” Meta does not explicitly forbid the usage of these pictures commercially, however the watermark suggests you would possibly wish to tread rigorously right here.
To generate pictures with Meta AI, head over to Fb, Instagram, or WhatsApp (you may discover Meta AI by way of the search bar) or navigate to meta.ai, then click on Think about. Sort your immediate in, then hit enter. The AI will return one picture, and from there, you may have the choice to edit (by way of textual content immediate), animate, and obtain your AI-generated artwork.
Whereas Meta AI did not yield the perfect AI-generated pictures for my influencer immediate (it had some hassle with photorealism), the animated variations, seconds-long GIFs, have been actually spectacular. They’re significantly enjoyable for social media posts.
Meta AI pricing: Free.
What are the principles round AI-generated pictures and copyright?
In response to the U.S. Copyright Workplace, AI-generated content material is not copyright-protected, however this does not imply that copyrighted works have not been used to coach the assorted fashions these instruments use (and will end in a near-replica of one other particular person’s work) to generate AI pictures.
A number of the instruments on this record, Firefly,have been solely educated on copyright-free pictures, however most of them put the onus on the end-user relating to authorized points.
“Customers get full utilization rights to commercialize the pictures they create, together with the correct to reprint, promote, and merchandise,” OpenAI says of their instrument, and different platforms have related tips. Nonetheless, all of them absolve themselves of legal responsibility for what customers create with their instruments — so, ought to there be a authorized situation with any AI artworks you utilize — any ramifications will seemingly fall on the you.
For every of the instruments in query, I would suggest taking an in depth take a look at all of the Ts&Cs and high quality print that comes with the business use of AI-generated artwork.
