Best AI image generation models
Creating an image from a text prompt, in any style.
A simplified summary inspired by the excellent image model benchmark of OpenRouter. Data from October 29, 2026.
- Quality:
- 10 for the best model of the moment, one square less for about 5% behind it.
- Value:
- quality for the price: a model that costs twice as much must be about 12% better to get the same value.
- Price:
- median price of one image on OpenRouter; it may differ elsewhere.
- Speed:
- median generation time: fast under 10 seconds, slow over 30.
| Rank | Model | Quality | Value | Price | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Riverflow V2.5 ProSourceful | ~ 25¢ | Slow | ||
| 2 | GPT Image 2.5 FlareOn Panda AIOpenAI | ~ 1¢ | Medium | ||
| GPT-5.4 Image 2OpenAI | ~ 1¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT Image 2On Panda AIOpenAI | ~ 1¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT Image 2.5 SunburstOn Panda AIOpenAI | ~ 1¢ | Medium | |||
| Qwen Image 3 ProQwen | ~ 4¢ | Slow | |||
| Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview)Google | ~ 7¢ | Fast | |||
| 8 | Muse ImageMeta | ~ 1¢ | Medium | ||
| Nano Banana 2.1On Panda AIGoogle | ~ 4¢ | Medium | |||
| Seedream 5.0 LiteByteDance Seed | ~ 4¢ | Slow | |||
| Grok Imagine Image 2.0xAI | ~ 6¢ | Slow | |||
| Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview)Google | ~ 7¢ | Medium | |||
| Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)On Panda AIGoogle | ~ 7¢ | Medium | |||
| Riverflow V2 ProSourceful | ~ 15¢ | Slow | |||
| MAI-Image-2.5 ProMicrosoft | ~ 11¢ | Medium | |||
| 16 | FLUX 3 Image KleinBlack Forest Labs | < 1¢ | Fast | ||
| Krea 2 Medium TurboKrea | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| Seedream 5.0 FlashByteDance Seed | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| Qwen Image 3Qwen | ~ 3¢ | Slow | |||
| Nano Banana 2 Lite (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image)Google | ~ 3¢ | Fast | |||
| FLUX.3 ImageOn Panda AIBlack Forest Labs | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| Krea 2 MediumKrea | ~ 3¢ | Medium | |||
| Seedream 5.0 ProByteDance Seed | ~ 9¢ | Slow | |||
| FLUX.2 MaxOn Panda AIBlack Forest Labs | ~ 7¢ | Medium | |||
| Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image)Google | ~ 13¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT-5 ImageOpenAI | ~ 17¢ | Slow | |||
| Recraft V4.1 ProRecraft | ~ 21¢ | Medium | |||
| 28 | Qwen Image 2.1 TurboQwen | ~ 2¢ | Medium | ||
| Hy Image 3.5 PreviewTencent | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| Riverflow V2 FastSourceful | ~ 2¢ | Slow | |||
| MAI-Image-2.6Microsoft | ~ 4¢ | Medium | |||
| Recraft V4.1 UtilityRecraft | ~ 4¢ | Fast | |||
| Recraft V4.1Recraft | ~ 4¢ | Fast | |||
| Grok Imagine Image QualitySpaceXAI | ~ 5¢ | Fast | |||
| Qwen Image 2.1 ProQwen | ~ 5¢ | Medium | |||
| Krea 2 LargeKrea | ~ 6¢ | Slow | |||
| MAI-Image-2.5Microsoft | ~ 5¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT Image 1OpenAI | ~ 17¢ | Slow | |||
| Recraft V4.1 Utility ProRecraft | ~ 21¢ | Medium | |||
| 40 | Recraft V4.1 FlashRecraft | < 1¢ | Fast | ||
| MAI-Image-2.6 FlashMicrosoft | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT-5 Image MiniOpenAI | ~ 3¢ | Medium | |||
| FLUX.2 ProOn Panda AIBlack Forest Labs | ~ 3¢ | Fast | |||
| Riverflow V2.5 FastSourceful | ~ 2¢ | Medium | |||
| GPT Image 1 MiniOpenAI | ~ 3¢ | Medium | |||
| Seedream 4.5ByteDance Seed | ~ 4¢ | Fast | |||
| Recraft V4Recraft | ~ 4¢ | Fast | |||
| Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image)Google | ~ 4¢ | Fast | |||
| FLUX.2 FlexBlack Forest Labs | ~ 5¢ | Medium | |||
| Recraft V4 ProRecraft | ~ 25¢ | Medium | |||
| 51 | FLUX.2 Klein 4BOn Panda AIBlack Forest Labs | ~ 1¢ | Fast | ||
| 52 | Recraft V3Recraft | ~ 4¢ | Fast |