In recent years, AI image generators have exploded in popularity, providing users with creative tools to make imaginative and unique images. From hobbyists to professionals, people across industries use these AI image generation services to create illustrations, artwork, and other visual media. But with so many options now available, which website should you use to generate AI images? Here is an overview of the top platforms.
DALL-E 2
Launched by OpenAI in 2022, DALL-E 2 has quickly become a leader in AI image generation. DALL-E 2 utilizes advanced deep learning techniques to synthesize realistic imagery simply based on text descriptions. Users can get creative by describing anything they envision, and DALL-E 2 attempts to generate corresponding photorealistic or artistic images.
With a waitlist period to access the platform, DALL-E 2 is not yet widely available. But those using the tool during its beta testing phase have created impressive, vivid artwork and illustrations using DALL-E 2’s text-to-image capabilities. From natural landscapes to products you can purchase, strange surrealist scenes, and renderings of people, DALL-E 2 showcases the possibilities of AI to realize imaginative visions.
Midjourney
Midjourney offers an inclusive AI image generation tool usable by hobbyists, creators, developers, and more. Using text prompts and simple commands, you instruct Midjourney’s neural network to produce custom visual media. Midjourney renders photorealistic images, digital paintings, anime-style characters, landscapes, products, textures, and more based on your descriptive input.
With accessibility and creativity as priorities, Midjourney has developed an engaged community of users who collaborate and share tips on crafting the best AI-generated artwork. The team also frequently tweaks the model architecture and training data, rolling out updates to improve image quality. For those new to AI art creation or interested in dabbling, Midjourney provides an easy way to start producing unique images using text prompts and AI capabilities.
Nightcafe Creator
Nightcafe Creator focuses specifically on AI-powered digital art generation. Harnessing image synthesis models, Nightcafe Creator transforms text prompts into nearly any type of artwork – from paintings and drawings to comics, anime, graffiti, and more. The service also enables easy customization, letting you adjust aspects like style, color palette, brush technique, and canvas texturing.
Available on desktop and mobile, Nightcafe offers five free credits per day to try out the platform. For unlimited generation, pricing starts at $10 per month. With an emphasis on artistic styles and aesthetic preferences, this service suits creatives exploring how AI can enhance and expand human creativity. Published examples reveal Nightcafe’s potential for unique portraits, landscapes, architecture renderings, and abstract art.
Craiyon
Formerly known as DALL-E mini, Craiyon provides free AI image generation with reasonable quality. While less advanced than research models like DALL-E 2, Craiyon can produce and remix artwork based on text prompts without waitlists or subscriptions. The website also embraces imaginative freedom and creation for pure enjoyment versus perfection.
In the FAQ, the team behind Craiyon says their goal is bringing AI image generation to more people globally. They intentionally limit model complexity to increase accessibility and lower resource demands. So while you sacrifice some realism and accuracy, Craiyon offers a playground for casual creators and students to make AI-generated scenes and characters using text prompts and intuitive editing tools.
Stable Diffusion
Maintained by Stability AI, Stable Diffusion represents another leading open-source AI system for image generation and editing. Like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney, users textually describe a concept, and Stable Diffusion outputs corresponding imagery. Spanning photorealistic to stylized illustrations, the tool performs impressively given its publicly available nature.
However, leveraging Stable Diffusion involves more hands-on effort than typical consumer-facing platforms. Those with coding skills can integrate the model locally into apps and build customized workflows. Stability AI also offers DreamStudio for easier online access, generating images via text prompts. Overall, developers and researchers widely use Stable Diffusion for its power, extensibility through trained checkpoints, and transparency.
Other Notable Services
Numerous providers offer AI image generation capabilities, but with varying quality, use cases, and accessibility. Below are several other popular services:
- StarryAI: User-friendly platform for making AI art including portraits and landscapes. Offers free and paid tiers.
- Wombo: Generates short AI-powered animated videos synchronized to audio inputs. Free tier available.
- Lexica: Focuses on realistic and highly-detailed AI scene generation. Currently in closed beta.
- Insensitive: Specializes in AI-assisted graphic design such as logos, ads, banners, and presentations.
The options grow nearly daily, so search online to find additional generators matching your needs and budget. Be wary of services lacking examples though, as quality varies significantly across providers.
Choosing the Best AI Image Generator
With an increasing array of platforms available, decide first on your goals for AI image generation based on factors like:
- Access: Do you need immediate access, or are you ok joining a waitlist?
- Cost: Are you willing to pay for credits or subscriptions for extra capability and capacity?
- Quality and Realism: Do you require state-of-the-art photorealism?
- Style and Medium: Is a particular aesthetic or art style important?
- Customizability: How much control over aspects like color and composition do you need?
- Sharing and Usage: Will you showcase publically or retain private control over your generated images?
Weigh your priorities across those criteria when selecting the best AI image generator for your needs. Tasks like creating concepts ads or prototyping designs demand different tools compared to making abstract wall art for your home. Identify the critical factors for you as a user or creator before choosing a website for generating tailored, AI-powered imagery and artwork.