The Best AI Image Generators We’ve Tested for 2026

Although ChatGPT has lost its title as the best AI image generator overall, it still impresses with sharp images that rarely have major issues. It also generally does a good job with complex prompts, such as technical diagrams, compared with the competition. For editing, you can use Adobe apps inside ChatGPT to make changes to your photos. You also gain access to ChatGPT’s latest image generation technology for free, albeit with limitations.

Adobe fans: You can leverage Adobe Express and Photoshop for AI image editing within ChatGPT to make localized changes to brightness, contrast, saturation, and more via prompts and sliders. That integration is helpful if you like how Adobe’s tools work.

Free users: If you want to generate AI images for free, ChatGPT merely restricts the number of generations you can create and the speed at which you can do so, rather than forcing you to use a less advanced model.

Gemini’s Nano Banana Pro image generation model is best-in-class, offering excellent fidelity across the board. Whether you want to combine multiple images, generate text, or even tell a cohesive story through comic panels, Gemini excels in areas in which others often struggle. We like that you can use Nano Banana Pro for free, albeit with limits. And once you exhaust your allotment, you can still use the original (and still quite capable) Nano Banana.

Image editors: If you’re looking for an easy way to edit images with AI, Gemini is your best option, thanks to the quality and realism of its edits. It’s simple to prompt it to do what you want.

Pixel-peepers: Most AI image generators restrict you to relatively low-resolution outputs, but Gemini can output high-resolution AI images in 2K or even 4K. Just note that it may still introduce a hint of blurriness to the final result.

Grok is unique among the AI image generators we tested in that it allows you to create content with explicit elements, including nudity. Although you might want to avoid doing so for ethical reasons, Grok allows you to generate explicit content of real people, too. This functionality aligns well with Grok’s so-called uncensored approach to AI technology, as well as its other innovative features, such as its NSFW anime character companions.

NSFW creators: If you want to generate NSFW AI images easily and without any fuss, Grok is the way to go. It can also turn your generations into videos.

X users: Grok could be a good fit if you often use X, since it can search for content on that platform in response to your queries.

Adobe Firefly offers more than just Adobe’s AI technology. Yes, you can generate images with Firefly’s in-house models, but you can also use those from ChatGPT, Gemini, and a variety of others. Firefly’s models allow you to customize your generations in numerous ways, including aspect ratio, composition, effects, style, and more, which is a unique feature among AI image services. The premium version of Firefly also costs just $10 per month, whereas many other options start at $20 per month.

AI newbies: Not sure which AI image generation model will be most to your liking? Firefly helps you explore a wide variety of choices.

Visionaries: If you have a specific vision in mind, Firefly provides a plethora of intuitive ways to adjust the specific aspects of images you generate. For such specific requests, however, it is best to stick with Adobe’s in-house model.

Copilot can generate images just like ChatGPT or Gemini, but you can also leverage it from within Microsoft’s Paint app on Windows 11. Aside from generating images based on prompts, it’s also possible to remove backgrounds and other objects using AI. These features are free, as is Copilot in general, but you need to pay for a Microsoft 365 plan to increase your usage limits

Windows users: Paint is exclusive to Windows PCs, so macOS and mobile users need to look elsewhere for similar functionality. Copilot also features several Windows-exclusive capabilities, including Click to Do and Recall.

Although you might know it best for its stock photo catalog, Shutterstock’s AI image generator stands out by offering a large variety of AI image generation models. You can use Shutterstock’s proprietary model or those from Amazon, ChatGPT, Gemini, and more. Alternatively, you can let Shutterstock automatically decide which one is the best for the task at hand. Each Shutterstock generation gives you four images to choose from, which massively cuts down on how many generations you need to do for each prompt you submit. Moreover, you get to create 100 generations (400 unique images) for just $16 per month.

Model-agnostic creators: If you don’t have a favorite image generation model, Shutterstock makes it simple to sample a wide variety of them. By generating multiple images per request, you can gain a good sense of how well each one meets your needs.

Nostalgists: Among Shutterstock’s models are classic ones that may not be easily accessible elsewhere, such as OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 or Gemini’s older Imagen 3 and Imagen 4 models, among others.