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Pick two to five tools. Every cell comes from a verified record; anything unverified says so. There is no overall winner — the right choice depends on your task, budget and technical needs.

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Criterion	Midjourney	Stable Diffusion (Stability AI)	Runway	Ideogram	Recraft
Provider	Midjourney, Inc.	Stability AI	Runway AI, Inc.	—	—
What it is for	Subscription image generator known for stylised, high-detail artwork, with short image-to-video animation.	Stability AI's open-weight image models, also available through a credit-based API.	AI video studio offering Runway's Gen-4.5 plus partner models, with a pay-per-credit developer API.	An AI image generator with unusually reliable text rendering, plus editing, upscaling and short video generation.	An AI image and vector design platform aimed at designers, with custom styles and editable SVG output.
Category	AI Image Generators, AI Video Generators, AI Design & Presentations	AI Image Generators, Local & Self-Hosted AI, LLM APIs & Model Platforms, AI Voice & Audio Tools	AI Video Generators, AI Image Generators, AI Voice & Audio Tools	AI Image Generators, AI Video Generators	AI Image Generators
Latest confirmed model	Midjourney V8.2 Jul 24, 2026	Stable Diffusion 3.5 (image); Stable Audio 3.0 (audio, May 2026) May 20, 2026	Gen-4.5 Dec 1, 2025	—	—
Main capabilities	Text-to-image (V8 family) Edit model Image-to-video (Depends on plan) Relax mode (Depends on plan) Stealth mode (Depends on plan)	Stable Diffusion 3.5 suite Stable Image Ultra / Core API Editing, upscaling and control APIs Stable Audio 3.0 Stable Fast 3D	Gen-4.5 video Gen-4 / Gen-4 Turbo and Gen-4 Image Partner models (Depends on plan) Audio tools (Depends on plan) Agentic creative collaborator and Runway MCP (Depends on plan)	Text-to-image generation with models tuned for legible text in images Logo, poster and transparent-background tools Precise Edit, Remix, inpainting and Studio layers Upscale, background removal and object removal Short video generation from text, frames or reference media Batch generation from a spreadsheet (up to 500 prompts)	Text-to-image generation with a style library Vector (SVG) generation and vectorisation Custom styles created from your own reference images Mockups, background removal, upscaling, erasing and inpainting REST API covering image and vector generation, editing and batch jobs
Inputs / outputs	text, image → image	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Context window	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented	Not documented
Free plan	No	Yes Organisations or individuals under $1M annual revenue	Yes 125 one-time credits (no expiry); 5GB storage	Yes	Yes
Cheapest paid plan	Basic: $10/mo $8/mo billed annually $96 billed yearly	No monthly list price	Standard: $15/mo $12/mo billed annually	Pricing not verified	Pricing not verified
All plans	Basic — $10/mo $8/mo billed annually $96 billed yearly Standard — $30/mo $24/mo billed annually $288 billed yearly Pro — $60/mo $48/mo billed annually $576 billed yearly Mega — $120/mo $96/mo billed annually $1,152 billed yearly	Community Licence — Free Enterprise Licence — Contact provider Developer API (pay-as-you-go) — $0.01 Per credit	Free — Free Standard — $15/mo $12/mo billed annually Pro — $35/mo $28/mo billed annually Max — $95/mo $76/mo billed annually Enterprise — Contact provider	Pricing not verified	Pricing not verified
API access	No	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)	Yes · docs (opens in a new tab)	Yes	Yes
Free API quota	None documented	Small starter credit grant for new accounts (25 credits per search snippet; unconfirmed on live page)	None documented	None documented	None documented
API pricing	—	API credit: $0.01 per credit	Gen-4.5 video: $0.12 per second (12 credits) Gen-4 Turbo video: $0.05 per second (5 credits) Aleph 2.0 video edit: $0.28 per second (28 credits, 56-credit minimum) Veo 3.1 with audio: $0.40 per second (40 credits)	—	—
Open-weight / proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary
Commercial use	Commercial use allowed on paid plans; companies with over $1,000,000 gross yearly revenue (and their employees) must use Pro or Mega.	Outputs are yours subject to law and Stability's Acceptable Use Policy.	See plan terms	See plan terms	See plan terms
Privacy & data	Creations are visible in the public gallery unless you use Stealth mode on Pro or Mega; Stealth does not hide images made in shared Discord channels.	Self-hosting keeps prompts and images on your own hardware.	Review Runway's terms for content and training-data use; not detailed on the pricing page.	Prompts and uploaded reference images are processed on Ideogram's servers; review the privacy policy before uploading client or personal material.	Free-plan images are publicly visible in Recraft's community gallery; paid plans keep images private. Check which applies before uploading sensitive material.
Platforms & integrations	Web, Discord	Windows, Linux, macOS (local), API	Web, iOS, API	Web, iOS, Android, API	Web, API
Learning curve	Beginner-friendly	Technical	Some experience helps	—	—
Advantages	Distinctive, high-quality aesthetic Unlimited Relax mode on mid and upper tiers Active model development (V8, V8.1, V8.2 in 2026)	Open weights allow local and private use Huge ecosystem of community tools Free commercial use under $1M revenue	Clear per-second API pricing Multiple frontier video models in one place Max plan offers HDR/ProRes outputs	Strong text-in-image rendering compared with most generators Free weekly credits for common sign-in providers Image editing, upscaling and video in the same workspace	Real vector output, not just raster images Custom styles keep a campaign visually consistent API with documented per-operation pricing
Limitations	No free plan or free trial documented No official public API Images are public by default unless on Pro or Mega with Stealth	No major new image model found in 2026; recent focus is audio Licence is revocable and requires registration for commercial use Hosted API prices were raised in Aug 2025 and current per-model figures were not verified	Free credits are one-time only Standard and Pro credits do not roll over Clip lengths are short	Video and premium apps require a paid plan or purchased credits Free-tier images are tied to the account type and credit allowance — check the current terms Generated lettering still needs proofreading before commercial use	Images made on the Free plan are owned by Recraft, publicly visible and not licensed for commercial use — paid plans change this Subscription credits reset each cycle and do not roll over API units are prepaid separately from subscription credits
Last verified	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 19, 2026	Oct 18, 2026	Oct 18, 2026

How to choose

Start from the rows that matter for your job: a free plan and learning curve for casual use; API access, rates and data terms for building products; context window and modalities for long documents or images. Provider claims are labelled as such; we do not rank.

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