Want AI images without a monthly subscription?

Open image generation you can run on your own machine, tune endlessly, and keep private

Quick answer: I recommend Stable Diffusion to anyone who wants control more than convenience.

Our Verdict

I recommend Stable Diffusion to anyone who wants control more than convenience. Running it locally is unbeatable value once you have a decent GPU, and the API stays cheap when you do not. Just do not expect Midjourney polish on day one: the first results take tuning, and that tuning is the whole point.

Visit Stable Diffusion →

Pricing shown below is approximate and may have changed — always confirm on the official site.

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🚀 Key Features

Text-to-image in three SD 3.5 sizes: Large for top quality at 1 megapixel, Turbo for fast four-step images, Medium for consumer hardware
Run the open weights locally on your own GPU, so prompts and images stay on your machine
Fine-tune with LoRAs and community checkpoints for a consistent style, character or product look
Control, Edit and Upscale APIs: guided generation from sketches or reference images, inpainting, outpainting, background removal and upscaling
Use it your way: self-hosted, through the Stability AI API, via cloud partners, or in the web-based Stable Assistant

💰 Pricing

Plan	Details
Self	hosted (~$0/mo): open weights run on your own GPU with no per-image charge, commercial use covered by the Community License under $1M annual revenue
Plan	API credits (~$10 per 1,000 credits): 1 credit = $0.01, SD 3.5 Large 6.5 credits (~$0.065) per image, Turbo 4 credits, Medium 3.5 credits
Enterprise (custom pricing): for organisations above the Community License revenue threshold and for managed, large	scale deployment

free locally + API from ~$0.009/image (approximate) A free tier is available if you want to try before you pay.

👍👎 Pros & Cons

✅ What we like

No per-image cost when you run it locally, and full privacy because nothing has to leave your machine
The largest open image ecosystem: thousands of community models, LoRAs and ControlNet tools
API prices stay low, from about $0.009 per SDXL image to about $0.065 for SD 3.5 Large
Flexible deployment for solo creators, studios and developers alike

🤔 What could be better

Setup is hands-on: you need a capable GPU and time to learn a local front end such as ComfyUI
Base model results can look plain next to Midjourney until you tune prompts, checkpoints and settings
The experience is split across local tools, the API, partners and Stable Assistant, so beginners face a fragmented start
Organisations above the $1M Community License revenue threshold need an Enterprise License, so check the terms before commercial use at scale

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Is Stable Diffusion really free?

Yes, the model weights are free to download and run on your own hardware, with no per-image charge. You still pay for the GPU and electricity, and the Stability AI API is a separate pay-as-you-go service. Commercial use is covered by the Community License for individuals and organisations under $1M in annual revenue.

What GPU do I need to run it locally?

SD 3.5 Medium is designed for consumer hardware, and a modern GPU with 8GB or more of VRAM is a sensible starting point. Larger models and higher resolutions run faster on stronger cards, and renting cloud GPU time is an option if your own machine is not up to it.

How much does the Stability AI API cost?

Credits cost $0.01 each. A SD 3.5 Large image costs 6.5 credits (about $0.065), Large Turbo costs 4 credits, Medium costs 3.5 credits, Stable Image Core costs 3 credits, and Stable Image Ultra costs 8 credits. SDXL 1.0 starts from 0.9 credits per image.

Should I pick Stable Diffusion or Midjourney?

Pick Midjourney if you want polished art with almost no setup. Pick Stable Diffusion if you want private local generation, custom styles through LoRAs, API control, or the lowest long-term cost. Many creators use both: Midjourney for quick hero art, Stable Diffusion for repeatable, on-brand work.