Tested & ranked
Which AI image model
should you use?
We run the same prompts through every major image model and rank them by use case — with three verdicts: our editor, an AI judge and (soon) the community.
Short answer
The best AI image model (tested Oct 6, 2026) is GPT Image 2, scoring 4.5/5 across 20 prompts at $0.161 per image. Krea 2 Turbo is the best value: 4.0/5 for $0.0066 per image. It is also the fastest, with a median 2.9 s from request to finished image. We sent the same prompts with the same settings to all 10 models.
Last tested
Overall winners
Winners by use case
Overall ranking
| # | Model | Categories | Editor | AI judge | Community | $/image | Time to image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT Image 2OpenAI | 4/4 | pending | 4.5 | soon | $0.161 | 95.3 s |
| 2 | Seedream 5.0 ProByteDance | 4/4 | pending | 4.4 | soon | $0.067 | 39.6 s |
| 3 | Nano Banana ProGoogle | 4/4 | pending | 4.4 | soon | $0.150 | 21.5 s |
| 4 | Grok Imagine 2.0xAI | 4/4 | pending | 4.4 | soon | $0.061 | 64.4 s |
| 5 | Recraft V4.1Recraft | 4/4 | pending | 4.2 | soon | $0.035 | 11.1 s |
| 6 | Ideogram V4.5Ideogram | 4/4 | pending | 4.2 | soon | $0.062 | 9.1 s |
| 7 | Qwen Image 3Alibaba | 4/4 | pending | 4.2 | soon | $0.041 | 32.2 s |
| 8 | FLUX.2 [pro]Black Forest Labs | 4/4 | pending | 4.2 | soon | $0.030 | 10.7 s |
| 9 | Krea 2 TurboKrea | 4/4 | pending | 4.0 | soon | $0.0066 | 2.9 s1.0 s generating |
| 10 | FLUX.2 [dev]Black Forest Labs | 4/4 | pending | 3.8 | soon | $0.012 | 7.6 s2.9 s generating |
Every use case counts equally. Price is the average and time the median over all tested images. How we test
Quality vs. price
Each dot is a model across every use case: higher is better, further left is cheaper.
| Model | Score | Price per image |
|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2 | 4.50 | $0.16 |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.44 | $0.07 |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.42 | $0.15 |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.37 | $0.06 |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.22 | $0.04 |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.20 | $0.06 |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.19 | $0.04 |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.15 | $0.03 |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.02 | $0.007 |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.81 | $0.01 |
Quality vs. time to image
Median wait per image, including queue time: higher is better, further left is faster.
| Model | Score | Time to image |
|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2 | 4.50 | 95 s |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.44 | 40 s |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.42 | 22 s |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.37 | 64 s |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.22 | 11 s |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.20 | 9.1 s |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.19 | 32 s |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.15 | 11 s |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.02 | 2.9 s |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.81 | 7.6 s |
Latest tests
Frequently asked questions
What is the best AI image model?
GPT Image 2 by OpenAI scored highest in our tests: 4.5/5 across 20 prompts, at $0.161 per image.
What is the cheapest AI image model?
Krea 2 Turbo costs $0.0066 per image on average and scored 4.0/5.
Which AI image model gives the best value?
Krea 2 Turbo: 4.0/5 for $0.0066 per image, the highest score per dollar among the 10 models we tested.
Which AI image model is the fastest?
Krea 2 Turbo, with a median 2.9 s from sending the request to receiving the finished image, queue time included.
How were the models tested?
Every model received the same 20 prompts with the same aspect ratio and default settings through the fal.ai API. Each image is scored from 1 to 5 on prompt adherence, aesthetics, text accuracy and artifacts by an AI judge and, once reviewed, by a human editor.