Cost per image
AI image generation API pricing
What each model actually cost us per image on identical prompts, cheapest first, next to the provider's listed price and the quality score.
Short answer
The cheapest AI image model in our tests is Krea 2 Turbo at $0.0077 per image ($7.73 per 1,000 images), scoring 4.0/5. It is also the cheapest model scoring 4.0 or higher. The most expensive is GPT Image 2 at $0.171 per image (4.5/5). Prices are the measured average cost per image via the fal.ai API across 10 models.
Last tested
| # | Model | Provider | Listed price | Measured $/image | $ per 1,000 images | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Krea 2 Turbo | Krea | $0.0080 per megapixel | $0.0077 | $7.73 | 4.0 |
| 2 | FLUX.2 [dev] | Black Forest Labs | $0.012 per megapixel | $0.012 | $12.00 | 3.8 |
| 3 | FLUX.2 [pro] | Black Forest Labs | $0.030 per megapixel | $0.030 | $30.00 | 4.1 |
| 4 | Recraft V4.1 | Recraft | $0.035 per image | $0.035 | $35.00 | 4.1 |
| 5 | Qwen Image 3 | Alibaba | $0.040 per image | $0.041 | $40.67 | 4.2 |
| 6 | Grok Imagine 2.0 | xAI | $0.060 per image | $0.061 | $60.67 | 4.3 |
| 7 | Ideogram V4.5 | Ideogram | $0.060 per image | $0.062 | $62.00 | 4.3 |
| 8 | Seedream 5.0 Pro | ByteDance | $0.101 per image | $0.099 | $99.03 | 4.2 |
| 9 | Nano Banana Pro | $0.150 per image | $0.150 | $150.00 | 4.4 | |
| 10 | GPT Image 2 | OpenAI | $0.171 per image | $0.171 | $171.39 | 4.5 |
Measured cost is the average over every image we generated via the fal.ai API; the listed price is the provider's published rate. Score is the overall score across use cases. How we test · Fastest models
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to generate 1,000 AI images?
Between $7.73 with Krea 2 Turbo and $171.39 with GPT Image 2 in our tests, based on the measured average cost per image via the fal.ai API. The cheapest model scoring 4.0 or higher, Krea 2 Turbo, costs $7.73 per 1,000 images.
What is the cheapest AI image API?
Krea 2 Turbo by Krea: $0.0077 per image on average via the fal.ai API (listed at $0.0080 per megapixel). It scored 4.0/5 in our tests.