Best AI art generators 2023: Free and paid options

Published on

April 18th, 2023

Author

Ashleigh Gibbs

Best AI art generators 2023

1. Microsoft Image Creator

Best overall AI art generator

Pros: Powered by Dall-E, Easy to use, Choose from multiple final images

Cons: Boosts system, Lack of preset styles, Requires a Microsoft email account

Features: Surprise me functionality, Explore ideas gallery

Cost: Free to use

In partnership with OpenAI, Microsoft Image Creator brings the power of Dall-E to Bing, however it should be noted that it does require a Microsoft email account to join. Likely not a problem for most users but it does present a minor barrier to immediate use.

Once you’re in, though, Microsoft Image Creator is incredibly simple to use, featuring one unmissable location for your prompt entry and another gallery-like space to explore ideas. Ideal for beginners, but compared to Stable Diffusion’s preset styles and Midjourney’s ability to tackle long, complex prompts, it doesn’t feel like there’s much here for seasoned AI art enthusiasts to play around with apart from typing in extra text prompts.

You’ll also likely notice a yellow symbol on your prompt bar that counts down each time you use it. This is Microsoft’s way of forcing you to earn “boosts” for faster image creation through Microsoft Rewards points or you can wait for your boosts to be replenished on a weekly basis.

Even with these drawbacks, however, the image quality here is undeniably impressive, especially when you consider it’s free to use. The tool easily meets what I expected to see from the basic prompts and it’s accessible and high quality too. Bonus points for giving you four options to choose from once you’ve completed your prompt entry.

Read Microsoft Image Creator reviews from our community

2. Dall-E 2

Best AI art generator for realism

Pros: 4K quality, easy to use, great for realism

Cons: Need credits to use, Bing’s Image Creator occasionally turned out better quality

Features: Generates fine details, Image editing ability, Inpainting, Outpainting

Cost: $15 for 115 credits

When it comes to quality, it’s easy to see why Dalle-2 is considered the market leader. If you’re looking for a high level of realism, Dall-E’s upgrade to version 2 offers a level of detail that just doesn’t seem to be anywhere else. Take my astronaut prompt, for instance, whereas many AI art generators showed a primitive display of what a green desert would look like, Dall-e populates the world with fine detailed green plants. Of course, what the prompt should show is up for interpretation but there’s definitely a level of detail and realism with Dall-e that makes it worth trying out at least once.

During testing, I did notice that the quality in Microsoft Bing’s Image Creator could occasionally be superior which is why it received top accolade, but the overall ease of use, level of detail and reliable quality of Dalle-2 makes it worth buying credits to give it a go.

Read Dalle-2 reviews from our community

3. Stable Diffusion XL

Best open source AI art generator

Pros: Easy to use, wide range of preset styles

Cons: Struggles with fine details

Features: Preset styles, Image to image, Will be able generate text on image, Inpainting, Outpainting

Cost: Free in beta

If you’ve previously used Stable Diffusion, then meet the next gen model: Stable Diffusion XL. Much like Midjourney, one of the key strengths of the tool is its ability to go beyond beginner level. The original features a wide range of preset styles and settings you can choose from, negative prompts and even state how closely you want the image to follow your prompt, making it a particular joy for self-learners who prefer to try out tools without being told exactly what to do.

The quality, however, was a different story. Compared to Midjourney, the image quality of my prompts felt a bit clip art, lacked detail and felt quite dark and dull in the lighting. Stable Diffusion XL, however, looks to offer a significant advancement in enhanced image composition and realism. The results were definitely more realistic, but it still seems to struggle with some of the finer details of the prompt. In the original test using Stable Diffusion, it only showed one dog in response to the prompt, but with Stable Diffusion XL, there’s clearly a dog hugging a cat and with much better realism too, but it’s lacking expression.

Still, the latest model shows a significant leap forward in image quality for the platform with a wide range of preset styles, and even a new ability to generate text on image for the first time.

Read Stable Diffusion XL reviews from our community

4. Adobe Firefly

Best AI art generator for a range of art styles

Pros: Easy to use interface, plenty of settings and options, art quality is stunning

Cons: Can’t use by artist style, Photo quality can be poor

Features: Aspect ratio, by content type, art, composition and lighting prestyles

Cost: Free for beta access

A more recent addition to the AI art generator market is Adobe Firefly, which is in free beta in early 2023, but is intended to be integrated into Adobe products in the future.

Excitingly, as you would expect from the name behind Photoshop, it gives you a wealth of incredible features that go beyond the basic prompt up front. The ability to choose aspect ratio and content type from the outset is a welcome step up from manually adding these features to a prompt, while the user interface is wonderfully clean and easy to use without being overwhelming.

While the tool delivers excellent quality using just the basic prompts, it also features an impressive selection of art styles, lighting options and composition styles that are irresistible to try out. However, when testing it for artist style the option was strangely missing, even when manually entered into a prompt. Adobe immediately feels like it considers copyright issues more than any other, so it’s possible that trying to emulate art in the style of another artist is frowned upon - not necessarily a bad thing when considering ongoing discussions around the ethics of AI.

The art quality here is outstanding: it’s bright, high quality and inspirational, but when set to content type: photo, things become a bit nightmarish. My prompt using a dog and cat featured a bizarre mouth that was pretty terrifying to look at, but once set back to art, it delivered a crisp and clear image that could rival Dalle-2’s impressive quality.

Read Adobe Firefly reviews from our community

5. Starryai.

Best ai art generator for mobile

Pros: 5 free daily credits, versatile pricing, easy to use, multiple final options to choose from

Cons: Credits system, Free version is slow to show results

Features: Art and photos style, example gallery

Cost: Free, with Pro options starting from under $10 a month and credits available to buy

If you’re looking for a way to create AI art right from your mobile, then look no further than Starryai. This handy app can easily be downloaded from the app store and presents a simple interface once downloaded. It doesn’t feature a typical prompt bar at first so it might confuse some users used to using this format from the outset, but once you identify the two options for art and photo style under ‘Create’ it’s pretty simple to get started. During testing, the photo style felt the strongest quality but definitely run both to get a feel for which style you prefer.

Main drawback here is Starryai runs on a credit based system so you may run out daily credits quickly if you’re looking to generate multiple images at a time, but they do give you five free daily credits and offer Pro packages which increases the speed and removes ads.

Read Starryai reviews from our community

6. Craiyon

Best free AI art generator

Pros: Easy to access, multiple final images to choose from

Cons: Lacks high resolution and detail, free version is slow to show results

Features: Paid features include unlimited images and no watermark.

Cost: Free, but can pay $5 or $20 to increase results speed and receive further features

Formerly Dalle- E Mini, Craiyon is a great AI generator tool to consider when you just want to use a free tool that’s available without download, but that also comes with a bit of a downside: it’s slow to show results. Fortunately, Craiyon does have paid options to speed things up a bit so it’s worth considering if you find yourself using it frequently.

There’s some nice extra features too for around the $5 mark including unlimited images, no ads and no watermark, while $20 gets you early access to new features.

The free version itself features a simple interface, no presets, so it feels very much like a free no-download tool with only the basic prompt entry. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with how it handled my prompt around the hot air balloon presenting multiple brightly-colored images to choose from. Much like free-to-use Stable Diffusion, however, it only presented one dog when I wanted it to show a dog hugging a cat. The overall quality lacked the high resolution and detail you’d of course expect from Dalle-2, but for an easy-to-use tool without significant access barriers, it’s a handy tool to bookmark for on the fly access.

Read Craiyon reviews from our community

7. Midjourney

Best AI art generator for advanced users

Pros: Great for advanced users, 25 free queries, multiple images to choose from

Cons: Access via Discord, Not the most ideal for beginners

Features: Upscales and variations, Ability to add long, advanced prompts, access to member gallery with paid subscription

Cost: Free for 25 queries, Plans start from $8 per month billed yearly

Whether you consider yourself an advanced user or are looking to go beyond basic prompts, much like Stable Diffusion, Midjourney offers the perfect platform to explore AI art generation in more depth. The main drawback being that you need to access it via Discord. You can easily create a Discord login and invite yourself into Midjourney via instructions listed on the official website but it’s not the most accessible from the outset. It can also be a busy environment watching others generate ideas, rather than having the tool necessarily to yourself.

Where Midjourney excels is its ability to handle long, complex prompts that can completely change the look and feel of the image. Using basic prompts admittedly didn’t render the most inspirational images in the same way Dalle-2 immediately does, but certain commands such as adding ‘hyperrealistic’ for example can be simply transformative. It’s not ideal for some beginners who’d rather have an instant high quality image at their fingertips, but it’s one to invest in if you enjoy exploring everything AI generator tools can do. The quality can be jaw-dropping if you’re willing to go the extra mile and input the best prompts.

Read Midjourney reviews from our community

Which AI art generator is best for you?

If you’re new to AI art generation, consider using a platform with a simple interface that uses a basic prompt box. Both Microsoft Bing Image Creator and Dall-E 2 offer easy access and generate impressive high quality results with minimum effort.

If you enjoy self-learning or are someone who is looking for a more advanced experience, both Stable Diffusion and Midjourney go beyond the basics, allowing for more complex prompts to be entered with various levels of quality.

What makes a great AI art generator?

Ease of use - Is the interface easy to use and can you achieve your goal with ease?
Ease of access - Do you need any special access or can you dive right in?
Image quality - What’s the resolution like? Is the final image bright and alluring or dull and lacking detail? Do you need to enter even more prompts to get better quality or is a basic prompt enough to achieve the goal?
Results speed - Do you receive the result right away or have to wait awhile?

How we tested AI art generator tools

I used three text-to-image prompts from Dalle’s 2 image example library in order to set a good benchmark of comparison across all products. These were:

A 3D render of a rainbow colored hot air balloon flying above a reflective lake

A photo of a Samoyed dog with its tongue out hugging a white Siamese cat

A 3D render of an astronaut walking in a green desert

I then accessed and assessed a wide variety of AI art generator tools in order to make the final decision in each category using the same set of prompts each time. I did not add any extra styles to keep it a fair test, but it’s important to note that more advanced AI art generators can give better desired results once more prompts are added.

I also considered what makes a great AI art generator in the first instance, as detailed above.

What is an AI art generator?

An AI art generator is a computer program that uses artificial intelligence to create artwork. It learns from a large collection of images and then generates new artwork based on what it learned. It can imitate different artistic styles, combine them, or even create completely new and abstract visuals. People use AI art generators for inspiration or to help them create unique and beautiful artworks.

Is there a free AI art generator?

Yes, there are free AI art generators. Some examples include Microsoft Image Creator, Nightcafe, and Craiyon. While Microsoft Image Creator arguably produces the highest quality images, it needs to be accessed via Bing using a Microsoft email address. Craiyon can lack detail but it’s highly accessible without the need to download any application or sign up. Although free AI art generators can provide a good level of quality and detail, often they lack more advanced features, such as the ability to add more complex prompts.

What is the controversy with AI art generators?

AI art generators have proved controversial because of copyright issues, questions around ownership and what constitutes creativity. As AI art generators can produce art in the style of artists living or dead, this has led to several copyright lawsuits. It’s been claimed that the unauthorized copying of works to train the systems in the first instance violates the rights of artists. As AI art generators learn from what’s inputted by its users, this has created questions around who owns the content generated. Many people have also considered what it means for human creativity if art is generated by artificial intelligence.

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