The Cheapest AI Image Generators in 2026 — Actual Prices Compared

"Affordable AI image generation" can mean wildly different things depending on how you use it. A $10/month subscription is cheap if you generate 1,000 images. It's expensive if you generate 10.

So instead of vague tier comparisons, let's do actual math. What does each image cost you on the major platforms?

The Per-Image Breakdown

We calculated these based on the cheapest available plan or pricing tier for each platform, as of early 2026.

Myjourney — $0.03/image

Straightforward: you pay three cents per image. No subscription, no monthly minimum, no credits that expire. Generate one image this month, ten next month, zero the month after — you pay for exactly what you use.

Video generation runs about $0.50 per clip. Again, pay-per-use.

This is us, so obviously we think this model makes sense. But the reason we built it this way is that subscriptions punish casual users. If you're not generating every single day, you're overpaying.

See current pricing →

Stable Diffusion (Local) — "Free" (sort of)

No per-image cost. But you need hardware. A capable GPU (RTX 3060 or better) runs $300-500. Electricity, setup time, and maintenance are real costs too.

Effective cost if you already have the hardware: $0.00/image Effective cost if you need to buy a GPU: Depends on volume. At 10,000 images, that $400 GPU works out to $0.04/image. At 100 images, it's $4.00/image.

For power users, SD local is unbeatable on price. For everyone else, it's actually one of the most expensive options.

Midjourney — $0.03-0.10/image

The Basic plan is $10/month for roughly 200 images (~$0.05/image). Standard is $30/month for "unlimited" relaxed-mode generations, which sounds great until you realize relaxed mode can take minutes per image during peak hours.

If you max out the Standard plan: very cheap per image. If you're a light user on Basic: around $0.05-0.10 per image, and you're paying even in months you skip.

Best case: ~$0.03/image (heavy Standard user) Worst case: $10/image (Basic plan, forgot you had it, generated once)

DALL-E 3 API — $0.04-0.08/image

OpenAI charges $0.040 for standard quality 1024×1024 and $0.080 for HD. If you use it through ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), you get some generations included but with daily limits that are hard to predict.

Via API: $0.04-0.08/image, transparent pricing Via ChatGPT Plus: Effectively $0.10-0.50/image depending on how much you use the rest of ChatGPT

Leonardo AI — $0.04-0.12/image

Free tier gives you daily tokens. Paid plans start at $12/month for 8,500 tokens, but different models cost different token amounts. The fast, high-quality models burn 5-10 tokens per image.

Realistic per-image cost on paid plans: $0.04-0.12 depending on model choice Free tier: $0.00 but limited to ~50-150 images/day depending on settings

Adobe Firefly — $0.08-0.20/image

Standalone Firefly is bundled with Creative Cloud plans starting around $10/month for 250 credits (one credit = one image on default settings). Higher-resolution or more complex generations cost more credits.

Per-image cost: $0.04 at best, but realistically $0.08-0.20 for quality output If you're already paying for Creative Cloud: Effectively cheaper since you're paying anyway

Canva AI — ~$0.10/image

Canva Pro is $13/month and includes AI image generation. Hard to calculate per-image cost since you're also getting Canva's entire design platform. If you use it purely for AI images, it's expensive. If you use Canva for everything, the AI images are a bonus.

The Real Comparison

*SD Local is free per image but requires $300-500+ in hardware.

Which Is Cheapest For YOU?

This is the part everyone skips, but it matters more than the raw numbers.

If you generate 10-50 images/month: Myjourney wins. At $0.03/image, you're spending $0.30-$1.50/month. Every subscription plan is overpaying at this volume. Leonardo's free tier is the only real competitor here, but you're limited in model access.

If you generate 200-500 images/month: Midjourney Standard ($30/mo) and Myjourney ($6-15/mo) are both strong choices. Midjourney gives you unlimited relaxed generation; Myjourney gives you predictable pricing without queue waits.

If you generate 1,000+ images/month: SD Local is the long-term winner if you already have hardware. Midjourney Standard is solid. Myjourney at $30/month is competitive but other options start making more sense at very high volume.

If you need video too: This narrows the field fast. Most generators don't do video at all. Myjourney offers video at $0.50/clip, which is genuinely cheap for AI video. Runway and Pika charge significantly more.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

Subscription waste. The average user doesn't generate images every month. Subscriptions charge you anyway. Over a year, a $10/month plan costs $120 regardless of usage. Pay-per-use at $0.03/image means $120 buys you 4,000 images — only when you need them.

Credit expiry. Some platforms expire unused credits monthly. That's money evaporating.

Quality variance. Cheaper settings often mean lower quality. The "per-image" cost on some platforms doubles when you need the good models.

Iteration costs. You rarely nail an image on the first try. Budget for 3-5 attempts per final image. A "$0.04/image" tool is really $0.12-0.20 per usable image.

Our Take

We built Myjourney around pay-per-use because we think subscriptions are a bad deal for most people. At $0.03/image, the math works whether you're generating 10 images or 1,000.

But we're not the best choice for everyone. If you generate thousands of images daily, local SD or Midjourney's unlimited plan makes more sense. If you need Photoshop integration, Adobe Firefly's bundled approach is smarter.

The cheapest option is the one that matches how you actually use it — not the one with the lowest number on the pricing page.

Want to test the math yourself? Try Myjourney and see what a dollar gets you. Spoiler: it's about 33 images.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the cheapest AI image generator per image?

Running Stable Diffusion locally is the cheapest long-term option at essentially $0 per image (after hardware investment). For cloud-based generators, Myjourney offers some of the lowest per-image costs at roughly $0.03 per image on pay-per-use — no subscription needed. At $1, you get about 33 images. MidJourney's Basic plan ($10/month) works out cheaper per image only if you consistently generate 200+ images monthly.

Is pay-per-use cheaper than subscription?

For most casual and moderate users, yes. If you generate fewer than ~200 images per month, Myjourney's pay-per-use model ($0.03/image) costs less than MidJourney's $10/month Basic plan. You only pay for what you create — no wasted months. However, heavy users generating 500+ images monthly will save with unlimited subscription plans. The break-even point depends on your actual usage, which most people overestimate.

Do cheap AI generators produce lower quality?

Not necessarily. Price and quality aren't directly correlated in 2026. Myjourney offers access to top-tier models like Flux Pro and Recraft V3 at pay-per-use rates, producing output comparable to MidJourney and DALL-E 3. The difference is pricing model, not model quality. Free local options like Stable Diffusion can also produce excellent results with the right settings. What does affect quality is the underlying model — not what you pay to access it.