Set expected usage; each row estimates monthly cost from official unit prices.
19 ranked image models and price rows - checked 2026-06-16 - sorted by Images ranking.
| Model | Provider | Published price | Region | Source | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OpenAI Proprietary API and apps | Image: $8 input / $2 cached / $30 output per 1M tokens Highest-confidence general image generation. | Token priced | Global | OpenAI API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Text input is priced separately on the OpenAI table. | |
Proprietary API and apps | $0.067 per 1K image; $0.101 per 2K; $0.151 per 4K Google ecosystem image generation and multimodal workflows. | $69.68 | Gemini API paid tier | Gemini API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Calculator uses the official 1K image equivalent; 0.5K, 2K, and 4K outputs have separate official equivalents. | |
OpenAI Proprietary API and apps | Image: $8 input / $2 cached / $32 output per 1M tokens High-fidelity image generation when GPT Image 2 is unavailable or too costly. | Token priced | Global | OpenAI API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Text modality is priced separately on the same official OpenAI table. | |
HiDream Model/service dependent | $0.005 per megapixel High-quality image generation outside the largest US labs. | $5.20 | fal.ai hosted API | fal.ai HiDream O1 Image API Checked 2026-06-16 | HiDream.ai links fal.ai as a hosted API route; calculator assumes 1MP output images, so 2K outputs scale by megapixels. | |
Reve Proprietary app/API | 120 credits, about $0.16 per v2 create image High-aesthetic prompt-driven image generation. | $166 | Reve API beta | Reve API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Official API pricing page lists v2 Create at 120 credits, about $0.16; V1 Create is lower but not the Reve 2.0 row. | |
Proprietary API and apps | $0.134 per 1K/2K image; $0.24 per 4K image Google image generation workflows with strong prompt-following needs. | $139 | Gemini API paid tier | Gemini API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Image input is set at 560 tokens, equivalent to $0.0011 per image. | |
xAI Proprietary API and apps | $0.01 input image / $0.05 1K output / $0.07 2K output xAI image generation comparisons where visual preference ranking matters. | $52.00 | xAI API | xAI API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Calculator uses the official 1K quality output price; 2K quality output is $0.07 per image. | |
Proprietary API and apps | $0.134 per 1K/2K image; $0.24 per 4K image Gemini image generation and multimodal creative workflows. | $139 | Gemini API paid tier | Gemini API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Image input is set at 560 tokens, equivalent to $0.0011 per image. | |
xAI Proprietary API and apps | $0.002 input image / $0.02 output image Fast xAI image generation and consumer creative workflows. | $20.80 | xAI API | xAI API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Quality mode is higher: $0.05 to $0.07 output image. | |
HiDream MIT | $0.005 per megapixel Open-weight oriented image generation experiments with available arena coverage. | $5.20 | fal.ai hosted API | fal.ai HiDream O1 Image API Checked 2026-06-16 | HiDream.ai links fal.ai as a hosted API route; calculator assumes 1MP output images, so 2K outputs scale by megapixels. | |
NVIDIA ecosystem Open weights listed by Artificial Analysis | $0.04 per generated image Open-weight oriented image generation experiments. | $41.60 | fal.ai hosted API | fal.ai Cosmos 3 Super API Checked 2026-06-16 | Prompt expansion adds $0.02 per request when enabled; agentic generation bills each candidate image generated. | |
Alibaba Proprietary API | $0.075 per image Alibaba image generation tests and multilingual prompt workflows. | $78.00 | International deployment | Alibaba Cloud Model Studio pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | International deployment endpoint and data storage are in Singapore; Mainland China is listed separately. | |
xAI Proprietary API and apps | $0.01 input image / $0.05 1K output / $0.07 2K output Higher-quality xAI image generation comparisons. | $52.00 | xAI API | xAI API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Calculator uses the official 1K quality output price; 2K quality output is $0.07 per image. | |
Tencent Model/service dependent | $0.0296 per image equivalent; official price is ¥0.20 per image Tencent image generation evaluation and open-model oriented comparisons. | $30.78 | Tencent Cloud China | Tencent Cloud Hunyuan Image pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Official Tencent Cloud page lists Hunyuan image generation 3.0 at ¥0.20 per image for monthly usage under 10K. USD estimate uses 1 CNY = $0.1480 on 2026-06-15; concurrency add-ons are priced separately. | |
OpenAI Proprietary API and apps | Medium 1024x1024: $0.042; image tokens: $10 input / $2.50 cached / $40 output per 1M Older OpenAI image generation baseline comparisons. | $43.68 | Global | OpenAI GPT Image 1 model pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Calculator uses the official medium 1024x1024 legacy per-image estimate; high 1024x1024 is $0.167 and high 1024x1536/1536x1024 is $0.25. | |
 Official price row | Official API | $0.04 per image Imagen 4 Fast is $0.02 and Ultra is $0.06 per image | $41.60 | Gemini API paid tier | Gemini API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Good calculator default because Google publishes a direct per-image price. |
ROfficial price row | Runway Official API | 5 credits per 720p image; 1 credit = $0.01 1080p image is 8 credits | $52.00 | Runway API | Runway API pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Credit purchases may be subject to sales tax. |
 Official price row | Z.AI Official API | $0.015 per image Image generation model | $15.60 | Z.AI API | Z.AI pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | CogView-4 is listed at $0.01 per image on the same official page. |
SAOfficial price row | Stability AI Official API | 1 credit = $0.01; model credit cost shown on provider pricing page Hosted Stability AI image generation | Credit priced | Stability AI platform | Stability AI pricing Checked 2026-06-16 | Kept as source-verified credit pricing until the per-model credit table is parsed safely. |
