If you’ve ever searched high and low on Google to find an image you needed without success, AI comes to the rescue. With AI art generators, you can enter a prompt as detailed or vague as you want and have the image you were thinking of appear on your screen instantly. These tools can help with branding, social media content creation, vision boards and more. Even if you have no professional use for it, no worries, the process is so much fun that anyone can participate.
DALL-E 2 has made a big splash due to its advanced capabilities and easy access; however, there are plenty of other AI art generators on the market, all of which can suit different needs.
To test the generators, I put the same prompt, “a baby Yorkie sitting on a comfy couch in front of the NYC skyline” in each of them and included a screenshot for your viewing pleasure (yes, I’m a Yorkie mom). Using these observations, we’ve compiled a list of the best AI generators and detailed everything you need to know before starting your next masterpiece.
Also: I tested an artificial art generator and here’s what I learned
- Fast
- Not copyrighted
- Accurate depictions
Features:
- Generates four images per credit
- Input can be as detailed as you want
- Price: Free (unless you choose multiple credits)
- Free credit allowance is replenished every month
OpenAI, the AI research company behind ChatGPT, launched DALL-E 2 last November, and since then it has become the most popular AI art generator on the market. We’re here to tell you that its popularity is well-deserved. The site is very intuitive and will produce results in seconds. All you have to do is enter the prompt you want and specify as many details as necessary to bring your vision to life, and then the DALL-E 2 will generate four images from your prompt. Not satisfied with the results? You can adjust it a bit and try again. The best part is that you get 50 free credits your first month and 15 credits every month after. If you need more, you can also always buy credits.
Also: How to use DALL-E 2 to turn your wildest imagination into AI-generated art
- Mobile app
- Remix your own photos
- More templates
- One picture per prompt
- Subscription price for full access
Features:
- Mobile and desktop versions
- Various templates to choose from
- Realistic renderings
- Price: Free limited access
The great success of this app earned it first place for the best overall app in Google Play’s 2022 prices. With the app, you are able to create art with the simple input of a quick prompt. An added plus of this AI art generator is that it allows you to choose different design styles such as realistic, expressionism, comic, abstract, fanatic, ink and more. In addition to the app, it has a free desktop mobile version that is easy to use. If you want to take your use of the app to the next level, you can pay $90 per year, $10 per month, or a $170 lifetime subscription.
- Available
- Unlimited access
- Simple to use
- Longer waiting time
- Distorted images
Features:
- Completely free to use
- Simple interface
- Unlimited prompts
- Price: Free
Despite originally being named DALL-E mini, this AI art generator is NOT affiliated with OpenAI or DALL-E 2, rather it is an open source alternative. The name DALL-E 2 mini is somewhat fitting though, as it does everything the DALL-E 2 does, just with less accurate renderings. Unlike DALL-E 2, output from Craiyon lacks quality. The good thing is that because you have unlimited prompts, you can keep tweaking the prompt until you get exactly what you envisioned. The site is also so simple to use, which adds to the overall appeal and makes this AI generator a strong contender.
- Outputs of very high quality
- No duds
- Discord Community
Features:
- Using Discord
- Photos in the highest quality
- Creates art for many different purposes
- Price: Starts at $8/month
I often play with AI art generators because of how fun and easy it is to create digital art. Despite all my experiences with various AI generators, nothing could have prepared me for Midjourney. The output of this image was so crystal clear that I had a hard time believing it wasn’t an actual image someone took of the prompt I posted. This software is so good that it has produced award-winning art. To create your images, all you have to do is go to the site and join the beta by signing up via Discord. Then you get access to 25 free renderings and can upgrade to a plan after starting at $8/per month. A really fun benefit of Midjourney’s platform is that you can see everyone else’s input and output in the Discord chat.
To show you how good these renderings are, I included a close-up below.
- Lots of possibilities
- Excellent quality renderings
- Make great profile pictures
Features:
- Creates portraits of you through the ages
- Accurate output makes for stunning profile pictures
- Cheap premium version
- Price: Free under certain windows
Last fall, in a mega-viral TikTok trend, people shared AI-generated portraits of themselves on the app. The images were powered by MyHeritage’s “AI Time Machine,” which uses 10 to 25 user-entered images to create realistic portraits of what you would look like through the ages.
Also: You can use an AI Time Machine to see what you would look like in different eras throughout history
Even if you have to wait 30 to 90 minutes to get the results, the beautiful artwork makes it worth the wait. The trick to getting them for free is to refresh the site and wait until the free trial window opens, indicated by the “Try it free now” button. If you can’t wait, there is only a $12 fee to get your photo.
The best overall AI art generator is DALL-E 2 due to its cost and efficiency. Using DALL-E 2, you can have a rendering of exactly what you envisioned within seconds with free credits that are replenished every month.
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AI art generator |
Price |
Key features |
|
OFF-E 2 |
Users get 50 free credits the first month and 15 credits every month after. You can purchase additional credits starting at $15 for 115 credits. |
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Dream by WOMBO |
Free limited access and subscriptions start at $10/month. |
|
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Colored pencil |
Unlimited, free access |
|
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Midjourney |
Users get 25 free renders, but the subscription starts at $8/month. |
|
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MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine |
Free at certain times of the day, otherwise $12 per package. |
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Although we crowned DALL-E 2 the best AI art generator overall, there are other AI art generators that perform better for specific needs. For example, if you’re a professional using AI art generation for your business, you might need a tool like Midjourney that delivers consistent, reliable quality output. On the other hand, if you just want to play around with AI art generating for entertainment purposes, Craiyon might be the best option because it’s free and unlimited.
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If you want… |
Then choose this artificial art generator… |
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The best AI art generator overall |
OFF-E 2 |
|
The best AI art generator for your phone |
Dream by WOMBO |
|
The best free AI art generator |
Colored pencil |
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The best AI art generator for high quality renderings |
Midjourney |
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The best AI art generator self portraits |
MyHeritage’s AI Time Machine |
To find the best AI art generators, we tested each generator on the list and compared their performance. The factors that went into testing performance included UI/UX, image results, cost, speed and accessibility. Each AI art generator had different strengths and weaknesses, making each one the ideal fit for different individuals as indicated next to our picks.
An AI art generator refers to software that uses AI to create images from user text input, usually within seconds. The images vary in style depending on the software’s capabilities, but can typically render an image in any style you want, including 3D, 2D, cinematic, modern, renaissance, and more.
Like any other AI model, AI art generators work on learned data they are trained with. Typically, these models are trained on billions of images, which it analyzes for features. These insights are then used by the model to create new images.
AI art generators are trained on billions of images found all over the internet. These images are often artworks belonging to a specific artist, which are then recreated and reused by AI art to generate your image. Although not the same image, the new image has elements of the artist’s original work that are not credited to them.
Contrary to what you might think, there are so many more AI art generators than DALL-E 2 out there. Some give even better results than OpenAI’s software. If you want to try something different, check out one of our alternatives above or the three more below.
