Image generation is one of the most-searched AI topics. Google's AI search trends page (accessed October 3, 2026) shows image-related queries at the top of its "best AI for…" lists and reports image-generation interest at record levels. If you are choosing a generator, a ranking is the wrong place to start. Start with what you need the image to do.
Decide the job first
- Concept art and mood boards: variety and style matter more than precision.
- Product mockups and marketing images: brand consistency, realistic lighting, correct shapes.
- Images with text: posters, signs, labels. Many generators still garble text.
- Photo edits: changing part of an existing image, extending backgrounds, removing objects.
- Illustrations for a site or deck: a consistent style across many images.
- Diagrams and charts: usually better produced with a diagramming tool or code than a generator.
Criteria to compare on
| Criterion | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Prompt adherence | Does it follow counts, positions and negations ("no hat")? |
| Text rendering | Are words spelled correctly and placed well? |
| Anatomy and objects | Hands, reflections, small parts, brand-like shapes |
| Style control | Can you hold a style across a set? |
| Editing | Can you change one thing without changing everything? |
| Resolution and formats | What sizes and file types can you export? |
| Speed and cost | Per image, and per retry |
| Rights and licensing | Can you use the output commercially? Under what terms? |
| Safety and policy | What is blocked, and is it consistent? |
A repeatable comparison
- Write five prompts that reflect your real needs, including one with text and one with several specific objects.
- Run each in every tool you are considering, with default settings first.
- Generate several attempts per prompt: single images mislead.
- Hide the tool names and rate results blindly, ideally with another person.
- Note the failure modes, not just the winners.
- Repeat after major releases.
Licensing and rights
Terms differ between providers and plans, and laws about AI-generated images and copyright differ by country and are still developing. Read the provider's terms for commercial use. Avoid prompts that imitate a living artist's distinctive style or reproduce trademarked characters and logos, which can create legal and ethical problems regardless of what a tool allows.
Disclosure and authenticity
Label AI-generated images where the context calls for it, particularly in news, product claims and anything people might take as real photographs. Do not generate realistic images of real people in deceptive situations.
Practical prompting tips
- Name the subject, setting, style, lighting and framing.
- Be specific about what to avoid.
- For text, keep it short and check spelling.
- Iterate: change one thing at a time.
- Keep the prompts that worked.
What to do with the results
Treat generated images as drafts. Check hands, small text, logos and anything that could be mistaken for a real person or a real product. Make sure the image does not accidentally resemble a trademarked character. If an image will represent a physical product you sell, do not use a generated image to show features the product lacks: that is misleading to customers and can create legal trouble. Keep a record of the prompt, tool, date and plan you used, because licensing terms are tied to the terms in force when you generated the image. For consistency across a set, reuse the same style description in every prompt and keep a short style sheet with the words that worked.
When a photo is better
For anything that must be literally true, such as a before-and-after, a real storefront or a team page, use real photographs. Generated images are best for illustration, atmosphere and concepts, where nobody expects documentary truth.
Always keep the original prompt and settings next to each finished image, so you can recreate or adjust it later without starting again.
FAQ
Is the most expensive generator the best?
Not necessarily. The right one is the one that handles your kinds of images with the least rework.
Can I use AI images commercially?
Check the provider's current terms for your plan, and consider the legal position where you operate.
How Keplar approaches this
Keplar is first a question-answering product, and image generation is a secondary feature inside Create, not the thing it is best known for. Image generation there is available on Plus and above; the Create screen shows what is available on your plan and shows a cost estimate before you approve a run. Images are used to make visuals for the sites you build.
Keplar does not make a claim that its images are better than another generator's, and does not publish image-quality comparisons. If you want to compare image models, the repeatable method above works with any tool. When a question is about choosing a generator, Keplar's answer pipeline can lay out where different models disagree about the tradeoffs, and it will not claim to have tested the tools for you. See Generate images for what Create does and does not do.