Tested: The Best AI Image Generators for 2025

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Imagine creating a Picasso-style painting, a comic book splash page, or a logo for your business simply by typing in a few words. It’s an idea with tremendous appeal, and thanks to recent advances in AI, it's also something that anyone can do with just a few keystrokes.

Nowadays there are hundreds of different AI image generation tools available on the web, many of which are backed by big tech companies like Adobe, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft. But with such a wide variety of options, which image generator should you use? We put some of the most popular and powerful models to the test to get an answer.

Our Testing Methodology

In order effectively compare all of these image generators, we devised five prompts designed to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. We then fed these prompts into each generator, analyzed the resulting images, and then scored each generator based on its performance. The prompts are as follows:

Prompt 1: Testing timeframe, text inclusion, and prompt adherence

A chef in her white uniform and chef’s hat stands proudly in front of a table filled with an enormous amount of food she has cooked. In particular there is an apple pie that sits at the center. She looks radiant, proud of her work. Behind her is a sign that clearly reads “FREE FOOD!” The year is 1890, the location is a state fair in Iowa, time of day is noon.

Prompt 2: Testing art style adherence

An enormous cartoon orange cat sits next to an empty tray of lasagna. In the background, a yellow dog with a long neck looks on with large, surprised eyes. The style should be that of a daily comic strip in the newspaper circa 1985.

Prompt 3: Testing skin tone and lighting

This is an ultra-realistic close-up image of a woman of Polynesian descent, approximately 25 years old. The image is taken at night, casting her face partially in shadow. She is dressed in a purple business suit, but we can only see the shoulder or collar. Her look is serious but has a twinkle in her eyes.

Prompt 4: Testing fantasy imagery and art style adherence

Show a green, winged dragon about the size of a horse; red fire squirts from his nostrils. Astride the dragon’s back, on a saddle, sits a knight wearing a bright red suit of armor. The knight holds a sword that is on fire, with the flames in blue. The style should be that of a classic fantasy novel or old Dungeons & Dragons manual cover by artist Larry Elmore, in portrait orientation.

Prompt 5: Testing intellectual property filters

Show a realistic image of Darth Vader wielding his red lightsaber in a duel with a fully animated cartoon version of Homer Simpson, who holds a large salami as a weapon. In the background, you can see both the Simpson’s house and, behind that, in the sky, the Death Star.

Note that the impressions below are based on the initial set of images generated from these prompts. We didn't do any further rounds of generation or image refinement, and all of our analysis is based on how well the AI fared on the first try. Your mileage may vary, especially with variations, inpainting, or other adjustments.

With all that in mind, here's a rundown of the best AI image generators from best to worst in our testing: