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AI image model release timeline

Every major AI image generation model release, in order. Updated as new models ship.

Also see: Video model timeline

2026

Grok Imagine Quality ModexAI
ClosedPaid
Official API
Wan 2.7Alibaba
MultimodalClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Nano Banana 2Google DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Recraft V4Recraft AI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Seedream 5.0 LiteByteDance
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Qwen-Image-2.0Alibaba (QwenLM)
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Kling 3.0Kuaishou
MultimodalClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Grok Imagine APIxAI
MultimodalClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Z-ImageAlibaba (Tongyi-MAI)
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
HunyuanImage 3.0 InstructTencent
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host

2025

Qwen-Image-2512Alibaba (QwenLM)
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Wan 2.6Alibaba
MultimodalClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Seedream 4.5ByteDance
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Z-Image-TurboAlibaba (Tongyi-MAI)
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
FLUX.2Black Forest Labs
Partial weightsFreemium
Official APICommunity APISelf-hostConsumer app
Nano Banana ProGoogle DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Emu3.5BAAI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
HunyuanImage 3.0Tencent
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Wan 2.5Alibaba
MultimodalClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
HunyuanImage 2.1Tencent
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Seedream 4.0ByteDance
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Qwen-Image-EditAlibaba (QwenLM)
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Qwen-ImageAlibaba (QwenLM)
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Nano BananaGoogle DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Chroma1-HDLodestone Rock
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
FLUX.1 Krea [dev]Black Forest Labs
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Kolors 2.1Kuaishou
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
OmniGen2VectorSpaceLab
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
FLUX.1 KontextBlack Forest Labs
Partial weightsFreemium
Official APICommunity APISelf-hostConsumer app
Imagen 4Google DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Adobe Firefly Image Model 4Adobe
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
gpt-image-1 (API)OpenAI
ClosedPaid
Official API
Kolors 2.0Kuaishou
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Ideogram 3.0Ideogram
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
HiDream-I1HiDream.ai
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Midjourney v7Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Seedream 3.0ByteDance
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
4o Image Generation (ChatGPT)OpenAI
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
SANA-1.5NVIDIA
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
CogView4Zhipu AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
MiniMax Image-01MiniMax
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Janus-ProDeepSeek
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Lumina-Image 2.0Alpha-VLLM
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host

2024

Kolors 1.5Kuaishou
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Grok Aurora (Image Generation)xAI
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
Seedream 2.0ByteDance
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
Leonardo Phoenix 1.0Leonardo.Ai
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Luma PhotonLuma AI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Runway FramesRunway
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
SanaNVIDIA
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Recraft V3Recraft AI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Stable Diffusion 3.5 LargeStability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Stable Diffusion 3.5 MediumStability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
OmniGenVectorSpaceLab
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large TurboStability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Playground v3Playground AI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Adobe Firefly 3Adobe
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
FLUX 1.1 [pro]Black Forest Labs
ClosedPaid
Official APICommunity API
JanusDeepSeek
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
CogView3Zhipu AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Emu3BAAI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Imagen 3Google DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Ideogram 2.0Ideogram
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
FLUX.1 [dev]Black Forest Labs
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
FLUX.1 [pro]Black Forest Labs
ClosedPaid
Official APICommunity API
FLUX.1 [schnell]Black Forest Labs
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Midjourney v6.1Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
HunyuanDiT 1.2Tencent
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Kolors 1.0Kuaishou
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Leonardo Phoenix (preview)Leonardo.Ai
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Stable Diffusion 3 MediumStability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
HunyuanDiT 1.0Tencent
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
PixArt-SigmaHuawei Noah's Ark Lab
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Recraft V2Recraft AI
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
Playground v2.5Playground AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Stable CascadeStability AI
Partial weightsFree
Community APISelf-host

2023

Midjourney v6Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Imagen 2Google DeepMind
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Kandinsky 3.0Sber AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
PixArt-alphaHuawei Noah's Ark Lab
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Adobe Firefly 2Adobe
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
DALL-E 3OpenAI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Meta EmuMeta
ClosedFree
Consumer app
Ideogram 1.0Ideogram
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
Stable Diffusion XL 1.0Stability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Tongyi Wanxiang 1.0Alibaba Cloud
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Midjourney v5.2Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Midjourney v5.1Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Adobe Firefly 1Adobe
ClosedFreemium
Consumer app
Midjourney v5Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app

2022

Stable Diffusion 2.1Stability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Stable Diffusion 2.0Stability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Midjourney v4Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Stable Diffusion 1.5Stability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
ERNIE-ViLG 2.0Baidu
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Stable Diffusion 1.0Stability AI
Open weightsFree
Community APISelf-host
Midjourney v3Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
Imagen 1Google DeepMind
Closed
Midjourney v2Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app
DALL-E 2OpenAI
ClosedFreemium
Official APIConsumer app
Midjourney v1Midjourney
ClosedPaid
Consumer app