Best AI Image Generators: Text-to-Image Leaderboard
Ranked by LMArena scores from anonymous head-to-head human votes. Artificial Analysis Image Arena Elo is shown for comparison; the two scales use different baselines and cannot be compared directly.
🏆 #1 Text-to-imageData Oct 7, 2026
GPT Image 2.5 SunburstOpenAI · 1425
- Top open-weight
Qwen Image 2.11223Alibaba - #1 on AA (matched)GPT Image 2.5 SunburstAA Elo 1222OpenAI
On LMArena’s text-to-image leaderboard published Oct 7, 2026, #1 is GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst by OpenAI (1425, 17,752 votes); the image-editing leader is GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst (1514).
Full leaderboard · Text-to-image
82 modelsSorted by LMArena score by default; ± is half the 95% confidence interval.
| # | Model | LMArena | Artificial Analysis | Released | License | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Score↑ | Rank | Votes | Elo | Rank | ||||
| 1 |  BAGELByteDanceOpen |
898±6 | 82 | 12,363 | 594±35 | 106 | May 2025 | Apache 2.0 |
| 2 | ?Stable Diffusion 3.5 LargeOpen | 938±5 | 81 | 23,396 | – | – | – | Open |
| 3 |  FLUX 1 Kontext DevBlack Forest LabsOpen |
941±4 | 80 | 216,225 | – | – | – | flux-1-dev-non-commercial-license |
| 4 | DALL·E 3OpenAI |
968±4 | 79 | 238,743 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 5 | FLUX 1 Dev FP8Black Forest LabsOpen |
969±4 | 78 | 49,221 | – | – | – | Open |
| 6 |  Gemini 2.0 Flash Preview Image GenerationGoogle |
975±3 | 77 | 257,227 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 7 |  GLM ImageZ.aiOpen |
1012±9 | 76 | 4,854 | 885±18 | 88 | Jan 2026 | MIT |
| 8 |  Ideogram V2Ideogram |
1013±4 | 74 | 72,090 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 9 | LLucid OriginLeonardo.Ai | 1013±3 | 75 | 287,341 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 10 | FLUX 1.1 ProBlack Forest Labs |
1016±4 | 73 | 70,460 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 11 |  Recraft V3Recraft |
1021±4 | 72 | 195,627 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 12 |  Runway Gen-4Runway |
1024±4 | 71 | 54,361 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 13 | FLUX 2 Klein 4BBlack Forest LabsOpen |
1030±3 | 70 | 152,389 | – | – | – | Apache 2.0 |
| 14 | ?P Image | 1033±3 | 69 | 109,762 | 900±18 | 84 | Dec 2025 | Proprietary |
| 15 |  PhotonLuma AI |
1036±4 | 68 | 130,160 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 16 | Ideogram V3 QualityIdeogram |
1048±4 | 67 | 118,538 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 17 | Qwen ImageAlibabaOpen |
1057±3 | 66 | 84,550 | 903±18 | 83 | Aug 2025 | Apache 2.0 |
| 18 | Imagen 3.0 Generate 002Google |
1058±3 | 65 | 359,772 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 19 | FLUX 1 Kontext ProBlack Forest Labs |
1059±3 | 64 | 332,367 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 20 | Qwen Image Prompt ExtendAlibabaOpen |
1060±3 | 63 | 716,773 | – | – | – | Apache 2.0 |
| 21 | FLUX 2 Klein 9BBlack Forest LabsOpen |
1070±3 | 62 | 150,782 | – | – | – | flux-non-commercial-license |
| 22 | FLUX 1 Kontext MaxBlack Forest Labs |
1074±3 | 61 | 65,510 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 23 | Seedream 3ByteDance |
1082±5 | 60 | 36,885 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 24 | Z-Image TurboAlibabaOpen |
1083±5 | 59 | 24,808 | 936±11 | 72 | Dec 2025 | Apache 2.0 |
| 25 |  MAI Image 1Microsoft AI |
1093±4 | 58 | 98,410 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 26 | Recraft V4.1 FlashRecraft |
1099±9 | 57 | 3,516 | 949±12 | 70 | Sep 2026 | Proprietary |
| 27 | Wan 2.7 ImageAlibaba |
1101±5 | 56 | 30,630 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 28 | Wan 2.7 Image ProAlibaba |
1104±5 | 55 | 30,226 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 29 | GPT Image 1 MiniOpenAI |
1110±3 | 54 | 171,058 | 936±17 | 71 | Oct 2025 | Proprietary |
| 30 |  Krea 2 LargeKrea |
1112±4 | 53 | 56,888 | 1034±9 | 24 | May 2026 | Proprietary |
| 31 | Seedream 4 High Res falByteDance |
1113±3 | 51 | 182,685 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 32 | Krea 2 TurboKreaOpen |
1113±4 | 52 | 51,552 | – | – | – | krea-2-community-license |
| 33 | Recraft V4Recraft |
1115±3 | 50 | 137,017 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 34 | HHiDream O1 ImageHiDreamOpen | 1116±4 | 47 | 66,906 | 975±10 | 63 | May 2026 | MIT |
| 35 | Wan 2.5 T2I PreviewAlibaba |
1116±3 | 48 | 279,229 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 36 | GPT Image 1OpenAI |
1116±3 | 49 | 268,453 | 1013±12 | 42 | Apr 2025 | Proprietary |
| 37 | Seedream 4 falByteDance |
1117±7 | 46 | 11,841 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 38 | Krea 2 MediumKrea |
1124±4 | 45 | 58,098 | 1012±9 | 43 | May 2026 | Proprietary |
| 39 | Qwen Image 2512AlibabaOpen |
1125±3 | 44 | 98,288 | – | – | – | Apache 2.0 |
| 40 | Imagen 4.0 Generate 001Google |
1129±3 | 43 | 539,732 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 41 | Recraft V4.1 ProRecraft |
1133±10 | 42 | 2,795 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 42 | Wan 2.6 T2IAlibaba |
1137±3 | 41 | 233,292 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 43 | Seedream 5.0 LiteByteDance |
1138±3 | 40 | 129,950 | 1017±12 | 39 | Feb 2026 | Proprietary |
| 44 | Seedream 4 2KByteDance |
1140±7 | 39 | 12,562 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 45 | FLUX 2 DevBlack Forest LabsOpen |
1146±4 | 38 | 77,988 | – | – | – | flux-non-commercial-license |
| 46 | Imagen Ultra 4.0 Generate 001Google |
1148±4 | 37 | 388,736 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 47 | Seedream 4.5ByteDance |
1149±3 | 36 | 300,107 | 1026±12 | 30 | Dec 2025 | Proprietary |
| 48 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Image Preview (Nano Banana)Google |
1150±2 | 34 | 890,539 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 49 |  Hunyuan Image 3.0TencentOpen |
1150±3 | 35 | 180,518 | 989±16 | 54 | Sep 2025 | tencent-hunyuan-community |
| 50 |  Cosmos3-Super-Text2ImageNVIDIAOpen |
1152±6 | 33 | 18,485 | – | – | – | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| 51 | FLUX 2 ProBlack Forest Labs |
1153±3 | 32 | 212,359 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 52 |  Reve V1.5Reve |
1155±4 | 31 | 39,700 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 53 | FLUX 2 FlexBlack Forest Labs |
1157±3 | 30 | 156,923 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 54 |  Grok Imagine Image ProxAI |
1162±4 | 28 | 99,455 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 55 | FLUX 2 MaxBlack Forest Labs |
1162±3 | 29 | 123,203 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 56 | Cosmos3-Super-Text2Image (Agentic)NVIDIAOpen |
1165±7 | 27 | 10,805 | – | – | – | OpenMDW-1.1 |
| 57 | Recraft V4.1 Utility ProRecraft |
1169±11 | 26 | 2,617 | 1017±9 | 37 | May 2026 | Proprietary |
| 58 | Grok Imagine ImagexAI |
1170±3 | 25 | 272,085 | 1022±11 | 34 | Jan 2026 | Proprietary |
| 59 | UNI 1.1Luma AI |
1184±4 | 23 | 46,699 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 60 | MAI Image 2Microsoft AI |
1184±5 | 24 | 51,475 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 61 | UNI 1.1 MaxLuma AI |
1189±6 | 22 | 14,072 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 62 | Qwen Image 2.0 Pro 2026-06-22Alibaba |
1192±6 | 21 | 13,096 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 63 | Ideogram 4.0 QualityIdeogramOpen |
1205±4 | 20 | 60,591 | – | – | – | Ideogram Open Model |
| 64 | Qwen Image 2.1AlibabaOpen |
1223±7 | 19 | 11,441 | 1042±12 | 22 | Sep 2026 | qwen-research |
| 65 | Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview (Nano Banana Pro)Google |
1234±5 | 18 | 86,464 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 66 | GPT Image 1.5 High FidelityOpenAI |
1237±3 | 17 | 169,927 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 67 | Gemini 3 Pro Image 2K (Nano Banana Pro)Google |
1248±3 | 16 | 175,734 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 68 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image (Nano Banana 2 Lite)Google |
1250±6 | 15 | 17,804 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 69 | MAI Image 2.5Microsoft AI |
1254±4 | 14 | 61,265 | 1118±11 | 12 | Jun 2026 | Proprietary |
| 70 | Seedream 5.0 ProByteDance |
1255±4 | 12 | 94,181 | 1100±11 | 16 | Jul 2026 | Proprietary |
| 71 | Qwen Image 3.0 ProAlibaba |
1255±6 | 13 | 11,440 | 1095±12 | 17 | Jul 2026 | Proprietary |
| 72 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (Nano Banana 2) [Web Search]Google |
1262±4 | 11 | 60,515 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 73 | Reve 2.0Reve |
1269±6 | 10 | 15,773 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 74 |  Muse ImageMeta |
1274±5 | 9 | 42,262 | 1127±11 | 8 | Jul 2026 | Proprietary |
| 75 | Grok Imagine Image 2.0 (20260801)xAI |
1294±6 | 8 | 14,483 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 76 | Reve 2.1Reve |
1302±8 | 7 | 8,249 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 77 | Gemini Nano Banana 2.1Google |
1328±9 | 6 | 5,310 | 1176±12 | 4 | Oct 2026 | Proprietary |
| 78 | MAI Image 2.6Microsoft AI |
1332±5 | 5 | 25,091 | 1166±12 | 5 | Aug 2026 | Proprietary |
| 79 | Grok Imagine Image 2.0 (Canvas)xAI |
1334±12 | 4 | 3,113 | – | – | – | Proprietary |
| 80 | GPT Image 2 (Medium)OpenAI |
1383±4 | 3 | 93,334 | 1186±11 | 3 | Apr 2026 | Proprietary |
| 81 | GPT Image 2.5 FlareOpenAI |
1398±7 | 2 | 16,889 | 1207±10 | 2 | Sep 2026 | Proprietary |
| 82 | GPT Image 2.5 SunburstOpenAI |
1425±7 | 1 | 17,752 | 1222±10 | 1 | Sep 2026 | Proprietary |
Scores: LMArena leaderboard-dataset (lmarena-ai on Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0), Text-to-image published Oct 7, 2026; AA columns from the Artificial Analysis Image Arena. Please credit the sources when citing.
Sources & methodology
- LMLMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face, CC-BY-4.0)
published Oct 7, 2026 · 82 models
- AAArtificial Analysis Image Arena
fetched Oct 26, 2026 · 106 models
- Scores come from LMArena’s text_to_image and image_edit leaderboards (overall category, latest release): users vote between two anonymous outputs and LMArena fits a Bradley–Terry model.
- AA values are shown only when the model name (ignoring bracketed variant notes) maps to exactly one row; hover to see the AA entry name. Anything unmatched stays blank (–); nothing is guessed.
- Price, resolution and generation speed have no reliable public source yet and are not shown.
- Synced daily at 06:55 UTC; public JSON: /api/public/image-leaderboard.php
FAQ
What is the best AI image generator right now?
On LMArena’s text-to-image leaderboard published Oct 7, 2026, #1 is GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst by OpenAI (1425, 17,752 votes); the image-editing leader is GPT-Image-2.5 Sunburst (1514).
Which vendors rank highest for image generation?
On the text-to-image board, each vendor's best model ranks: OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (1425, #1), xAI Grok Imagine Image 2.0 (Canvas) (1334, #4), Microsoft AI MAI Image 2.6 (1332, #5), Google Gemini Nano Banana 2.1 (1328, #6), Reve Reve 2.1 (1302, #7).
Which open-weight image models can I run locally?
19 text-to-image models have non-proprietary licenses; the highest is Qwen Image 2.1 (1223, license qwen-research). Some licenses (e.g. FLUX dev non-commercial) restrict commercial use.
Why do LMArena and AA scores differ so much?
The two platforms use different voters, prompts and baselines, so absolute numbers are not comparable; relative order within one platform is what matters.