Images, art & design
Apps here make new pictures, from birthday cards and posters to AI art from a typed description (ChatGPT and Gemini also make images and sit under everyday assistants). Canva is the one most people already use, ranked fourth among all consumer AI products on both web and mobile in a16z's October 2026 lists, and it puts AI inside templates rather than asking anyone to write prompts. The pure image generators make striking pictures but charge by credits, mostly keep generations public on cheaper plans, and Midjourney still faces copyright suits from Disney, Universal and Warner Bros.
Updated monthly.
Kenning's picks
Ranked by Kenning score out of 25. Tools scoring 12 or less are marked not recommended.
Canva
Canva turns a template into a finished poster, invitation or Instagram post in minutes, and the free plan includes 1.6 million templates plus up to 200 basic AI uses. The new Canva AI 2.0 chatbot has annoyed long-time users who lost one-click edits in October 2026. User designs are not used for AI training unless the owner switches it on.
Best for Quick cards, posters and social posts from templates
Adobe Express
Adobe Express does the same template job as Canva and adds Adobe Stock photos and Firefly image generation trained on licensed images. Premium costs £9.98 a month with no annual lock-in, and the free plan covers most cards and posts. Users say its template range trails Canva's, and Adobe settled a US case over hidden cancellation fees in March 2026.
Best for Social posts and flyers for people already paying for Adobe
Adobe Firefly
Firefly's own model is trained on Adobe Stock and public domain pictures, which makes it the cautious pick for anything going on sale or into print. CNET scored it 7 out of 10 and said it struggles with photorealism, and user threads in 2026 are full of people paying credits for edits that went wrong. The free daily allowance is enough to try it properly.
Best for Photoshop users and small sellers who want images with fewer copyright worries
Magnific (formerly Freepik)
Magnific is the new name for Freepik since 28 April 2026, and it now bundles 250 million stock assets with image, video and audio generators from Google, ByteDance and its own team. Tom's Guide was wowed by its Mystic model, but user reviews is full of paying users angry that 'unlimited' generations got slower and vaguer through 2026. It suits people making lots of social content more than someone after a single birthday card.
Best for Social media managers and small businesses making images in bulk
Ideogram
Ideogram made its name spelling words correctly inside images, and Zapier still picks it for posters and anything with text. The free plan gives a small weekly allowance in a slow queue, and everything free users make is public. ChatGPT and Gemini now get text right most of the time too, so the gap has narrowed.
Best for Posters, invitations and social graphics with words on them
Leonardo.Ai
Leonardo gives 150 free tokens a day, which Tom's Guide put at roughly 10 to 20 images, and it has more models and editing controls than most rivals. Free-plan pictures are public and can be used to train its models, and only paying stops that. Reviewers found the editor crowded and individual reviewers in 2026 complain about site problems and removed features.
Best for Hobbyists making fantasy art, characters and concept pictures for free
Midjourney
Midjourney still makes some of the best-looking stylised art, and CNET calls it the most creative option it tested. It costs at least $10 a month with no free tier, images are public unless on the $60 plan, and it does not follow detailed prompts as closely as ChatGPT or Gemini. Disney, Universal and Warner Bros are suing it over images of their characters.
Best for Hobbyists who want artistic, stylised pictures and will pay
More tools
Adobe Firefly AI Assistant
Chat-based creative agent inside Adobe Firefly that carries out editing and design tasks across Adobe apps.
Adobe Firefly Audio
Adobe Firefly tools that generate music, voiceovers and sound effects that are cleared for commercial use.
Canva AI
Canva's built-in AI assistant that makes and edits designs from text or voice prompts
Canva Code
Canva tool that builds interactive web pages, calculators and games from a text prompt, without coding
Canva Creative Operating System
Canva's late-2025 update bundling a new design AI model, video editor, marketing tools and free Affinity
Dreamina (CapCut)
ByteDance's image and video generator from the CapCut team, pitched at posters and social graphics.
Dzine
Web studio for making and editing AI images and short videos, with photo filters, object removal and lip sync.
Figma AI
AI tools inside Figma that generate designs, edit images, build prototypes and turn designs into code.
Firefly Studio
Upgraded Adobe Firefly workspace that keeps generation, editing, saved characters and projects together in one place.
FLORA
Canvas workspace that puts dozens of image, video and text AI models side by side for creative work.
Google Pics
Google image maker and editor built on Nano Banana, also inside Docs and Slides
Ideogram Custom Models
Ideogram feature that trains a private image model on 15 to 100 of a brand's own pictures
Kittl
Browser design tool for posters, t-shirts and print, with AI text and image tools.
Krea
Creative app that puts many image and video models, plus real-time drawing-to-image, in one place.
Krea Agent
Chat agent inside Krea that plans creative jobs and picks image, video and audio models for each step
Lovino (formerly LensGo)
Makes pictures and short videos from text prompts or photos, with tools for removing backgrounds and objects.
Lummi
A library of free AI-made stock photos and illustrations to download for posters, slides or websites.
Microsoft Designer
Free Microsoft app for invitations, social posts and AI images, licensed for personal use only.
Muse Pro
An iPad drawing app where AI turns rough Apple Pencil sketches into finished artwork as they are drawn.
NightCafe
Community AI art site with daily free credits, challenges and many models.
OpenArt
Web studio with 100+ image and video models, character tools and one-click stories; #12 on a16z's consumer AI spend list.
OpenArt Director
OpenArt tool that turns a chat about a story into a finished AI video up to five minutes long
Playground
Design app for making logos, stickers, T-shirt art and posters by describing them, with ready templates.
Recraft
Image generator built for logos, icons and vector graphics, with brand styles.
Replit Design
Replit's AI design tool for making visual designs from a prompt, a URL, Figma or a screenshot
Reve
Web image generator praised for following prompts closely, with chat-style editing.
WOMBO Dream
Simple phone app that turns a prompt into art in a chosen style.