ComfyUI vs Qwen-Image (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, ComfyUI grades higher than Qwen-Image: 3.0 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
ComfyUI grades higher on value for money, the free plan and features. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ComfyUI
Open-source node editor for image and video AI workflows, plus a cloud
Which one is for you
Pick ComfyUI if
- Fits if you want full control of every step of an image or video pipeline
- Works for people with a capable GPU who would rather not pay a subscription
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want to type a prompt and get a picture, as the node graph takes learning
- Tight if your computer is weak: Windows wants an NVIDIA or AMD GPU and the Mac app is Apple Silicon only
- Watch out: partner models like Nano Banana are paid in Comfy credits, even when you run locally
- Watch out: cloud runs stop at 30 minutes (1 hour on Pro), and your own models and LoRAs need Creator
Pick Qwen-Image if
- Fits if you have a GPU and want to run an image model yourself
- Works for developers who want text drawn inside pictures
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you have no GPU, since local use needs a capable one
- Skip it if you do not code, as the quick start is Python with Diffusers and PyTorch
- Watch out: the README says the official demo is heavily used and points to third-party hosts
- Watch out: the 2.0 model is announced there but its weights are not confirmed as open
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAComfyUIVery good | 2.2GPAQwen-ImageFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AThe desktop program is free and open source with no feature limits, which counts as free and substantial. Comfy Cloud starts at $16 a month billed yearly. | CThe weights are free, but you supply the hardware. Self-hosting needs a capable GPU, so it is not free in the way a download-and-run program is. |
| Free plan and trial | AComfyUI Desktop is free to run on your own hardware, offline after setup, with no cap. Cloud gives new users 5 free GPU runs. | BThe weights are free to download under Apache-2.0 with no cap. The cost is your own GPU, and hosted limits were not readable. |
| Features | BNode workflows, open and partner models, 5,000+ community extensions, a cloud, an agent and an API. Nothing in the core job is missing, though Team's shared workflows are still coming soon. | CText rendering, image editing and tool support, with 2K output in 2.0. The 2.0 weights are not confirmed as open in the README. |
| Ease of use | DNo store rating on record. You wire up nodes and models yourself, and local use needs a GPU and some setup. | DNo store rating on record. The quick start uses Diffusers and PyTorch, which means Python and a GPU. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWindows, Mac and Linux desktop apps, a browser cloud, an API and links to Photoshop, Blender, Nuke, Houdini, Civitai and Hugging Face. No phone app is listed. | BA model rather than an app, with ComfyUI, Hugging Face, ModelScope, Diffusers, vLLM-Omni and SGLang listed. |
| Best for | node-based image and video workflows | open-weights image model for text and editing |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: ComfyUI and Qwen-Image. How we grade
Price against what you get
ComfyUI starts at $16 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Qwen-Image has no paid plan and scores 2.0.
ComfyUI scores higher, and starts $16 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI image and video generators on the chart, 41 score higher than ComfyUI for less, and none scores higher than Qwen-Image for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Qwen-Image is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- ComfyUI also covers AI agents and video generation.
At a glance
| ComfyUI | Qwen-Image | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free |
| Starts at | $16 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) for Comfy Cloud | Free |
| Free plan | ComfyUI Desktop is free and open source to run on your own hardware with no feature limits. Comfy Cloud gives new users 5 free GPU runs and free Agent credits. | The model weights are free to download and run under the Apache-2.0 license; you supply the hardware. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| Made by | Comfy Org | Qwen (QwenLM) |
| Price read from | comfy.org | github.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
ComfyUI
- The Windows desktop app recommends an NVIDIA or AMD GPU, and the Mac app supports Apple Silicon only.
- Cloud runs stop at 30 minutes (1 hour on Pro), and importing your own models or LoRAs needs Creator or above.
- Partner models such as Nano Banana are paid in Comfy credits, even when ComfyUI runs on your own machine.
- On the Team plan, shared workflows, shared assets and projects are listed as coming soon.
Qwen-Image
- Running the model locally needs a capable GPU and a Python setup; the quick start uses Diffusers and PyTorch.
- Hosted use goes through Qwen Chat; its limits and any paid tiers were not readable, so they are not recorded here.
- The README says demand on the official demo is heavy and points to third-party hosts such as DashScope, WaveSpeed and LibLib.
- The newest 2.0 model is announced in the README; its weights are not confirmed there as open.
Key features
ComfyUI
- Node-based workflows
- Chain models, prompts, samplers and other steps into a visual graph that can be saved, shared and rerun, with control over each setting.
- Open and partner models
- Run open models such as Wan 2.2, Flux, LTX and Qwen Image Edit locally, or call partner models like Nano Banana Pro, Seedance 2.0 and GPT Image 2 with credits.
- Community extensions
- Install from more than 5,000 community extensions adding 60,000+ nodes, or write your own custom nodes.
- Comfy Cloud
- Run ComfyUI in a browser on 96GB RTX PRO 6000 GPUs with 900+ preinstalled models, paying only for active GPU time and queuing up to 100 workflows.
- Comfy Agent
- Describe the result you want and the agent plans, builds and runs the workflow on the canvas, charging its language-model use to your credits.
- Comfy API
- Deploy a workflow as a production API, with GPU time billed by the second, for example $3.49 an hour on an RTX PRO 6000.
Qwen-Image
- Text rendering
- The project describes strong rendering of text inside images, especially Chinese, and newer releases add typography for posters and infographics.
- Image editing
- Separate Qwen-Image-Edit releases cover editing, with multi-image input in the 2511 version.
- Open weights
- Weights for Qwen-Image, Qwen-Image-2512 and the edit models are released on Hugging Face and ModelScope.
- Native 2K output in 2.0
- Qwen-Image-2.0, announced in February 2026, is described as supporting native 2K resolution and 1,000-token instructions.
- Tool support
- The README lists support in ComfyUI, Diffusers, vLLM-Omni, SGLang-Diffusion and LoRA fine-tunes.
Plans
ComfyUI
ComfyUI Desktop$0
The full open-source engine on your own computer and GPU, offline after setup; partner models such as Nano Banana use paid credits.
Standard$16
per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Comfy Cloud with 50,400 credits a year (about 4,560 five-second videos), 30-minute runs, 4 Agent sessions, 5 API builds and 2 deployments.
Creator$28
per month, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
88,800 credits a year, importing your own models and LoRAs, and 6 Agent sessions per workspace.
Pro$80
per month, billed annually ($100 billed monthly)
253,200 credits a year, runs up to 1 hour, 8 Agent sessions, 10 API builds and 5 deployments of up to 10 workers.
Team$630
per month, billed annually ($700 billed monthly)
1,772,400 credits a year in a shared pool, up to 50 members with roles, 16 Agent sessions and 20 API deployments.
EnterpriseCustom
More members, higher Agent limits and custom features, arranged with sales.
Qwen-Image
Open weights$0
Download the weights from Hugging Face or ModelScope and run them yourself; hardware costs are yours.
Ways to pay less
ComfyUI
- Annual discount
Up to 20% off Comfy Cloud billed yearly
Yearly billing takes Standard from $20 to $16 a month, Creator from $35 to $28 and Pro from $100 to $80; Team saves 10%.
Qwen-Image
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ComfyUI or Qwen-Image?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Qwen-Image is cheaper to start with: it is free, against $16 a month for ComfyUI. ComfyUI starts at $16 per month, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) for Comfy Cloud, and Qwen-Image is free.
Which has a free plan, ComfyUI or Qwen-Image?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both ComfyUI and Qwen-Image have a free plan.
Which platforms do ComfyUI and Qwen-Image run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only ComfyUI lists macOS, Windows and Linux apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.