Hunyuan vs Ideogram (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Ideogram grades higher than Hunyuan: 2.8 against 1.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Ideogram grades higher on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Ideogram
Image generator for designs with text, plus editing and video apps
Which one is for you
Pick Hunyuan if
- Fits if you follow Tencent's model releases and read Chinese
- Makes sense if you want to look at the open-source models rather than make pictures
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want an image generator you can sign up for today
- Not for you if you need English documentation, because the portal is Chinese
- Watch out: Hy Image3.5 is labelled preview and no prices are shown
- Watch out: this is a research portal with several models, not a single image product
Pick Ideogram if
- Fits if your images need words in them, like a logo, poster or ad
- Works for small teams who want credits per person on one bill, with a 2-user minimum
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want free images kept private, as free-plan work is always public and needs a Google, Apple or Microsoft sign-in
- Tight if you lean on partner models, edits, upscales and video, which always cost credits, even with the slower unlimited queue
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $20 for Plus against $15 yearly, and custom model training needs Pro at $42
- Watch out: plan credits don't roll over, and extra credits at one cent each expire after 365 days
- Not for you if you're on Android or want a desktop app, and credits can't be bought in the iPhone app
How we grade them
| 1.4GPAHunyuanWeak | 2.8GPAIdeogramGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CThe portal publishes no price, so it sits in the middle by default. | CPlus is $15 a month on yearly billing ($20 monthly) for 2,400 credits and private images, just past this category's dearer quarter of $14.50. When credits run out, Ideogram's own models keep working in a slower queue. |
| Free plan and trial | FThe portal records no free tier or trial. | C30 credits a week, but only if you sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft, and everything you make is public. The Video app needs a paid plan or bought credits. |
| Features | DA model family portal rather than an image app. Hy Image3.5 is a preview, alongside language, vision and speech models. | BSeveral in-house models, masking and inpainting, transparent backgrounds for stickers and icons, custom style models trained on 15 to 100 of your images, a video app and an API. That covers the whole job, with text in images as its focus. |
| Ease of use | CThe page is in Chinese with a prompt to switch to an international site, and access terms weren't confirmed. | A4.8 from about 2,700 App Store ratings, the top band. You type a prompt that includes the words you want on the image. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web portal. It lists open-source models and Tencent's own products, but nothing else to connect to. | BWeb and iPhone, with one API for the image and video models and an MCP server for Claude. No Android or desktop app, and credits can't be bought in the iPhone app. |
| Best for | a look at Tencent's models, not an app for making images | images with readable words in them |
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: Hunyuan and Ideogram. How we grade
Where they differ
- Hunyuan also covers transcription and chat assistant.
- Ideogram also covers video generation.
At a glance
| Hunyuan | Ideogram | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $15 per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | 30 credits a week for accounts that sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft. Everything made on the free plan is public, and the Video app needs a paid plan or bought credits. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Tencent | Ideogram AI Inc |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | docs.ideogram.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hunyuan
- The portal is in Chinese, with a prompt to switch to an international site, so English documentation was not read.
- No prices are shown on the portal; the image model is labelled preview and access terms were not confirmed.
- This is a model family and research portal, not a single image app; the image model is one of several.
Ideogram
- Free credits go only to accounts signed in with Google, Apple or Microsoft, and free-plan images are always public.
- Monthly plan credits do not roll over. Extra credits cost one US cent each and expire 365 days after purchase.
- Partner models, reference images, edits, upscales and video always cost credits, even on plans with a slower unlimited queue.
- Credits cannot be bought inside the iOS app, and custom model training works on desktop only.
Key features
Hunyuan
- Hy Image3.5 preview
- A visual generation model in preview that Tencent describes as strong at rendering text, varied styles and consistent layouts.
- Hy3 language model
- A mixture-of-experts language model of 295B total and 21B active parameters, with a 256K context window and three thinking modes.
- Hy Vision 2.0
- A vision-language model for understanding images, built on Tencent's HY-2.0 language model and aimed at image-to-text tasks.
- Hy ASR 3.0 preview
- A speech recognition model built on Hy3 that Tencent says covers dialects and varied settings.
- Open-source models and products
- The portal links Tencent's open-source models and consumer products such as WorkBuddy, Yuanbao and ima.
Ideogram
- Several image models
- Ideogram 4.5 edits and combines up to five reference images, 4.0 handles very wide formats, and 3.0 keeps style presets, palettes and negative prompts.
- Editing and inpainting
- Mask an area to change it, extend a scene, remove objects or backgrounds, and upscale results.
- Transparent backgrounds
- Dedicated models produce images with no background for stickers, print-on-demand designs, icons and clip art.
- Custom models
- Train a style model on 15 to 100 of your own images. Training needs Pro or Team and a standard run costs 4,000 credits.
- Video app
- Makes short clips from a prompt, from start and end frames, or from uploaded images, video and audio, using models such as Seedance.
- API and MCP server
- One API covers the image and video models, and an MCP server lets AI assistants such as Claude use Ideogram.
Plans
Hunyuan
Pricing could not be confirmed. See hunyuan.tencent.com.
Ideogram
Free$0
30 credits a week, all Ideogram image models, and public images only.
Plus$15
per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Private generation and quality export; after credits run out, Ideogram models keep working in a slower queue.
Pro$42
per month for 7,500 credits, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
Adds batch generation, a larger queue and custom model training.
Team$20
per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
3,600 credits per member each month, with central billing and admin. Minimum 2 users.
EnterpriseCustom
Terms, credits and features set by agreement, including a prepaid shared credit balance for organizations.
Ways to pay less
Hunyuan
No public discounts listed.
Ideogram
- Annual discount
Pay less with yearly billing
Yearly billing brings Plus from $20 to $15 a month, Pro from $60 to $42 and Team from $30 to $20 per user.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan or Ideogram?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Hunyuan has no price we could confirm, and Ideogram starts at $15 per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly).
Which has a free plan, Hunyuan or Ideogram?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Ideogram has a free plan. Hunyuan does not.
Which platforms do Hunyuan and Ideogram run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Ideogram lists an iOS app. 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.