# Stability AI

> Stable Diffusion image models to self-host or call through an API

Stability AI makes the Stable Diffusion image models, along with video, 3D and audio models. Developers can download the models and run them on their own hardware, free for anyone under $1M in yearly revenue, or call them through a pay-per-use API that adds editing, upscaling and control tools. Larger companies buy an Enterprise License through sales.

- **Category:** AI Image & Video Generators
- **Made by:** Stability AI Ltd
- **Website:** https://stability.ai
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

Stability AI has a free plan.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **Free plan:** Community License: free self-hosted use of the core models, commercial use included, for people and organizations under $1M in yearly revenue.
- **Free trial:** 25 free API credits on sign-up.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Community License | $0 | Run Stable Diffusion 3.5, SDXL Turbo, Stable Fast 3D and Stable Audio 3.0 on your own hardware; for those under $1M in yearly revenue. |
| Enterprise License | Custom | Commercial use above $1M in yearly revenue, with implementation support; custom model training and consulting cost extra. |

Read from https://stability.ai/license on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Stability AI before buying.

## Key features

- **Stable Diffusion 3.5 models:** Large, Large Turbo and Medium versions of the image model to download and run yourself; Medium is designed to run on consumer hardware.
- **Image generation API:** Stable Image Ultra, Stable Image Core, the Stable Diffusion 3.5 family and SDXL, each billed per image in credits.
- **Editing API:** Erase objects, inpaint, outpaint, remove or replace a background and relight, and find an object by name to recolor or replace it.
- **Upscaling and control:** Creative, Conservative and Fast upscalers, plus sketch, structure and style tools that guide a new image from one you supply.
- **Video and 3D models:** Stable Video Diffusion turns text into short clips for self-hosting; Stable Fast 3D and SPAR3D make 3D assets from one image through the API.
- **Cloud partners:** The models are also offered on Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker JumpStart and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, and in NVIDIA-optimized versions.

## Good for

- Developers adding image generation and editing to their own apps
- Small companies that want to run open image models on their own servers
- Teams already building on Amazon Bedrock or Azure

## Worth knowing

- The API is pay per use: 1 credit is $0.01, an image costs 2.5 to 8 credits, and the Creative Upscaler costs 60 credits per image.
- Organizations with more than $1M in yearly revenue need an Enterprise License, priced only through sales.
- The API price list has image, 3D and audio services but no video; Stable Video Diffusion is offered for self-hosting only.
- There is no image app sold to consumers: the image page's "Start creating" link leads to the enterprise partnerships page.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 1.8 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Stability AI makes the Stable Diffusion models and sells them to developers: download them and run them yourself, free under $1M in yearly revenue, or call a pay-per-image API. For building image features into a product, that's handy. For a person who just wants pictures, there's no app to open.

- **Value for money: C.** Nothing a person can subscribe to. The models are free to run yourself under $1M yearly revenue, which takes your own hardware, and the API charges $0.025 to $0.08 an image at a cent a credit. Fair, but there's no plan to set against this category's.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** The Community License lets people and companies under $1M a year run the core models free, commercial use included. That needs your own hardware, and the API's free start is 25 credits.
- **Features: D.** Strong building blocks: SD 3.5 models, editing, upscaling, sketch and style control, and 3D. But there's no app for a person, and the image page's Start creating link goes to enterprise partnerships, so it needs code or another product to be useful.
- **Ease of use: D.** No app and no rating. Using it means calling an API from code or running the models on your own hardware.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** An API plus the models on Amazon Bedrock, SageMaker JumpStart and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, and downloads for your own machines. No phone or desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Stability AI's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among AI image and video generators

- Stability AI's GPA of 1.8 is higher than 0 of the 21 other AI image and video generators we grade, and level with 1.
- It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 6 of 21) and worst on features (D, above 0).

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-images

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace Stability AI you would be making an image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 20 of the 21 other AI image and video generators grade higher.

- You could not: An image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make.
- You could not: A video model, which you can rent by the second but not make.
- You could not: It plugs into other products, Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker JumpStart and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry among them, and has an API.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## Works with

Amazon Bedrock, Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, Microsoft Azure AI Foundry

**Tags:** AI features, Image generation, Video generation, Public API, Self-hostable

## Alternatives

- [FLUX by Black Forest Labs](https://toolgpa.com/tools/black-forest-labs): FLUX image and video models, paid per use via API and playground. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-stability-ai)
- [Ideogram](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ideogram): Image generator for designs with text, plus editing and video apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/ideogram-vs-stability-ai)
- [Recraft](https://toolgpa.com/tools/recraft): Image and vector generator built for designers and brand work. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/recraft-vs-stability-ai)
- [Leonardo.Ai](https://toolgpa.com/tools/leonardo-ai): Image, video and 3D generator with its own and partner models. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/leonardo-ai-vs-stability-ai)
- [Midjourney](https://toolgpa.com/tools/midjourney): Image and short-video generator run on monthly GPU time. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/midjourney-vs-stability-ai)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://stability.ai/license
- https://stability.ai
- https://platform.stability.ai/pricing
- https://stability.ai/stable-image
- https://stability.ai/stable-video
- https://stability.ai/partners
- https://stability.ai/strategic-partnerships

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/stability-ai
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).