Ideogram

Ideogram is an AI image generator that has built its reputation on one hard problem most rivals still struggle with: putting legible, correctly spelled text into a picture. That makes it a go-to tool for logos, posters, mockups, social graphics and anything where words matter as much as the visuals.

The current version is Ideogram 4.0, released on June 3, 2026. It is the company's first open-weight foundation model, a 9.3B-parameter release under the Apache 2.0 license, and it topped the DesignArena open-weight leaderboard. It succeeds Ideogram 3.0 from March 2025 and is built around structured JSON prompting, tighter typography and layout control, and 2K-class resolutions.

Beyond text rendering, 4.0 adds capabilities the earlier entry lacked: native transparency (usable PNGs with no background), reliable in-image editing, style references to keep a consistent look, and API access for batch and programmatic work.

Pricing is freemium. The free plan costs $0 and gives roughly 10 slow credits per week with public generations and one concurrent job. Basic runs about $8/mo (around $7 billed annually) for ~400 priority credits. Plus is about $20/mo (roughly $15-16 annually) with ~1,000 credits and private images. Pro is about $60/mo (around $42-48 annually) with ~3,000-3,500 credits plus batch generation and API access. A Team plan is about $30/user/mo (around $20 annually) with ~1,500 credits per user, and Enterprise is custom. API usage is billed separately at roughly $0.03-$0.10 per image.

The limitations are worth knowing. The free tier is slow and makes your images public, credits run out faster than heavy users expect, and while text is excellent, photorealism and fine anatomy can lag behind some competitors. API costs add up at volume.

Choose Ideogram if your work centers on typography-heavy visuals, or if you want an open-weight model you can build on. If you mainly need photorealistic scenes with no text, a different generator may serve you better.