Image generation APIs for AI agents
7 APIs compared on price, free tier, MCP support and real usage. Prices from the vendors' pricing pages, checked Oct 9, 2026.
Free to start
1 of 7
Stability AI Image API
Official MCP server
4 of 7
plug straight into Claude Code, Cursor and others
| API | Free | Price | SDK downloads / wk | GitHub stars | MCP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI Image API (GPT Image) GPT Image models for image generation and editing via Images and Responses APIs. |
— | gpt-image-2 1024x1024: $0.006 low / $0.053 medium / $0.211 high per image | 117M | 11.2K | MCP (community) |
| Gemini API image generation (Nano Banana / Imagen) Gemini image models (Nano Banana) for generation and editing via the Gemini API. |
— | Nano Banana 2.1: $0.0336 per 1K image, $0.0504 per 2K, $0.113 per 4K | 59.1M | 1,686 | MCP (community) |
| Leonardo API Image and video generation API with multiple models, billed pay-as-you-go. |
— | not published | 18.8K | 56 | MCP |
| Recraft API Raster and vector (SVG) image generation, editing and vectorization API. |
— | $0.04 per raster image, $0.08 per vector image (V4/V3); V4.1 $0.035 raster | — | 60 | MCP |
| FLUX API FLUX.2 and FLUX 3 image generation and editing API. |
— | 1 credit = $0.01; FLUX.2 [pro] from $0.03/image, [klein] 4B from... | — | 13 | MCP |
| Stability AI Image API Stable Image Ultra/Core and SD 3.5 generation plus editing and upscaling. |
25 free credits | Free plan then 1 credit = $0.01; Stable Image Ultra 8 credits, Core 3,... |
— | — | MCP (community) |
| Ideogram API Text-to-image API known for accurate text rendering in images. |
— | not published | — | — | MCP |
Other categories
Web search APIs Scraping and crawling Browser automation (cloud) Code sandboxes Memory for agents Vector databases LLM gateways and routers Email sending Voice (speech-to-text Payments for agents Blockchain RPC and node providers DEX swap and liquidity APIs Crypto market and on-chain data 3D model generation Sound effects and music generation Video generation APIs