Have you gotten excited about the brave new world of AI-generated art? If so, I’m sure you’ve heard about Stable Diffusion—one of the top contenders for AI art creation on the current market. But how much does it cost to use Stable Diffusion? In this article, I’ll break down the basic costs of Stable Diffusion and how you can actually get started with it for free.
Is Stable Diffusion Free?
Yes, Stable Diffusion can be downloaded and used for free on your own computer. It is an open source software, which means it’s free for all users to not only download but custom train in order to make new models.
If you are interested in downloading and running Stable Diffusion on your own computer, then I recommend this guide. It will walk you through the process of installing the AI art software and a graphical interface so you don’t have to write any code when making art.
Alternatives to Installing Stable Diffusion
But what if your computer doesn’t meet the requirements for running it? Stable Diffusion is also available from several online services that charge fees for use.
Generating images with an online provider means you don’t need to rely on your own graphics card to make AI art. The service will run from it’s own servers.
But, as you can imagine, they may charge you for the use of their servers and GPUs accordingly. These costs vary from site to site.
How Much Does Stable Diffusion (as a Service) Cost?
So how much will one of these online services cost you to make AI art? There are a lot of factors that influence this but, in general, the average price for using Stable Diffusion online will range between $5 and $15 a month.
Most service websites give you a limited number of image generations for free. After that, most sites will either charge by the minute or a recurring monthly fee. This makes it hard to compare prices because every person will use a different amount of GPU minutes. On top of that, the amount of GPU minutes that a single image will cost depends on the settings for that prompt (like the number of steps used) and the size of the desired output image.
Stable Diffusion Online Services to Try
Listed below are some of the most popular online services that offer AI art generation using the Stable Diffusion open source software. I have also included a table that shows their pricing models and extra notes for quick reference.
- DreamStudio
- Playground AI
- Replicate AI
- Dreamlike Art
| Website/Service Name | Pricing (USD) | Other Notes |
| DreamStudio | $0.2 per GPU minute (First 1,000 credits are free) | Owned and operated by Stability AI, the company that created Stable Diffusion Allows you to use V1.4, V1.5, and V2.0 No custom user models available at this time |
| Playground AI | Free (for 1,000 images per day) $15 a month (for 2,000 images a day) | |
| Replicate AI | $0.033 per GPU minute (running on a Nvidia T4 with 16GB of VRAM, cheaper GPU options are available but they may not be cost-effective) | Dozens of custom models are available for use |
| Dreamlike Art | $15 for 3,000 credits (approximately 3,000 image generations at default settings) | Includes 3 models for use: Dreamlike Diffusion, Dreamlike Photoreal, and Stable Diffusion basic V1.5. No monthly/yearly subscriptions available at this time. |
Conclusion
There are a number of ways that you can get started with Stable Diffusion for free. Whether or not you should install it locally or use an online service long-term depends on how many images you plan on generating. But, thankfully, there are options for both casual users and power prompters.
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