What Does It Cost to Keep Your AI Image Generations Private?
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The assumption behind every “just upgrade to a paid plan” answer is that privacy starts with payment. Krea documents a $0 exception. At three other tools the first qualifying path is paid, while Midjourney lets you pay for two consecutive tiers without unlocking Stealth Mode. This post prices the cheapest published path at each tool that actually keeps new generations private.
The Short Answer
- Leonardo.Ai — Leonardo.Ai turns privacy on at $12/mo, its cheapest paid plan, because every paid tier lists Creations access as Private.
- Ideogram — Ideogram turns privacy on at $15/mo billed annually, the cheapest of its three paid tiers, all of which check the Private generations row.
- Midjourney — Midjourney costs $60/mo for private generations, because Stealth Mode is a Pro-tier feature — six times its own $10/mo entry plan, whose output is public.
- Adobe Firefly — Adobe Firefly publishes no public-versus-private plan distinction we could confirm, so we are not putting a privacy price next to it.
- Recraft — Recraft unlocks private generation on Basic at $12 monthly or $10 per month when $120 is billed annually.
- Krea — Krea says generations on its $0 Free plan are private and that it has no public feed, with 100 compute units available per day.
| Model | Best for | Paid plans from | Free | Free-tier privacy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leonardo.Ai | Cheapest Paid Monthly Privacy | $12/mo | Yes | Public by default |
| Ideogram | Private on Every Paid Tier | $15/mo (annual) | Yes | Public by default |
| Midjourney | Low Paid Entry, Priciest Privacy | $8/mo (annual) | No | No free tier to evaluate |
| Adobe Firefly | No Public/Private Line We Could Verify | $9.99/mo | Yes | — |
| Recraft | Cheapest Paid Annual Privacy | $10/mo (annual) | Yes | Public by default |
| Krea | Private Generation at $0 | $5/mo (annual) | Yes | Private by default |
What we priced
For each tool we found the cheapest plan whose own pricing page or plan documentation states that generations are private, and recorded what that plan costs. That is deliberately not the same as the cheapest paid plan — at one tool here the two are two tiers and $50/mo apart. Where a vendor doesn’t publish a public-versus-private plan distinction at all, we leave the price out rather than infer one. Which tools make free-tier generations public in the first place is the subject of our free-tier privacy review, read on 2026-08-05.
Cheapest Paid Monthly Privacy
1. Leonardo.Ai — Cheapest Paid Monthly Privacy
Leonardo.Ai draws the line at the first paid tier and nowhere else. Its pricing table lists free-plan Creations access as Public and every paid tier as Private, so Essential at $12/mo is both the cheapest way in and the cheapest way to privacy — there’s no premium privacy upsell above it. Leonardo now advertises annual savings of up to 20%, but we could not retrieve an exact annual Essential figure from the current page, so that value remains unpriced here.
Paid plans from $12/mo. Free plan: 150 fast tokens/day, 150 token bank, public creations, 1 personal collection.
- Essential — $12/mo
- Premium — $30/mo
- Ultimate — $60/mo
Free-tier privacy Public by default — Leonardo's own pricing table lists free-plan "Creations access" as Public; every paid tier lists it as Private. Leonardo's own help center confirms free-plan images can be used commercially, but they remain publicly viewable and remixable by other users, and Leonardo retains broad rights to reuse publicly shared content — full private ownership requires a paid plan.
Pros
- Commercial use is technically permitted on the free plan
Skip it if
- Free-plan images are public by Leonardo's own pricing table — other users can view and remix them, and you don't get exclusive private ownership until you pay
Private on Every Paid Tier
2. Ideogram — Private on Every Paid Tier
Ideogram has the same privacy structure but a different billing choice. Its pricing page says images are published by default and puts private generation on Plus, Pro, and Team. Plus costs $20 on monthly billing or $15 per month when $180 is billed annually. The annual rate is $3 above Leonardo’s published $12 monthly price and requires a one-year commitment.
Ideogram’s pricing FAQ now also answers the commercial-use question directly: it says the vendor does not claim ownership of generated images and permits their use for any purpose, including commercial use. That permission does not make a free generation private; privacy still requires a qualifying paid plan.
Paid plans from $15/mo (annual). Free plan: Weekly slow credits for eligible accounts; the current pricing page says the amount may vary.
- Plus — $20/mo, or $15/mo billed annually
- Pro — $60/mo, or $42/mo billed annually
- Team — $30/mo, or $20/mo billed annually · 2 seats
Free-tier privacy Public by default — Ideogram's pricing page says all images are published by default and lists private generation on Plus, Pro, and Team. The Free plan does not include the control.
Pros
- Ideogram says it does not claim ownership of generated images and permits their use for any purpose, including commercial use
Skip it if
- Images are published by default; private generation requires Plus at $20 monthly or $15 per month with annual billing
Low Paid Entry, Priciest Privacy
3. Midjourney — Low Paid Entry, Priciest Privacy
Midjourney is the reason the paid-plan distinction matters. Basic at $10/mo, or $8/mo annually, is a lower paid entry than the qualifying plans at Leonardo, Ideogram, or Recraft, but it does not buy privacy. Stealth Mode is a Pro and Mega feature rather than a general paid-plan feature. Basic and Standard subscribers are paying customers whose generations are still public. Privacy starts at Pro: $60/mo, or $48/mo annually. That’s six times Midjourney’s own entry price and five times Leonardo’s monthly privacy price.
Paid plans from $8/mo (annual). No free plan.
- Basic — $10/mo, or $8/mo billed annually
- Standard — $30/mo, or $24/mo billed annually
- Pro — $60/mo, or $48/mo billed annually
- Mega — $120/mo, or $96/mo billed annually
Free-tier privacy No free tier to evaluate — No free plan at any price. Every paid tier, including the cheapest ($10/mo Basic), carries the same General Commercial Terms — but Stealth Mode (private generations) is a Pro/Mega-only feature, so Basic and Standard generations are public by default.
Pros
- Commercial usage rights are identical across all four tiers — you don't need the most expensive plan to use images commercially, only if your company makes over $1M/year in gross revenue
Skip it if
- No free tier at all to try before paying
- Private generation (Stealth Mode) requires the Pro plan ($60/mo) or higher — Basic and Standard users' generations are public
No Public/Private Line We Could Verify
4. Adobe Firefly — No Public/Private Line We Could Verify
Adobe Firefly doesn’t publish the plan row the other three do, so we have nothing to price. Its free tier gives limited daily generations with no card, and Adobe’s own generative-credits FAQ confirms commercial use is permitted on free-plan output for non-beta features. Adobe also documents IP indemnification for eligible offers and agreements, but it is not a universal benefit of every paid Firefly plan. Either way, legal backing is not a privacy setting, so it doesn’t belong in this comparison’s price column.
Paid plans from $9.99/mo. Free plan: Limited free daily generations across standard and premium features, no card required.
- Standard — $9.99/mo
Free-tier privacy Not confirmed — We could not confirm a structural public/private distinction for the free plan the way Leonardo and Ideogram publish one. Adobe's generative-credits FAQ does confirm commercial use on free outputs. IP indemnification is limited to eligible offers and agreements; it is not a universal benefit of every paid Firefly plan.
Pros
- Commercial use is confirmed on the free plan itself, not held back for paid tiers, per Adobe's own generative-credits FAQ
- No card required to start
Skip it if
- Adobe does not publish a free-versus-paid privacy distinction we could verify; its IP indemnification applies only to eligible offers and agreements
Cheapest Paid Annual Privacy
5. Recraft — Cheapest Paid Annual Privacy
Recraft puts privacy on Basic, its first paid plan. Basic costs $12 on monthly billing or $10 per month when $120 is billed annually. That ties Leonardo AI for the lowest verified month-to-month privacy price in this comparison and undercuts it on the annual figures the two vendors expose publicly.
The free-plan boundary is stricter than a visibility toggle. Recraft says Free images are public in its community gallery, owned by Recraft, and not licensed for commercial use. Images created during a paid subscription receive private generation, ownership, and commercial rights, and the vendor says they remain private after cancellation.
Paid plans from $10/mo (annual). Free plan: Limited free credits, up to 3 generations per style per day, public images, and no commercial use.
- Basic — $12/mo, or $10/mo billed annually · 1 seat
- Pro — $20/mo, or $16/mo billed annually · 1 seat
- Teams (per seat) — $22/mo, or $18/mo billed annually
Free-tier privacy Public by default — Recraft's pricing page says all Free-plan images are public and not licensed for commercial use. Basic is the first paid plan and includes commercial rights and private generations. Images created during a paid subscription remain private after cancellation.
Pros
- Private generation and commercial rights start on Basic at $12 monthly or $10 per month with annual billing
Skip it if
- Free-plan images are public, owned by Recraft, and not licensed for commercial use
Private Generation at $0
6. Krea — Private Generation at $0
Krea is the only tool in this comparison with a documented $0 privacy path. Its current pricing page lists Free at $0 with 100 compute units per day and no credit card. Krea’s official 2026 Leonardo AI comparison says Free-plan generations stay in the user’s account and there is no public feed.
We did not independently test that visibility claim. It remains vendor-documented rather than hands-on, and the daily compute allowance is not comparable to another vendor’s credits or GPU minutes without a normalized generation test.
Paid plans from $5/mo (annual). Free plan: 100 compute units per day, no credit card required.
- Basic — $9/mo, or $5/mo billed annually
- Pro — $35/mo, or $21/mo billed annually
- Max — $105/mo, or $63/mo billed annually
Free-tier privacy Private by default — Krea's official 2026 Leonardo AI comparison says Free-plan generations stay in the user's account and there is no public feed. This is vendor-documented rather than independently tested.
Pros
- Krea documents a $0 privacy path: the Free plan's generations are private and there is no public feed
Skip it if
- The Free plan is limited to 100 compute units per day
More in this category
The prerequisite question — which tools put free-tier generations in a public feed at all — is answered tool by tool in the other review in our AI image models category. The same “what does the cheap tier actually get you” question drives our other categories: for SEO tools it’s what a client-ready report really costs once export is priced in, and for presentation tools it’s what a PowerPoint file costs once you notice the advertised rate is the annual one.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the cheapest way to generate AI images privately?
Of the six tools we checked, Krea is the only one that documents private generation at $0: its Free plan provides 100 compute units per day and has no public feed. Among paid paths, Recraft starts at $10 per month when $120 is billed upfront, while Recraft and Leonardo.Ai tie at $12 on month-to-month billing.
Does paying for Midjourney make my images private?
Not on the cheaper plans. Midjourney's own plan documentation puts Stealth Mode on Pro and Mega only, so generations on Basic ($10/mo) and Standard ($30/mo) are public by default despite being paid. Privacy starts at Pro, $60/mo monthly or $48/mo billed annually — six times the entry price.
Is Midjourney or Leonardo.Ai cheaper?
It depends entirely on whether you need privacy, and the ranking flips. To simply start generating, Midjourney is cheaper: $10/mo Basic, or $8/mo annually, against Leonardo's $12/mo Essential. To generate privately, Leonardo is five times cheaper: $12/mo against Midjourney's $60/mo Pro.
Can I use free-plan images commercially even if they're public?
Sometimes, and public is a separate question from commercial. Leonardo's help center confirms free-plan images may be used commercially while remaining publicly viewable and remixable. Adobe permits commercial use on free-plan outputs for non-beta features. Ideogram's current pricing FAQ says it does not claim ownership of generated images and permits their use for any purpose, including commercial use, even though images are published by default.
Why isn't Adobe Firefly given a privacy price?
Because we could not confirm one. Leonardo and Ideogram publish a plan line that separates public free output from paid privacy; Adobe publishes no equivalent distinction we could verify. Adobe documents IP indemnification separately for eligible offers and agreements, but that is a legal protection rather than a privacy setting, so it does not belong in this comparison's price column.
How We Keep This Updated
We re-check each tool's pricing, source documentation, and any firsthand test records used on this page. Every change is logged here. Our full procedure is on the methodology page, and if anything above is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will re-check it.
- 2026-10-29 — Rechecked Krea's current pricing and replaced the earlier privacy citation with its current official comparison page.
- 2026-10-26 — Rechecked Krea after its Basic launch and updated the Free-plan model-access wording; the $0 privacy result and category ordering did not change.
- 2026-10-19 — Added Krea after its current pricing page confirmed a $0 Free plan and its official guide documented private generations with no public feed. Clarified earlier paid-only labels while preserving their legacy anchors.
- 2026-10-05 — Added Recraft after verifying that Basic includes private generation at $12 monthly or $10 per month with annual billing.
- 2026-08-27 — Added Ideogram's monthly Plus price, corrected its commercial-use entry, and narrowed Adobe's IP-indemnification wording to eligible offers and agreements.
- 2026-08-06 — First published. Plan prices and privacy tiering re-read from each vendor's own pricing or plan documentation on 2026-08-05 and priced here on 2026-08-06.