In under two years, AI creativity jumped from curiosity to mainstream. Nearly half of all images on Adobe Stock are now AI-generated — a shift redefining how we make visuals and video.
Why it matters
- Speed & scale: concept → production in minutes, not days.
- Access: pro quality without a studio stack.
- Control: local / open-source options for privacy & customization.
Fact snapshot: as of April 2025, AI visuals approached ~48% of Adobe Stock’s library. The trend is up and to the right.
Image Generation
- Midjourney — Cloud • Paid • Cinematic/artistic visuals.
- Stable Diffusion + ComfyUI — Local/Open-source • Free • Maximum control.
- FLUX (Black Forest Labs) — Cloud + Local via ComfyUI • Mixed licenses. Kontext models
- Adobe Firefly — Cloud • Paid (Creative Cloud) • Commercially safe; Photoshop/Illustrator native.
- Ideogram — Cloud • Free + Pro • Best for text in images.
- Recraft — Cloud/API • Paid • Brand assets, vectors, logos.
Video Generation
- Runway (Gen-3/Gen-4, Aleph) — Cloud • Paid • Control, character consistency, production workflows.
- Luma Dream Machine — Cloud • Free tier + Paid • Fast iteration, realistic motion.
- Google Veo 3 — Cloud (Gemini) • Paid • High-fidelity text→video with native audio.
- OpenAI Sora — Cloud • Paid • Long prompts, advanced scene composition.
- Pika — Cloud • Free + Pro • Templates & creativity tools.
- Kling AI — Cloud • Paid • Strong realism & longer motion.
- Synthesia — Cloud • Free + Paid • Avatar videos in 140+ languages.
- HeyGen — Cloud • Paid • Avatars, voice cloning, UGC/business clips.
Open-Source / Local Video
- Open-Sora 2.0 — Open-source • Free • Efficient pipelines for high-quality video.
- Waver — Research / Open-source • Unified T2V/I2V/T2I with strong temporal consistency.
Quick compare
| Tool | Access | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney | Cloud | Paid | Stylized art, concepts |
| Stable Diffusion + ComfyUI | Local | Free | Custom pipelines, privacy |
| FLUX (BFL) | Cloud/Local | Mixed | High-fidelity stills, editing |
| Adobe Firefly | Cloud | Paid | Commercial safety, Adobe apps |
| Ideogram | Cloud | Free + Pro | Text rendering |
| Recraft | Cloud/API | Paid | Brand assets, vectors |
| Runway | Cloud | Paid | Controlled T2V, edit |
| Luma Dream Machine | Cloud | Free + Paid | Fast T2V, motion |
| Google Veo 3 | Cloud | Paid | Text→video + audio |
| OpenAI Sora | Cloud | Paid | Storyboarding, rich scenes |
| Pika | Cloud | Free + Pro | Templates & effects |
| Kling AI | Cloud | Paid | Realism, longer clips |
| Synthesia | Cloud | Free + Paid | Avatar explainers |
| HeyGen | Cloud | Paid | UGC, sales/marketing |
| Open-Sora 2.0 | Local | Free | Open video pipelines |
| Waver | Local | Free | Unified image/video model |
Bottom line
Tools matter — but vision matters more. Use cloud for speed & collaboration; go local/open-source when control, privacy or customization is critical.
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