Ideogram vs InVideo AI vs Leonardo.ai vs Recraft
A side-by-side look at Ideogram, InVideo AI, Leonardo.ai and Recraft for filmmakers: what each one can do, what it costs, and where they actually differ.
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Text-accurate AI images for title cards, posters, key art and on-screen type
- Price
- Free plan; API pay-per-image from $0.03 (4.0 Turbo)
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Title cards and text plates that must be spelled exactly, composited over footage in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve
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AI assistant editor on a real multitrack timeline, with a free manual editor
- Price
- Free plan; paid plans per seat from €20/mo (€10/mo billed annually)
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Short social, ad and explainer videos built from generated clips, stock and talking-head footage
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Image and video generation with a canvas, Motion animation and third-party video models
- Price
- See the vendor's pricing page
- Learning
- Easy
- Best for
- Concept art and key-art stills that later become motion tests
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Image and native SVG generation for logos, icons, and brand assets, plus video models in Studio
- Price
- Free (limited credits); Basic $12/mo; Pro $20/mo; Teams $22/seat/mo (monthly billing, annual saves about 20%)
- Learning
- Moderate
- Best for
- Title cards, logos and lower-third graphics that must scale without quality loss
The short version
Where they differ
- InVideo AI is the only one without public API.
All 4 offer: text to image, image editing, free tier.
Feature by feature
Ideogram vs InVideo AI vs Leonardo.ai vs Recraft: capabilities
| Ideogram | InVideo AI | Leonardo.ai | Recraft | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free plan; API pay-per-image from $0.03 (4.0 Turbo) | Free plan; paid plans per seat from €20/mo (€10/mo billed annually) | See the vendor's pricing page | Free (limited credits); Basic $12/mo; Pro $20/mo; Teams $22/seat/mo (monthly billing, annual saves about 20%) |
| Infinite canvas | Partial | No | Yes | Yes |
| Node / flow builder | Not confirmed | No | Partial | Not confirmed |
| AI agent | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Chat assistant | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Text to image | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image editing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Text to video | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Image to video | Partial | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Native audio in video | No | Not confirmed | Partial | Not confirmed |
| Lip-sync | No | Yes | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
| Voice / TTS | No | Yes | Not confirmed | No |
| Music & SFX | No | Yes | Not confirmed | No |
| Upscaling | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Character consistency | Not confirmed | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Camera control | Not confirmed | Partial | Partial | Not confirmed |
| Custom training | Not confirmed | Not confirmed | Yes | Partial |
| Third-party models | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public API | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | Not confirmed | Yes | Not confirmed | Yes |
| Mobile app | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes | Not confirmed |
| Desktop / local | Partial | No | No | No |
| Open source | Partial | No | No | No |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial use | Partial | Not confirmed | Yes | Yes |
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page. "Not confirmed" means the vendor doesn't say.
Plans
Pricing compared
Ideogram
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|
InVideo AI
| Free | €0weekly quota |
|---|---|
| Starter | €20monthly (€10/mo billed annually) |
| Plus | €60monthly (€30/mo billed annually) |
| Max | €150monthly (€75/mo billed annually) |
Leonardo.ai
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| API | Pay as you gousage |
Recraft
| Free | $0monthly |
|---|---|
| Basic | $12 ($10/mo billed yearly)monthly |
| Pro | $20 ($16/mo billed yearly)monthly |
| Teams | $22 per seat ($18/mo billed yearly)per seat per month |
The verdict
Which one should you pick?
Ideogram
Pick it for
- Title cards and text plates that must be spelled exactly, composited over footage in Premiere or DaVinci Resolve
- Movie poster and key-art concepts with a title treatment
- Festival, screening and social thumbnails with readable copy
Stands out
- Typography is the product: text inside the image is the main claim, and 4.0 coverage stresses small type, multilingual copy and signage over general aesthetics.
- Cheapest hosted route to exact-text stills: 4.0 API at $0.03 to $0.10 per image, and a free tier for testing.
Watch out
- Video is only offered through partner models in the API; there is no native Ideogram video model
- Credit costs and plan allowances changed several times in 2026, so budgets drift
InVideo AI
Pick it for
- Short social, ad and explainer videos built from generated clips, stock and talking-head footage
- Cutting talking-head, podcast and multicam recordings: silences, filler, angle switching and chapters
- Editors who want an AI first pass and then finish in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve
Stands out
- The AI works on a real multitrack timeline, and every edit it makes can be adjusted by hand afterwards.
- Exports an editable project to Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve with cuts and layers intact, so the AI cut can move into a finishing workflow.
Watch out
- Credits are per seat and do not roll over to the next month
- Seedance 2.0 at 4K and Seedance 2.5 are only on Plus and Max; Starter gets Seedance 2.0 Fast and Mini
Leonardo.ai
Pick it for
- Concept art and key-art stills that later become motion tests
- Animatic and previz stills turned into 5-second motion clips
- Custom-trained visual styles for a short film or music video look
Stands out
- Canvas-first editing (AI Canvas for inpainting and outpainting, plus a realtime mode) in the same tool as image and video generation
- Several model families under one account, including Leonardo's own Lucid and Motion 2.0 alongside third-party video models such as Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1
Watch out
- Video is short (about 5 seconds on Motion 2.0) and not built for sequences or dialogue scenes
- Hosted third-party models are removed on short notice, so a workflow that depends on one can break mid-project
Recraft
Pick it for
- Title cards, logos and lower-third graphics that must scale without quality loss
- Production-design concept boards and set-dressing mockups for a film or series
- Icon and graphic systems for a festival, studio or film brand
Stands out
- Native SVG output from the same prompt box as raster images; most image generators only output PNG or JPEG
- Vector Editor in Studio lets you adjust AI-made SVG paths and colors without a round trip to Illustrator or Figma
Watch out
- Free tier is for personal use only; outputs are public and not licensed for commercial use
- Video is third-party models inside Studio, not Recraft's own model, and is not available through the API
Each column comes from that tool's own researched page, checked against vendor pricing and changelog pages (oldest check: ). Sources are listed on each tool's page.
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