Ideogram AI (Ideogram 4.0) · Image generation
Good text and 2K output come with four candidates per request; free credits depend on sign-in method, exclude email-only signup, and this run took about 34 seconds.
US-West (California, AS2914)
No native export attached; page screenshot evidence only
Subsequent pricing and service checks are shown separately without altering historical scores.
One run does not establish all complex scenes, untested paid maxima or long-term uptime.
Plans & historical pricing
Ideogram official plans (Free / Plus / Pro / Team / Enterprise); USD (before tax) · 2026-10-21
8 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded.
Official documentation (Plans and Credits) lists Free (30 credits/week when signing in with Google, Apple, or Microsoft; email/password accounts do not get free credits; public generations), Plus (USD 20/month or USD 180/year, i.e., USD 15/month, with 2,400 credits/month + unlimited slow queue + private mode), Pro (USD 60/month or USD 504/year, i.e., USD 42/month, with 7,500 credits/month + batch generation), and Team (min 2 users, USD 30/user/month or USD 240/user/year, 3,600 credits/user/month). Legacy Basic ($8/mo) is no longer sold.
Cancellation, sources & verification record
Monthly plan credits reset on each renewal date and do not roll over; purchased top-up credits are spent after monthly credits. Manage subscriptions and auto-recharge in Settings → Wallet & Billing.
Ideogram official documentation: Plans and Credits pricing table ↗ · 2026-10-21 Capture 1 ↗
Pricing recorded on the test date · 2026-10-16
Plus ~$15/mo (billed annually) or $20/mo (monthly, 2,400 priority credits/mo + unlimited slow credits + private mode)
OAuth free trial credits + Plus / Pro / Team subscriptions and credit top-ups
Historical context only; not current purchase guidance.
Delivery & access
- Free delivery record
- 2048×2048 (2K Original size unwatermarked JPEG, 785.6KB, 400% pixel retention)
- Watermark
- Zero watermark (clean 2048×2048 2K export)
- Free allowance
- Free credits granted exclusively to Google / Apple / Microsoft OAuth accounts; default Ideogram 4.0 (Auto) costs ~12 credits for 4× 2048×2048 images
- Account requirements
- Must sign in with Google / Apple / Microsoft to receive free credits (Email-only signups receive 0 free credits)
- Maximum specification record
- 2048×2048 (2K Original Size Unwatermarked JPEG · Ideogram 4.0)
May include advertised capabilities; this does not establish a tested paid tier.
- Batch & API
- 4-image batch default + Magic Prompt, Remove BG, Upscale, Edit (Ideogram 4.5), and Developer API
- Manual refinement
- Not recorded or not verified
Tested result & sample
Powered by Ideogram 4.0, it is the only platform tested that exports native 2048×2048 (2K) unwatermarked images on the free tier while achieving a 64.0/65 constraint score (#4 overall at 88.2 pts).
- Fixture
- anchor_t2i_v1
- Recorded environment
- US-West (California, AS2914)
- Network-observed server wait
- 33.9 s
- End-to-end reference
- 34.45 s
Network wait includes round trips, queuing and polling error, not pure inference time. Local timings depend on the device; repetition counts are not standardized in legacy records.
No native export is attached. Screenshots show the visible page, but do not independently establish export properties or file validity.
Experience, rules & trust
- Disclosure
- Disclosed upfront in the login page footer before registration ("Email accounts don't include free credits")
- Interaction
- Completing Google login (Pass 2) allows skipping the plan upsell ("Skip for now"); default Auto model invokes flagship Ideogram 4.0 (~12 credits), generates 4 concurrent variations, and allows free download of the full 2K (2048×2048) unwatermarked JPEG (03_download.png).
- Entity record
- Ideogram AI, Inc.
- Origin
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Domain history record
- 2023–present
- Third-party tracking record
- Not recorded or not verified
- External information
- Not recorded or not verified
- Processing
- Cloud Ideogram 4.0 native 2K batch generation (4× 2048×2048 images in ~33.9s)
- Retention statement
- Free-tier generations are published to the community gallery (Private generation requires Plus or higher)
A recorded statement does not verify deletion or all data-processing behavior.
Verifiable audit trail & evidence
Four SHA-256-verified stages link the benchmark fixture, same-run interface screenshots, native exported artifact and archived pricing sources.
anchor_t2i_v1 · Inspect fixture & file inspector →
Captures entry rules, result view and export disclosure.
Page screenshot evidence only
Ideogram official documentation: Plans and Credits pricing table (snapshot ↗)
Screenshots, native output and official claims support different conclusions. Evidence grades are not product safety certifications.
Evaluation basis & full scores · Overall 87.6/100
Overall = honesty & reputation × 30% + capability × 70%. Component maxima follow this report’s rubric. List scores are rounded for display; original precision is retained here.
Scoring version 2.3.1 · Test fixture anchor_t2i_v1
Honesty & reputation · 89/100 · 30%
| Criterion | Score | Rationale | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 29 / 35 | Landing page (01_landing.png) CTA "Get started" leads to the login page (01_pass1_login_modal.png), where bottom fine print explicitly discloses a critical rule: "*Email accounts don't include free credits — you'll need a paid plan to generate. Sign up with Google, Apple, or Microsoft to get free credits." | Evidence A → |
| Interaction restraint | 26 / 30 | Completing Google login (Pass 2) allows skipping the plan upsell ("Skip for now"); default Auto model invokes flagship Ideogram 4.0 (~12 credits), generates 4 concurrent variations, and allows free download of the full 2K (2048×2048) unwatermarked JPEG (03_download.png). | Evidence A → |
| Background & reputation | 20 / 20 | Operated by Ideogram AI, Inc. (Toronto, Canada, founded 2023 by former Google Brain diffusion researchers Mohammad Norouzi, William Chan, et al., backed by a16z), globally renowned for AI typography. | Evidence C → |
| Engineering & privacy | 14 / 15 | Generates 4× 2048×2048 (4.19MP, 400% of 1024² baseline) images per run (~33.9s) and integrates native Remove BG, Upscale, and Ideogram 4.5 Edit apps. | Evidence A → |
Capability · 87/100 · 70%
| Criterion | Score | Rationale | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Task quality | 64 / 65 | Text Rendering (25/25: Exact 2-line "REALTEST / 2026" hand-carved typography on the wooden sign with 100% spelling accuracy (25/25)) · Count & Color Binding (19/20: Strictly 3 red apples on the left + 2 stacked blue ceramic mugs on the right (slight twin-handle / 3rd rim artifact behind the lower mug, -1 pt) (19.0/20)) · 5-Finger Hand & Structure (20/20: Vintage brass robotic right hand supporting the bottom of the wooden sign displays 5 crystal-clear, distinct articulated brass fingers (20/20)) | Evidence B → |
| Deliverable specifications | 20 / 20 | Clean unwatermarked export (8/8); Export & Max deliverable spec: 2048×2048 (2K Original Size Unwatermarked JPEG · Ideogram 4.0) | Evidence B → |
| Processing speed | 3 / 15 | Network-observed server wait: 33.9s (API mode: async_poll; end-to-end 34.45s shown for reference only, never penalized) | Evidence B → |
Legacy scores may include advertised maximum capabilities. Read tested output separately from paid capabilities. Records without matching tiers and scope are not ranked together.
Revisions & corrections
- 2026-10-16
Initial real-machine evaluation using Mode B 5-constraint anchor_t2i_v1 and Pass 2 Google OAuth verification (Ideogram 4.0).