Ideogram is an AI image generator built to put readable text into pictures, and it suits marketers, small-business owners and creators who make posters, social graphics, thumbnails and print-on-demand designs. It has a free plan with 30 credits a week, paid plans start at $15 a month billed yearly or $20 monthly (checked 5 November 2026), and I score it 7.1 out of 10. The interesting part is the money: since October each paid plan carries more than twice the credits it used to, which makes a single image cost a cent or two, while the refund policy stays at a flat no and free-plan images go straight into a public gallery.
Disclosure: I don’t earn a commission from Ideogram. It runs an affiliate scheme for approved creators through its Creators Club, but I haven’t applied, and every Ideogram link here is a plain link.
Ideogram at a glance
The bill, line by line
| Line | What it comes to |
|---|---|
| Time | Sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft and you can generate straight away; the slower part is learning which of the many models to pick |
| Cost | Free: 30 credits a week. Plus $20 a month or $15 billed yearly; Pro $60 or $42; Team $30 or $20 per user (minimum two) |
| Output | Posters, banners, logos-in-progress, stickers and transparent-background merch art, with text rendering as the selling point |
| Real earning path | Posters and promo flyers for local shops and events, made on a paid plan so the files stay private |
| Overall | 7.1/10 |
Should you pay for Ideogram?
Pay for it if you make text-heavy graphics every week and want them cheap. On Plus billed yearly, the docs’ credit figures work out at about 1.3 cents for a standard Ideogram 4.0 image, and when credits run out the Ideogram models keep going in a slower queue at no extra cost.
Leave it if you need a refund safety net, if you want to try it with client material on the free plan (everything there is public), or if you mostly want photo editing; the editing tools need credits even on paid plans.
How I scored Ideogram, and what I read
I haven’t used Ideogram for paid client work, so this is a research review, not a hands-on test. On 5 November 2026 I read Ideogram’s pricing page, help centre, Terms, privacy policy and licensing page, Trustpilot and G2, two pricing trackers, a Bloomberg funding report and the Midjourney and Recraft plan pages. The per-credit and per-image numbers are my own arithmetic.
| Area | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of use | 8/10 | Credit quote on the Generate button and an Auto model picker; one October reviewer found the redesign cluttered |
| Output quality | 7.5/10 | Typography is the selling point and gets praise; recent one-star reviews mention ignored prompts |
| Value for money | 7.5/10 | Roughly 1 to 2 cents per standard image and an unlimited slow queue, but credits vanish at renewal |
| Trust and support | 5.5/10 | No refunds, a five-day cancellation deadline, no stated training opt-out and an outdated pricing page; support gets praise |
| Overall | 7.1/10 | Average of the four (7.125) |
If a price or rule here has changed, tell me through the contact page and I’ll correct it.
Is Ideogram free to use?
Yes, with conditions. Free accounts that sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft get 30 credits a week; accounts made with an email and password get none. Every free generation is published to the public community feed, and you can’t unpublish it without a plan that includes private generation. At the credit rates I explain below, 30 credits is about 15 standard Ideogram 4.0 images a week, or 30 on the fastest setting.
How much does Ideogram cost after the October credit boost?
Plus costs $20 a month or $180 a year, Pro $60 a month or $504 a year, and Team $30 per user a month or $240 per user a year, with at least two users. Yearly plans still hand out credits month by month.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Billed yearly (per month) | Credits per month | Private images |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 30 per week (social sign-in only) | No, all public |
| Plus | $20 | $15 ($180 a year) | 2,400 | Yes |
| Pro | $60 | $42 ($504 a year) | 7,500 | Yes |
| Team | $30 per user | $20 per user ($240 a year) | 3,600 per user | Yes |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Yes |
Yearly billing saves 25% on Plus, 30% on Pro and a third on Team. Once you run out, Plus, Pro and Team users can keep using Ideogram’s own models in a slower queue without limit, but custom models, partner models, reference-image generations, edits and upscales still need credits. Extra credits cost one cent each, bought in amounts from $1 to $300, and they expire 365 days after purchase.
Why does Ideogram’s pricing page disagree with its help centre?
Because the public pricing page appears not to have caught up with a change in early October. When I fetched ideogram.ai/pricing on 5 November, its text still listed 1,000 monthly credits on Plus, 3,500 on Pro and 1,500 per Team user, plus $4 top-ups. Ideogram’s own help centre lists 2,400, 7,500 and 3,600, and two pricing trackers, PricingSaaS (3 October) and UsagePricing (5 October), recorded the same jump with no change to the plan prices.
That is 2.4 times more on Plus and Team and about 2.14 times on Pro. Many comparison sites still quote the old allowances, which makes Ideogram look twice as expensive per image as it now is. Check the figure in your own account’s settings before you buy.
What does one Ideogram image really cost?
Between about 1.1 and 2 cents for a standard Ideogram 4.0 image, depending on how you pay. Ideogram doesn’t publish a credit table, but UsagePricing’s tracker recorded 4.0 at 2K costing 1, 2 or 3 credits per image (Turbo, Balanced, Quality) after a halving on 25 August, unchanged by the October boost. Using those rates:
| How you pay | Cost per credit | 4.0 Balanced image (2 credits) | 4.0 Quality image (3 credits) | Balanced images per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plus, monthly | $0.0083 | $0.017 | $0.025 | 1,200 |
| Plus, yearly | $0.0063 | $0.013 | $0.019 | 1,200 |
| Pro, monthly | $0.0080 | $0.016 | $0.024 | 3,750 |
| Pro, yearly | $0.0056 | $0.011 | $0.017 | 3,750 |
| Team, yearly | $0.0056 | $0.011 | $0.017 | 1,800 per user |
| Pay as you go | $0.0100 | $0.020 | $0.030 | Whatever you buy |
Premium partner models, bigger sizes and several images per run cost more; Ideogram’s own help page shows one run quoted at about 24 credits. And Pro monthly is barely cheaper per credit than Plus monthly; the saving comes from yearly billing.
Which Ideogram model should you pick for posters, logos and stickers?
Ideogram 4.0 for posters, banners and thumbnails, 3.0 for brand graphics and logos, and the Transparent models for stickers and merch, according to Ideogram’s model guide, and all of them work on the free plan. 4.0 handles wide ratios such as 3:1, 3.0 adds colour palettes and style presets, 4.0 Transparent goes up to 8K, and 4.5 takes up to five reference images for edits and consistent characters.
Partner models such as GPT Image 2.0 and Nano Banana Pro need a paid plan or bought credits.
Can you use Ideogram images commercially and keep them private?
Yes to commercial use, and yes to privacy only on a paid plan. Section 2.1 of the Terms says Ideogram claims no ownership of your inputs or outputs, and the pricing FAQ says you are free to use images for any purpose, including commercial use. Section 4.2 adds that Ideogram takes no liability for commercial use and that your results may look like other users’ results.
Privacy is the bigger issue for client work. Free and legacy Basic images are public, and section 4.2 lets other users use, modify and remix public content. Section 4.1 also licenses your uploads to Ideogram “to operate, improve, promote and provide the Services”, and the privacy policy says user input helps develop its technology, with no training opt-out described. Keep unreleased client material off the free plan. I’m not a lawyer, so read the terms yourself.
Is Ideogram 4.0 free to run on your own computer?
Only for non-commercial use. Ideogram released 4.0 with open weights on 3 June 2026, but the weights fall under a non-commercial agreement covering research, prototyping and personal projects. Commercial self-hosting needs the $300-a-month Self-Serve licence for 10,000 images, 3 cents an image before hardware, so the hosted Plus plan is far cheaper for a freelancer.
Can you get a refund from Ideogram?
No. The help centre says “Ideogram doesn’t offer refunds”, covering subscriptions, renewals, credit purchases and part-used periods, and section 2.6 of the Terms agrees. Section 2.5 asks you to cancel at least five days before renewal, and later cancellations may still be charged. App Store subscriptions go through Apple; double charges go to support@ideogram.ai.
Behind it is a Toronto company started by former Google researchers who worked on Imagen, led by Mohammad Norouzi; Bloomberg reported an $80 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.
What users like, and what they report going wrong
Mostly positive, from a small pool. On 5 November 2026 Trustpilot showed 3.8 out of 5 from 168 reviews, 88 in the past year, split 68% five-star and 20% one-star, with no replies to negative reviews. Praise covers typography, image quality and helpful support (one July reviewer did get a refund). Recent complaints: credits used up and a refund refused (28 October), a cluttered redesign (11 October), weaker prompt adherence (3 October) and a free plan that paywalls editing (23 September).
G2 has just two reviews, both five stars; I found no Capterra listing.
Upsides and downsides
Upsides
- Built around legible text in images, from headlines to packaging copy
- Free plan with 30 credits a week
- Paid credits more than doubled in October 2026 at the same prices
- Unlimited slow queue for Ideogram models on Plus, Pro and Team
- Transparent-background models for stickers and merch
Downsides
- No refunds of any kind, and a five-day cancellation deadline
- Free-plan images are public and can be remixed by other users
- Monthly credits don’t roll over; bought credits expire after a year
- Edits, upscales and partner models always cost credits
- Pricing page and help centre show different credit numbers
Is Midjourney or Recraft a better buy than Ideogram?
Not for text-heavy graphics on a small budget, where Ideogram has the free plan and text as its speciality. Midjourney suits people who want its look; Recraft suits vector and brand work.
| Tool | Price (checked 5 November 2026) | Free plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ideogram Plus | $20/mo or $15/mo yearly; 2,400 credits | Yes, 30 credits a week, public | Posters, thumbnails, merch text |
| Midjourney | Basic $10/mo or $96/yr (3.3 fast hours); Standard $30/mo or $288/yr with unlimited relaxed images | Not mentioned on its plans page | Stylised artwork and mood boards |
| Recraft | Basic $12/mo or $10/mo yearly (1,000 credits); Pro from $20/mo or $16/mo yearly (2,000) | Not covered on its plans page | Vector graphics and brand sets |
| Leonardo.Ai | See my review (its pricing page didn’t load on 5 November) | Yes, see my review | Product scenes and game-style art |
| Canva | See my review | Yes | Laying out the final flyer around AI art |
If you sell product images rather than text graphics, my Leonardo.Ai review covers that side, and the Canva review explains the licence rules for the layout tool many people pair with Ideogram. Suno raised a similar ownership question for music, which I covered in the Suno review.
My take on Ideogram
For regular text-heavy graphics, Ideogram Plus is cheap, around a cent or two per standard image on current credit figures, and the free tier shows whether its style suits you. Two things hold my score down: no refund route at all, and a free plan that is public by design. Test free with throwaway prompts, pay monthly for one month, and switch to yearly once you know your volume.
Can Ideogram earn its keep?
It can, if you sell the finished design rather than the raw image. My earning guide covers a poster and promo-flyer service for local businesses, with real price ranges, a worked month and the copyright rules.
Ideogram questions people ask
Is Ideogram free?
Yes, there is a free plan. Accounts that sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft get 30 credits a week, email-and-password accounts get none, and every free image is public.
How much does Ideogram cost per month?
$20 a month for Plus, or $15 a month billed yearly ($180). Pro is $60 a month or $42 a month yearly, and Team is $30 per user a month or $20 yearly with a two-user minimum (checked 5 November 2026).
Can I use Ideogram images commercially?
Yes. Ideogram’s terms say it claims no ownership of your outputs and its pricing FAQ says you can use them for any purpose, including commercial use, though Ideogram accepts no liability for that use.
Are my Ideogram images private?
Only on a paid plan. Free and legacy Basic images are published to the community and can be remixed by other users, while Plus, Pro, Team and Enterprise images stay unpublished until you publish them.
Do Ideogram credits roll over?
No. Monthly plan credits reset at each renewal, while credits you buy separately are used after your plan credits and expire 365 days after purchase.
Can I get a refund from Ideogram?
No. Ideogram says it doesn’t offer refunds for subscriptions, renewals, credit purchases or part-used periods, and you need to cancel at least five days before renewal to avoid the next charge.
Update log: 5 November 2026: first published, with prices checked that day.
Sources
- Ideogram pricing
- Ideogram help: plans and credits (last verified 15 October 2026)
- Ideogram help: buying extra credits
- Ideogram help: cancelling your subscription
- Ideogram help: refunds
- Ideogram help: share and publish
- Ideogram help: models
- Ideogram help: create images
- Ideogram Terms of Service (last revised 14 August 2024)
- Ideogram privacy policy (last revised 15 January 2025)
- Ideogram 4.0 announcement (3 June 2026)
- Ideogram licensing
- Ideogram Creators Club
- PricingSaaS: Ideogram more than doubles priority credits (3 October 2026)
- UsagePricing: Ideogram pricing history
- Trustpilot: Ideogram reviews
- G2: Ideogram reviews
- BNN Bloomberg: Startup Ideogram raises $80 million
- Midjourney: comparing plans
- Recraft help: paid plans
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