Leonardo AI
About Leonardo AILeonardo AI is a powerful tool that helps you create professional images and art just by typing a few words. It is designed to be easy to use while giving you extra control to edit and perfect your designs.
What is Leonardo AI?
Leonardo AI is a generative AI platform designed to empower creators with the ability to produce high-quality visual assets through advanced artificial intelligence models. Unlike many of its competitors that operate as simple text-to-image boxes, Leonardo AI functions as a full-scale creative production suite.
It allows users to generate images from text or reference images, train their own custom AI models to maintain brand consistency, and even transform static art into dynamic video clips. By bridging the gap between raw AI power and professional design control, it provides a workspace where fine-tuning and creative precision are just as important as the initial generation.
Key Features of Leonardo AI
- Custom Model Training: Users can upload a small dataset of images to train the AI on a specific style or character, ensuring visual consistency across projects.
- AI Canvas: A powerful outpainting and inpainting editor that allows you to expand images beyond their borders or change specific elements within an image.
- Motion (Image-to-Video): High-fidelity animation tools that convert static generated images into 4-second or 8-second cinematic video clips.
- Realtime Canvas & Gen: A sketch-to-image feature where the AI interprets your hand-drawn strokes in real-time to create polished visuals.
- Prompt Magic & Alchemy: Advanced pipelines that interpret complex prompts with high accuracy and enhance lighting, shadows, and textures.
Who Can Use Leonardo AI?
- Graphic Designers & Marketers: For creating brand-consistent assets, social media content, and ad variations at scale.
- Game Developers: To generate environment textures, character concept art, and UI elements.
- Hobbyists & Digital Artists: Those looking for a user-friendly way to explore generative art without needing technical coding knowledge.
- E-commerce Owners: For creating professional product mockups and lifestyle photography without expensive photoshoots.
Why Is It Better Than Competitors?
- Granular Control: Leonardo offers a dedicated web UI with sliders and toggles for precise control.
- Integrated Workflow: It combines generation, upscaling, and editing (Canvas) in one tab, whereas tools like DALL-E 3 often require external software for post-production.
- Daily Free Tokens: While most professional tools are behind a hard paywall, Leonardo provides 150 tokens daily for free, allowing for genuine experimentation.
- Model Variety: It gives users access to a library of community models (e.g., specific models for anime, 3D, or vintage photography) that are pre-optimized for specific aesthetics.
English
Leonardo AI is an all-in-one creative platform that leverages cutting-edge generative models (including their proprietary Phoenix model and SDXL to streamline the visual production process. It features a robust web interface that removes the friction of technical setups, offering tools like AI Canvas for real-time editing and Alchemy for hyper-realistic upscaling. Whether you are generating 3D textures, marketing banners, or cinematic concept art, the platform provides granular control over dimensions, guidance scale, and style presets, making it a “creative co-pilot” rather than just a generator.
2022
Sydney, Australia
Private
Developed by Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd (and now a part of the Canva family), Leonardo AI was built with a “creator-first” philosophy. The team consists of experts in machine learning and digital design who aimed to solve the limitations of existing AI tools—specifically the lack of user control and the steep learning curve of open-source models. They provide a secure, cloud-based environment that prioritizes user ownership and community collaboration, backed by 24/7 support and a rapidly evolving feature set.
Free
$0
MonthlyApprentice
$12
MonthlyArtisan Unlimited
$30
MonthlyMaestro Unlimited
$60
MonthlyDo I own the images I create?
Yes. If you are on a paid plan, you own the copyright and full IP rights. On the free plan, Leonardo retains rights to use/distribute the work, though you still get a commercial license.
Is Leonardo AI free to use?
Yes, it offers a Free Forever tier that refreshes with 150 tokens every 24 hours.
How does the token system work?
Each action (generating an image, upscaling, or creating a video) costs a specific number of tokens. Basic images cost roughly 5–8 tokens, while video costs significantly more.
Can I use it on my phone?
Yes, Leonardo AI is available via a web browser on mobile and has a dedicated iOS and Android app.
What is Prompt Magic?
It is a proprietary feature that helps the AI better interpret your text, often leading to more aesthetically pleasing and accurate results.
Can I generate text in my images?
With the latest models like Phoenix and Flux Elements, Leonardo has significantly improved its ability to render legible text within generated art.
Leonardo AI has successfully democratized professional-grade generative art. By moving away from the black box approach of other generators and giving users a dashboard of controls, it has become the gold standard for creators who need predictability in their results. Its integration with Canva signals a shift toward enterprise-level design adoption.
Pros
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Exceptional user interface that is intuitive for both beginners and experts.
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Strongest custom model training capabilities in the consumer market.
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Regular feature updates that keep it ahead of the technology curve.
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Direct ownership of assets for paid subscribers.
Cons
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High-end video features can be token-heavy and expensive.
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The mobile app experience is slightly behind the desktop version.
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Learning the “fine-tuning” settings takes time for total novices.
Final Verdict
Leonardo AI is the most versatile generative platform available today. It is the perfect choice for anyone who finds Midjourney too confusing and DALL-E 3 too simplistic, offering a professional middle ground with unmatched creative control.
CA Tushar Makkar
