Leonardo AI

0:13 Leonardo AI (styled Leonardo.Ai) is a web and mobile app for generating and editing AI images and video, owned by Canva; it runs its own image model, Lucid Origin, alongside more than 80 models from other makers (recently Nano Banana 2.1, Flux 3 Image and GPT Image 2.5), and it is free with 150 tokens a day, or $12, $30 or $60 a month on monthly billing (as of Nov 6, 2026). It is a one-stop studio: one subscription, many models, plus tools such as training your own style model, upscaling and background removal.

Use Leonardo when you want many image and video models in one place with a token budget, custom-trained models for a game, brand or character, and a free daily allowance. Use something else when you only need one model and it is free elsewhere (GPT Image in ChatGPT, Nano Banana in Gemini), when you want a signature style (Midjourney), or when you want everything to run on your own computer (Stable Diffusion, Flux). Similar multi-model apps are Krea and Adobe Firefly. More in Best AI Image Generator.

Quick facts

Plans and prices

Source: Leonardo.Ai pricing, monthly billing, read Nov 6, 2026; prices exclude tax, yearly billing saves up to 20%, and Team plans start at $24 a seat. Tokens are spent per generation, and the cost depends on the model, size and settings, so partner models such as GPT Image or video models use far more than Leonardo's own. Each paid plan also has a "token bank" that holds up to three times its monthly tokens.

Features

Lucid Origin and Leonardo's own models. Leonardo says its artists, photographers and researchers built Lucid Origin for vivid images from cinematic realism to painterly illustration, with Full HD output (1920 by 1080) and legible text. Its earlier Phoenix model is the one Canva said it would bring into Canva's Magic Studio. On the Arena text-to-image leaderboard (updated Nov 2, 2026, read Nov 6), Lucid Origin scored 1013, far below the leaders around 1400, which is why most paid users reach for partner models.

1:40 Partner models. Leonardo adds new models from other makers quickly: GPT Image 2.5 on Sep 9, 2026, Flux 3 Image on Oct 6 and Nano Banana 2.1 on Oct 9, the last with up to 14 image references and output up to 4K. Video models with synced sound, a music model and voiceovers are also in the app.

Personal models. Paid plans let you train your own model on a set of your images (10 to 50 depending on plan) so you can repeat a character, product or art style.

7:56 Editing tools. Upscaling, scene generation and background removal; Canva's remove.bg API moved into Leonardo on Aug 28, 2026.

Leonardo AI vs the alternatives

• Krea: also many models in one app, built around real-time generation as you draw or type.
• Adobe Firefly: the multi-model app for Photoshop users, with Adobe's licensed-data claim for its own models.
• Midjourney: one model with a stronger house style; no free tier.
• GPT Image and Nano Banana: the same top models are free with limits in ChatGPT and Gemini; Leonardo makes sense if you want them next to others and your own trained models.
• Ideogram or Recraft: if your work is mostly text, logos and vectors.

Frequently asked questions

Is Leonardo AI free? Yes. Leonardo AI's free plan gives 150 fast tokens a day with the Auto model only, and everything made on it is public; paid plans from $12 a month unlock 80+ models and private images.

How much does Leonardo AI cost? As of Nov 6, 2026, Leonardo AI costs $12 a month for Essential, $30 for Premium and $60 for Ultimate on monthly billing, before tax, with up to 20% off for paying yearly.

Who owns Leonardo AI? Canva owns Leonardo.Ai; Canva said at the purchase that Leonardo would keep operating independently, and Leonardo's news page still describes it as part of Canva.

What models does Leonardo AI use? Leonardo AI offers its own Lucid Origin and Phoenix models plus partner models such as Google's Nano Banana 2.1, Black Forest Labs' Flux 3 Image and OpenAI's GPT Image 2.5, as of Nov 6, 2026.

What are tokens in Leonardo AI? Tokens are Leonardo AI's currency for generations: each image or video spends tokens according to the model and settings, the free plan refills 150 a day, and paid plans get a monthly amount with a bank of up to three times that.

Sources

• Pricing, Leonardo.Ai, read Nov 6, 2026
• News, Updates and Guides, Leonardo.Ai, read Nov 6, 2026
• Lucid Origin, Leonardo.Ai, read Nov 6, 2026
• Canva acquires Leonardo.Ai, Canva, read Nov 6, 2026
• Text-to-Image leaderboard, Arena, read Nov 6, 2026
• Leonardo AI - Tutorial for Beginners in 12 MINUTES ! [ 2027 ], Skills Factory, Oct 13, 2026 (video)