# Grok Imagine 16 Hacker News commenters recommended Grok Imagine and 22 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. **Verdict:** People recommend it for good image and video generation that is cheap per image and rarely refuses prompts. Critics mainly cite sexualised imagery misuse, paid-only access and tight generation limits. ## Why people recommend it - Good image quality (7 comments): "Grok's image model beats Nano Banana on nearly every one of the metrics they chose to highlight" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48735846)) "I'm stoked with the results, mostly great, 20% probably need regen on the next model release." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48954498)) "Grok Imagine is consistently in the top 10 for image and video generation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47323497)) - Cheap per image (3 comments): "Imagine is extremely good and extremely cheap. I've been using it to generate book covers for ebooks" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48745464)) "It balances quality, speed and cost really well with under $0.02 per 1K image within a few seconds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48741905)) "I'm still seeing best results/$ from grok imagine V1." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50107434)) - Strong video generation and speed (3 comments): "Interesting that it does better at making the pelican peddle in the video generation than in image generation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48190449)) "Grok Imagine is consistently in the top 10 for image and video generation" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47323497)) "Grok Imagine does better videos, and is faster" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47265575)) - Few content restrictions (2 comments): "It doesn't lecture you on why your prompt might be 'problematic' if it's within legal bounds." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47220568)) "Grok Imagine for pretty decent porn generation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47373455)) ## What people warn about - Used for sexualised images of real people (7 comments): "Adult material right after Imagine was released sure, then even that was clamped down on." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49282021)) "So only PAYING customers can make CSAM and distribute it openly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46552370)) "Naked woman and woman in bikini get blocked like 9/10 times." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46627073)) - Paid-only or tight daily limits (4 comments): "Paying more money, getting less. To around 50 a day low resolution, with high resolution available if I would settle for around 30 a day." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929126)) "Using Grok Imagine I was getting a generous number of AI-generated videos with a paid X account" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48928549)) "Grok makes image generation and editing a paid-only feature" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46556406)) - Low or inconsistent output quality (3 comments): "even if the execution is haphazard and horrendous" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46551661)) "It failed at the first "re-imagination" tried: the content as-if stated (say) that "the masses attract accordingly to the square of distances", and the rendered animation embraced a completely different law." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48956257)) "Reviews say people look like plastic. Image and video generation quality is extremely low." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49276760)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Nano Banana](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nano-banana-pro.md): 265 recommend - [gpt-image-1](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-image-1-5.md): 79 recommend - [FLUX.2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/flux-2.md): 66 recommend - [gpt-image-2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gpt-image-2.md): 63 recommend - [Qwen-Image](https://hackerapproved.com/p/qwen-image-2-1.md): 47 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://x.ai/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Grok Imagine", https://hackerapproved.com/p/grok-imagine/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).