Grok Imagine
Ranked 12 of 22 image generation models by recommenders
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.
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.
38 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 22
- approval share
- 42%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Good image quality
“Grok's image model beats Nano Banana on nearly every one of the metrics they chose to highlight”
Comment from 30 Jun 2026 in “Nano Banana 2 Lite” “I'm stoked with the results, mostly great, 20% probably need regen on the next model release.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Grok Imagine regenerated Xkcd comics” “Grok Imagine is consistently in the top 10 for image and video generation”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Happened to xAI?” - Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Nano Banana 2 Lite”
- Comment from 8 Sep 2026 in “ChatGPT Images 2.5”
- Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Xkcd comics re-imagined with Grok IMAGINE”
- Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “We Tried Paying Artists Royalties on AI-Generated Work – Learnings”
Cheap per image
“Imagine is extremely good and extremely cheap. I've been using it to generate book covers for ebooks”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Claude Code Is Steganographically Marking Requests” “It balances quality, speed and cost really well with under $0.02 per 1K image within a few seconds.”
Comment from 1 Jul 2026 in “Nano Banana 2 Lite” “I'm still seeing best results/$ from grok imagine V1.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “Krea 3 – An image model built for editing at scale” Strong video generation and speed
“Interesting that it does better at making the pelican peddle in the video generation than in image generation.”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “The last six months in LLMs in five minutes” “Grok Imagine is consistently in the top 10 for image and video generation”
Comment from 10 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: What Happened to xAI?” “Grok Imagine does better videos, and is faster”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “GPT-5.4 Thinking System Card” Few content restrictions
“It doesn't lecture you on why your prompt might be 'problematic' if it's within legal bounds.”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Grok Imagine 2 – A preview of the next-gen Grok AI video ecosystem” “Grok Imagine for pretty decent porn generation.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Can I Run AI locally?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Used for sexualised images of real people
“Adult material right after Imagine was released sure, then even that was clamped down on.”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Grok 4.6” “So only PAYING customers can make CSAM and distribute it openly.”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery” “Naked woman and woman in bikini get blocked like 9/10 times.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery” - Comment from 7 Mar 2026 in “xAI loses bid to halt California AI data disclosure law”
- Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery”
- Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery”
- Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery”
Paid-only or tight daily limits
“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.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Grok Build Is OSS” “Using Grok Imagine I was getting a generous number of AI-generated videos with a paid X account”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Grok Build Is OSS” “Grok makes image generation and editing a paid-only feature”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery” - Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “Grok Build Is OSS”
Low or inconsistent output quality
“even if the execution is haphazard and horrendous”
Comment from 9 Jan 2026 in “Grok turns off image generator for most after outcry over sexualised AI imagery” “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.”
Comment from 18 Jul 2026 in “Xkcd comics re-imagined with Grok IMAGINE” “Reviews say people look like plastic. Image and video generation quality is extremely low.”
Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “SpaceXAI's Grok 4.6 Scores 61 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index”
Other image generation models people recommend
The four most recommended other image generation models, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nano Banana | 265 | 159 | 63% | 12 | 6 mo5 owners | — |
| gpt-image-1 | 79 | 79 | 50% | 12 | — | — |
| FLUX.2 | 66 | 51 | 56% | 10 | — | — |
| gpt-image-2 | 63 | 26 | 71% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Grok ImagineThis page | 16 | 22 | 42% | 10 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 43 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I'm still seeing best results/$ from grok imagine V1.”
“its quality for my use-case is already more than enough”
“Adult material right after Imagine was released sure, then even that was clamped down on.”
“Reviews say people look like plastic. Image and video generation quality is extremely low.”
“They nerfed that so they’re back to nothing.”
“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.”
“I'm stoked with the results, mostly great, 20% probably need regen on the next model release.”
“I'd say like 80% of them came out really great!”
“Grok Imagine had some security holes that let you”
“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.”
“You pay Twitter money to generate thirty videos per day?”
“Using Grok Imagine I was getting a generous number of AI-generated videos with a paid X account”
“Earlier Grok Image was badly censored”
“I didn't launch a image generation model advertised as having a spicy mode”
“Imagine is extremely good and extremely cheap. I've been using it to generate book covers for ebooks”
“It balances quality, speed and cost really well with under $0.02 per 1K image within a few seconds.”
“Grok is a good image model, so it isn't totally surprising”
“Grok's image model beats Nano Banana on nearly every one of the metrics they chose to highlight”
“Interesting that it does better at making the pelican peddle in the video generation than in image generation.”
“when X started censoring Grok into oblivion”
“Grok Imagine for pretty decent porn generation.”
“Grok Imagine is consistently in the top 10 for image and video generation”
“usually the first image is good enough to share”
“why does elons ai platform do so well with generating csam?”
“Grok Imagine does better videos, and is faster”
“It doesn't lecture you on why your prompt might be 'problematic' if it's within legal bounds.”
“ChatGPT's and Grok's image editors are also strong.”
“that was a very stupid product decision”
“Naked woman and woman in bikini get blocked like 9/10 times.”
“Grok makes image generation and editing a paid-only feature”
“Hmm it just let me put Keir Starmer in a bikini.”
“this is an intentional marketing tool and not at all his nobility”
“Elon Musk's pedophile picture generator”
“So only PAYING customers can make CSAM and distribute it openly.”
“most of them are edits of real pictures of real people”
“They have no other option but to pay!”
“that's the system working as designed”
“Probably one of the most weak ass responses to a crisis ever”
“even if the execution is haphazard and horrendous”
“Ever since I tried grok imagine I became obsessed with the idea of re-imagining classical paintings or animating them”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.