# AI image generation: which vendors AI models recommend (September 2026)

Source: Memetik Index, https://www.memetik.ai/index/ai-image-generation
Field: AI media. Edition: 2026-09. Run: 2026-09-02.
Method: 5 fixed buyer prompts sent once each to 10 current models (GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Terra, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Sonar Pro, Sonar Reasoning Pro) via their APIs with web search enabled. 50 answers. Answer share = fraction of answers naming the vendor. Named first = fraction where it was the first tracked vendor named.

**Adobe Firefly leads** with 96% answer share (named in 48 of 50 answers) and was named first in 36%. Midjourney follows at 96%. 15 vendors were named at least once.

## Answer share

| # | Vendor | Answer share | Named first | Mentions | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adobe Firefly | 96% | 36% | 48/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 2 | Midjourney | 96% | 34% | 48/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 3 | Ideogram | 70% | 0% | 35/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 4 | GPT Image | 68% | 6% | 34/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 5 | Recraft | 54% | 8% | 27/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 6 | Nano Banana | 36% | 10% | 18/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 7 | Canva | 36% | 0% | 18/50 | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 8 | Stable Diffusion | 32% | 0% | 16/50 | GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 9 | OpenArt | 24% | 2% | 12/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 10 | Imagen | 22% | 4% | 11/50 | ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash |
| 11 | Freepik | 16% | 0% | 8/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini 3.5 Flash |
| 12 | Krea | 16% | 0% | 8/50 | Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini |
| 13 | Flux | 14% | 0% | 7/50 | GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity |
| 14 | Leonardo | 8% | 0% | 4/50 | Claude, Gemini, Sonar Reasoning Pro |
| 15 | Seedream | 4% | 0% | 2/50 | Claude, Claude Fable 5 |

## By model

- **GPT-5.6 Sol** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-sol, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, GPT Image 80%, Ideogram 60%, Recraft 60%
- **GPT-5.6 Terra** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-terra, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 80%, GPT Image 80%, Ideogram 60%, Nano Banana 20%
- **GPT-5.6 Luna** (OpenAI, gpt-5.6-luna, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, GPT Image 80%, Ideogram 60%, Canva 40%
- **Claude Opus 5** (Anthropic, claude-opus-5, 5 answers): Midjourney 100%, Adobe Firefly 80%, Ideogram 80%, GPT Image 80%, Recraft 80%
- **Claude Sonnet 5** (Anthropic, claude-sonnet-5, 5 answers): GPT Image 100%, Recraft 100%, Adobe Firefly 80%, Midjourney 80%, Ideogram 80%
- **Claude Fable 5** (Anthropic, claude-fable-5, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, Ideogram 80%, Recraft 80%, GPT Image 60%
- **Gemini 3.6 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.6-flash, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, Stable Diffusion 60%, Ideogram 40%, GPT Image 40%
- **Gemini 3.5 Flash** (Google, gemini-3.5-flash, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, Ideogram 80%, Recraft 60%, Nano Banana 60%
- **Sonar Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-pro, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, Ideogram 100%, Recraft 60%, GPT Image 40%
- **Sonar Reasoning Pro** (Perplexity, sonar-reasoning-pro, 5 answers): Adobe Firefly 100%, Midjourney 100%, GPT Image 100%, Stable Diffusion 80%, Ideogram 60%

## Sources the models cited

- youtube.com: 94
- guideflow.com: 45
- freeacademy.ai: 29
- zapier.com: 25
- magicshot.ai: 25
- toools.design: 21
- datanorth.ai: 19
- reddit.com: 18
- kimi.ai: 17
- getimg.ai: 15
- aitoolssme.com: 14
- cnet.com: 13
- aimlapi.com: 13
- helpx.adobe.com: 12
- docs.midjourney.com: 12

## Prompts

1. What is the best AI image generation tool for a designer? Name specific products.
2. Which AI image generation tool would you recommend to a designer in 2026?
3. Compare the top AI image generation tool options right now.
4. I'm a designer and I need an AI image generation tool. What should I use and why?
5. Best AI image generation tool for product marketing images?

## Tracked but never named

Reve

Raw answers: https://www.memetik.ai/index/ai-image-generation (every answer published in full). Chart image: https://www.memetik.ai/charts/ai-image-generation.png. Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit "Memetik Index".