Written by Paul Worrall
I wrote a proper standalone review of ImagineArt a while back, and OpenArt kept coming up as the obvious next comparison — both are genuinely broad, multimodal AI creative suites rather than a single image generator, and they overlap enough that picking between them is a real decision rather than an obvious one. I’m on affiliate programmes for both, so I’ve tried to lay this out as fairly as I can rather than pushing either one.
I’m Paul Worrall. I spent nearly a decade running digital marketing for ARTdiscount, one of the UK’s largest online art retailers, and I now run Discount Art Supplies — a price comparison platform used by over 41,000 UK artists every week. If you want the wider picture on AI tools and what they mean for artists more broadly, including the genuine debate around them, I’ve covered that separately in my AI Image Generators and Artists guide.
What Each One Actually Is
ImagineArt is built around five separate “studios” — Image, Video, Edit, Upscale and Audio — plus a node-based workflow builder called ImagineFlow that lets you chain steps together into a repeatable pipeline, and an App Builder that turns a saved workflow into a shareable tool. It’s positioned more toward marketers, agencies and content creators producing high volumes of on-brand visuals than toward individual artists.
OpenArt covers similarly broad ground — text-to-image, image-to-video, editing, upscaling and audio — but its standout strength is character consistency and model training, letting you build a custom model of a specific character or style and keep generating consistent results from it across a whole visual story. It leans more toward digital artists and creators building ongoing narrative or brand-consistent content than toward one-off marketing assets.
Pricing and Credits
Both run on credit-based subscriptions with a genuine free tier to test the platform before paying anything. ImagineArt’s free tier gives a daily credit allowance that resets but doesn’t roll over, while OpenArt’s entry paid plan sits at a similar low-cost bracket with a set monthly credit pool that does carry a “use it or lose it” structure within the billing period. Exact pricing on both shifts often enough that I wouldn’t trust a specific number printed in any review, including this one — always check current plans directly.
One thing worth flagging plainly on OpenArt specifically: commercial usage rights have historically been withheld on its lowest paid tier, only unlocking on a higher plan — genuinely importent to check if you’re planning to use generated work for client or commercial projects rather than personal experimentation. There have also been some reported complaints around billing continuing after cancellation, which is worth being aware of and double-checking your account status after any plan change on either platform.
Where Each One Genuinely Wins
ImagineArt’s real strength is workflow chaining — building a repeatable pipeline from prompt through to finished, edited output, and turning that into a shareable tool via the App Builder. If you’re producing a high volume of similar content regularly, that automation genuinely saves time competitors don’t offer.
OpenArt’s real strength is consistency — keeping a character or visual style recognisable across dozens of generations, which matters enormously if you’re building an ongoing story, a branded mascot, or any content where the same “face” needs to reappear convincingly. Its broader model library also gives more raw variety to choose from when you’re still exploring a visual direction rather than executing a settled one.
Who Each One Actually Suits
If you’re a marketer, small brand or agency needing to produce a lot of on-brand visuals and video quickly with minimal manual repetition, ImagineArt’s workflow tools are the better fit. If you’re a digital artist or content creator building consistent characters or an ongoing visual narrative — comics, branded mascots, story-driven social content — OpenArt’s consistency tools genuinely solve a problem ImagineArt doesn’t focus on as directly. Neither is built specifically as a fine art tool in the way Procreate or Photoshop is, so traditional and digital artists exploring AI as a side interest should treat either as a genuine free-tier experiment first rather than an immediate subscription.
FAQ
Is ImagineArt or OpenArt cheaper?
Both operate on credit-based subscriptions with free tiers to test the platform. Exact pricing on both changes often, so it’s worth checking current plans directly before comparing, but OpenArt’s entry tier and ImagineArt’s plans have historically sat in a similar low-cost bracket.
Which one is better for video generation?
Both offer genuine video generation tools. ImagineArt’s workflow builder makes it easier to chain image and video steps together into a repeatable process, while OpenArt is regularly praised for character consistency across generated video.
Do I get commercial rights to use the images I generate?
This varies by platform and plan, and it’s genuinely important to check before using generated work commercially. OpenArt, for example, has withheld commercial usage rights on its lowest paid tier in the past, only unlocking them on a higher plan — always confirm current terms directly before relying on generated images for client or commercial work.
If you’d rather read the full standalone breakdown first, my ImagineArt Review covers that platform in more depth. At Discount Art Supplies we compare prices across all the major UK art retailers in real time, so you can find the best current deal on materials whichever tools you end up using alongside them.
