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# Best AI image models for illustration, cartoon and anime (Oct 2026)

The best image models for illustration, cartoon and anime in Oct 2026 are GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, Grok Imagine Image 2.0, Nano Banana 2.1, ranked by Arena.

Prices as of 18 Oct 2026. Every price links to its source.

### #1 [GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/openai/gpt-image-2.5-sunburst)

Arena 1446 1436–1457, 6,601 votes · median $0.024 · Arena #1 · #1 among models priced here · also GPT Image 2.5 Flare, GPT Image 2

### #2 [Grok Imagine Image 2.0](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/xai/grok-imagine-image/v2.0/text-to-image)

Arena 1372 1354–1390, 1,274 votes · median $0.080 · Arena #4 · #2 among models priced here

### #3 [Nano Banana 2.1](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/google/nano-banana-2.1)

Arena 1326 1311–1340, 1,879 votes · median $0.037 · Arena #6 · #3 among models priced here · also Nano Banana Pro

## Also consider

| Rank | Model | Arena | Median | Ranks |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 4 | [Seedream 5 Pro](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream-5-pro) | 1267 (1261–1273) | $0.041 | Arena #13 · #4 among priced |
| 5 | [Qwen Image 2.1](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/alibaba/qwen-image-2.1) | 1234 (1224–1243) | $0.040 | Arena #19 · #5 among priced |
| 6 | [FLUX 2 Max](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/black-forest-labs/flux-2-max) | 1168 (1163–1173) | $0.070 | Arena #29 · #6 among priced |

## How this list is ranked

Text-to-image models ranked on Arena's cartoon category, covering illustration, cartoon and anime. Human preference on prompts Arena classified as cartoon. The URL is /illustration; the score is that cartoon category. 7 qualified after family collapse. Based on data from Arena (arena.ai). Arena does not endorse this ranking.

Ratings: Arena (arena.ai) · CC BY 4.0. Read from [the Hugging Face dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset).

## Notable models we cannot rank

| Model | Reason |
| --- | --- |
| [Ideogram 2a Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/ideogram/ideogram-2a-turbo) | no counted public price |
| [Ideogram 3](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/ideogram/ideogram-3) | no counted public price |
| [Qwen Image 3](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/alibaba/qwen-image-3/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream V5 Lite](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream/v5/lite/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 5.0 Pro](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream/v5/pro/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 4.5](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/bytedance/seedream/v4.5/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 4](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/bytedance/seedream/v4/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Emu 3.5 Image Edit](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/emu-3.5-image/edit-image) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image LoRA](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/lora) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image LoRA Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/lora/turbo) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/turbo) | no counted public price |

[Best AI image models](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image) · [Best AI image models for photorealistic photography](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/photorealistic) · [Best AI image models for text, typography and posters](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/text-rendering) · [Best AI image models for ads and marketing design](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/ads) · [Best AI image editing models](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/editing) · [Best AI models for consistent characters across images](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/character-consistency)

Based on data from Arena (arena.ai). Arena does not endorse this ranking. Ranking approved 18 Oct 2026 · prices updated 18 Oct 2026. [Methodology](https://modelpricetrack.com/methodology#best-lists). [Compare with Artificial Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/).

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Page: [Best AI image models for illustration, cartoon and anime (Oct 2026)](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/illustration) · Prices as of 18 Oct 2026

Data: CC BY 4.0 for our own work, attribution "Model Price Track (modelpricetrack.com)". CC BY 4.0 covers Model Price Track's own work (normalisation, medians, rankings, editorial text). Third-party prices are listed as published by each provider, with a link, and are not relicensed. Arena quality scores stay CC BY 4.0 with Arena's attribution. Cite as "Model Price Track, Best AI image models for illustration, cartoon and anime (Oct 2026), https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/illustration, retrieved 18 Oct 2026".