Flat Illustration AI Generator
Generated on PixelDojo with Recraft V4.1. Produced by PixelDojo's generation pipeline.
Recraft V4.1 is the best model for flat illustration, and it costs 1 credit. We sent one flat vector prompt to three models on August 26, 2026 and only Recraft returned art that a designer would call flat: hard shape edges, black outlines, and no gradients anywhere. Z Image Turbo came second at 0.5 credits and about 8 seconds, close in spirit but softer. QWEN Image 2.0 gave the biggest file at 2048 by 2048 pixels and the nicest brushwork, which is exactly the wrong answer when the brief says flat. Below is what each one actually produced, ranked, with the case for skipping each.
Side-by-side, same prompt
Every model below ran the identical prompt on PixelDojo so the outputs are directly comparable: “Flat vector illustration of a woman watering plants on a sunny balcony, bold simple shapes, limited palette of coral, teal and cream, no gradients, clean editorial style”
Recraft V4.1
14sThe only genuinely flat result. Black outlines, hard edges, zero gradients, and the exact coral, teal and cream asked for. 1 credit, about 14 seconds.
Z Image Turbo
8.0sHalf the price and half the wait. Clean unoutlined shapes, but the palette drifted to salmon and sage instead of coral and teal. 0.5 credits, about 8 seconds.
QWEN Image 2.0
12sBeautiful painted illustration at 2048 by 2048 pixels, but it added visible brush texture and a soft light gradient. Not flat. 1 credit, about 12 seconds.
The ranking, and what each model actually drew
1. Recraft V4.1, 1 credit, about 14 seconds
This is what flat illustration is supposed to look like. Every shape has a hard edge and a thin black outline. The sun is a solid coral disc with an outline around it, not a glow. The water arc from the can is drawn as three simple black strokes. The palette held to the three colours we named, with coral on the hat, railing and floor tiles, teal on the trousers, watering can and plants, and cream as the ground. Nothing in the frame has a gradient in it, which is the single hardest instruction for an image model to respect. The file came back at 1024 by 1024 pixels as a webp. The one weak spot is the figure: her trouser legs and boots read oddly where they overlap, so a full-body pose may need a second pass. Skip it if you want photographic texture or painterly shading, because Recraft will flatten that out of the image on purpose.
2. Z Image Turbo, 0.5 credits, about 8 seconds
The value pick. It costs half of Recraft and finished in roughly half the time, and the result is still recognisably flat: simple shapes, no shading ramps, plenty of negative space, a very clean minimal composition. The difference is that it drew no outlines at all, so the whole picture leans soft and quiet rather than graphic and bold. It also drifted off the brief on colour. We asked for coral, teal and cream and got salmon, sage and off-white. The figure is simplified almost to a silhouette, with a single dot for an eye, which suits a modern editorial look but gives you less to work with if the character has to carry a series. At 1024 by 1024 pixels it matches Recraft on size. Skip it if the palette is locked by a brand guideline, because it interpreted our named colours loosely.
3. QWEN Image 2.0, 1 credit, about 12 seconds
The best picture in the set and the wrong answer to the question. It came back at 2048 by 2048 pixels, four times the pixel count of the other two for the same 1 credit, and the drawing is the most confident: real weight in the pose, a considered composition with an angled light shaft, and a lovely muted palette. But it painted rather than vectorised. There is visible brush and paper texture across every surface, a soft glowing sun, and gradient light falling through the frame. Read the prompt back and it broke the two instructions that matter for this job, no gradients and flat colour. There is also a small artefact, a dark sliver near her shoulder that reads as a tear in the shirt. Skip it if the artwork has to sit next to true vector assets, and reach for it when you want illustrated warmth rather than flat graphics.
One prompt, three models, same day. Prices charged: 1 credit, 0.5 credits, 1 credit. Slowest run was about 14 seconds.
Why Choose Pixel Dojo for Flat Illustration
Professional-quality results with cutting-edge AI technology
Ranked on obedience, not taste
The prompt named three constraints: bold simple shapes, a fixed three colour palette, and no gradients. We ranked by how many of the three survived, then by price, then by measured speed.
Nothing here cost more than 1 credit
Recraft V4.1 and QWEN Image 2.0 charged 1 credit each, Z Image Turbo charged 0.5. The whole three model comparison came to 2.5 credits.
Every run finished inside 15 seconds
Measured on August 26, 2026: about 14 seconds, about 8 seconds and about 12 seconds. Flat illustration is one of the cheapest and fastest jobs you can put through an image model.
How It Works
How we ran the comparison, so you can repeat it:
Write the constraints into the prompt
Say bold simple shapes, name the exact colours, and say no gradients. Those three phrases are what separated the results. Models that ignore them are telling you they will not do flat work.
Send the same prompt to all three, unchanged
No negative prompts, no style presets, no per model tweaks. Recraft V4.1, Z Image Turbo and QWEN Image 2.0 each got the identical string so the differences are the models, not the prompting.
Judge on the constraints, then on price
Zoom in and check for gradients before you look at anything else. Only after that does it matter that Z Image Turbo costs 0.5 credits and Recraft costs 1.
Loved by creators on PixelDojo
Real feedback from people using PixelDojo, pulled from our in-product surveys.
I really like how the site is kept up to date, and the leaderboard (where I'm currently #11 most popular artist)
This is the best image generator I've used so far. Well done!
es facil de comprender asi uno no sea programador
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phenomenal site. would highly recommend
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Common Questions
Everything you need to know about Flat Illustration
Which AI model is best for flat illustration?
Recraft V4.1, at 1 credit per image. On our August 26, 2026 run it was the only one of three that returned hard edged shapes with outlines and no gradients anywhere in the frame, which is the actual definition of flat.
What is the cheapest model that still produces flat art?
Z Image Turbo at 0.5 credits. It finished in about 8 seconds and returned a clean flat composition, but it dropped the outlines and interpreted our named palette loosely.
Why did QWEN Image 2.0 rank last when its picture looks best?
Because the brief said no gradients and it painted gradients. It is the strongest illustration in the set and the largest file at 2048 by 2048 pixels, but the brush texture and soft light make it unusable as flat vector style artwork.
Can I get an actual SVG file rather than a flat looking raster?
Yes. The Recraft family includes SVG variants in the catalog, listed as Recraft V4.1 SVG at 1 credit and Recraft V4.1 Pro SVG at 5 credits. We did not run those for this comparison, so treat that as a catalog fact rather than a measured result.
How do I run these from the API?
POST your prompt to /api/v1/models/{apiId}/run with your API key. The three ids used here are recraft-v4.1, z-image-turbo and qwen-image-2.0. One key covers all of them and the request shape does not change between models.
Do I need a different prompt for each model?
No. All three ran the identical prompt with no per model tuning and no negative prompts. The differences you see are the models' own defaults, which is the fairest way to pick one.