Stable Diffusion 3.5 Mediumvs.Chroma1-HD

Which one is better?

In our own test both are on par. Neither is in the arena. Neither has an API price.

Test images

Same task, the first image of each. The task with the biggest difference is preselected.

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium: Character and detail, first image from the fixed test run — Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium31 out of 100

Chroma1-HD: Character and detail, first image from the fixed test run — Chroma1-HD17 out of 100

Result for “Character and detail”:Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium slightly ahead

Prompt given to both modelsCreate a square cinematic full-body portrait of a fictional bicycle courier waiting under a transparent umbrella at a rainy tram stop in Hamburg at blue hour. She wears a mustard raincoat, navy trousers, red sneakers, a silver helmet, and carries a teal messenger bag. Keep both hands visible, render the bicycle correctly, use realistic wet-street reflections, and include no readable brand names.

What the rating looks at: Anatomy, clothing, and spatial consistency.

“Ahead”: better in all three rating rounds. “Slightly ahead”: a higher value, but not in every round.

Test protocol of the images

Each test attempt uses the same archived prompt and one request. The first output of that attempt counts. Repeats after technical test failures are disclosed for the affected images. Files are normalized to 1,024 × 1,024 pixels without cropping. Provider resolution, randomness, quality tier and prompt processing can still differ. The images are a practical visual test, not a reconstruction of the arena configuration.

Character and detail

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium: fal, requested 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, estimated cost $0.020000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 9:17 PM. Source

Chroma1-HD: manual, local PyTorch 2.13.0, Diffusers 0.36.0; lodestones/Chroma1-HD@0e0c60ece1e82b17cb7f77342d765ba5024c40c0; native 1024x1024, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=40, guidance=3.0, seed=4845693986590311438; mps for text encoder and denoising; cpu for native VAE decode; bfloat16 for text encoder and transformer; float32 for VAE, generated Nov 2, 2026, 7:16 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: 985a75b38642a9f0e5e0c0e0c67f1b7f67780d42bd2168fa24e9a7a7a94b0da6

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium image SHA 256: 6b8aa732e94479ad302904096c5031908141e4083ee099f080185aa04c2ea800

Chroma1-HD image SHA 256: 7ca51c510884638a4d8c09d0e361e2bf0328c466d36ec4235f5305580dc10a8a

Infographic

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium: fal, requested 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, estimated cost $0.020000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 9:17 PM. Source

Chroma1-HD: manual, local PyTorch 2.13.0, Diffusers 0.36.0; lodestones/Chroma1-HD@0e0c60ece1e82b17cb7f77342d765ba5024c40c0; native 1024x1024, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=40, guidance=3.0, seed=3726635088695005336; mps for text encoder and denoising; cpu for native VAE decode; bfloat16 for text encoder and transformer; float32 for VAE, generated Nov 2, 2026, 7:22 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: ed65cb4e6a51e2336f8b149ad4cbb16e020f07d527ad94362e719d2dcf91d94f

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium image SHA 256: 61b12e227431387098e51c6ce6d059be9d8df9c85263b994bee62602e2ddfd16

Chroma1-HD image SHA 256: 834ab94e5514295d56b66f606572d348fc4b5d1cdeba5874921c79c00774c76a

Product photography

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium: fal, requested 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, estimated cost $0.020000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 9:16 PM. Source

Chroma1-HD: manual, local PyTorch 2.13.0, Diffusers 0.36.0; lodestones/Chroma1-HD@0e0c60ece1e82b17cb7f77342d765ba5024c40c0; native 1024x1024, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=40, guidance=3.0, seed=7965145008513162443; mps for text encoder and denoising; cpu for native VAE decode; bfloat16 for text encoder and transformer; float32 for VAE, generated Nov 2, 2026, 7:10 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: c67fd71e91304458a2feef5c91efa8677260fab0c0099a29a2c52cb579f5b2f3

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium image SHA 256: 2412a20e61c118ce7ab7ff83e285b96eb32d5c0f1171cc769e153db6655b8f67

Chroma1-HD image SHA 256: 8a0ebbb527f4db84a42a98a256333b00b4dc5ffae699a31b694f36bf34613e4b

Typography and layout

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium: fal, requested 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, estimated cost $0.020000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 9:16 PM. Source

Chroma1-HD: manual, local PyTorch 2.13.0, Diffusers 0.36.0; lodestones/Chroma1-HD@0e0c60ece1e82b17cb7f77342d765ba5024c40c0; native 1024x1024, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=40, guidance=3.0, seed=2582507270187158929; mps for text encoder and denoising; cpu for native VAE decode; bfloat16 for text encoder and transformer; float32 for VAE, generated Nov 2, 2026, 7:04 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: 2e012c3d14ee5dd02203a94f394ca80a5038cdebd6032b25a8b8a221f2255419

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium image SHA 256: bc854c3269ea8bada6f764545f4a09abedc110219018c09f2fa5708a14d9af7e

Chroma1-HD image SHA 256: d0ccb26f1a27cc3142c3c669b3e05ed7bb568b58706a237e7e34b3bbb68a9cc5

The numbers at a glance

Arena ratingfrom votes by users · higher is better

n/a

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium

not in the arena

n/a

Chroma1-HD

not in the arena

GraduallyBenchour own rating, 0 to 100 · higher is better

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium

Rank 90 of 108

Chroma1-HD

Rank 94 of 108

Price per imagedollars through the API · lower is better

n/a

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium

no API price

n/a

Chroma1-HD

no API price

Ranks among the 21 image models with an arena rating and the 108 with a GraduallyBench run; prices compared with 28 models with an API price.

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium

Subscription: n/a No plan in Germany names exactly this model.
Via API: No API price known. Access: API, local.
License: Open weights.

Chroma1-HD

Subscription: n/a No plan in Germany names exactly this model.
Via API: No API price known. Access: local.
License: Open weights.

Subscriptions only count plans that name exactly this model. Subscription prices include VAT, API prices are in dollars.

GraduallyBench from Nov 3, 2026 · Subscription database from Sep 29, 2026 (38 days old)

All data side by side

The better value is bold. For ratings only when the gap is clear.

Kennzahl	Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium	Chroma1-HD
Ratings
Arena ratingfrom votes by users, higher is better	n/a	n/a
Arena rank	n/a	n/a
Arena votesmore votes, a safer rating	n/a	n/a
GraduallyBenchour own rating, 0 to 100	25	23
GraduallyBench by task
Typography and layoutLegible text, hierarchy, and composition	22	36
Product photographyMaterials, reflections, and fine details	29	16
Character and detailAnatomy, clothing, and spatial consistency	31	17
InfographicNumbers, labels, and visual organization	20	22
API price
Per imagelower is better	n/a	n/a
100 images	n/a	n/a
Profile
Released	Oct 29, 2024	n/a
Weightsopen means: runs locally	open	open
Access	API, local	local
Parameters	2.5 billion	8.9 billion
Largest output	not consistently published	not consistently published
Plans in Germanynaming exactly this model	n/a	n/a

API prices for one image at 1,024 × 1,024 pixels according to Artificial Analysis.

Sources: Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium model source (verified Nov 1, 2026) · Chroma1-HD model source (verified Nov 1, 2026)

Arena ratings by category

From blind votes on LMArena. “Ahead” means the lead is clear.

No shared arena score in the stored snapshot

The stored benchmark database contains no measurement for Stable Diffusion 3.5 Medium and Chroma1-HD from the same arena and category. Older model versions are not used as substitutes.

More comparisons

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