MAI-Image-2.6: Benchmarks, Pricing & Comparison

Image samples from our tests

These images come from documented single requests with an archived prompt. They complement measurements but do not replace a controlled laboratory test.

Open Character and detail at original size

Character and detail

This sample tests Anatomy, clothing, and spatial consistency.

Prompt and settings

Create 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.

Generated through openrouter with model ID microsoft/mai-image-2.6. Archived settings were aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, received 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.039287.

Open source

Open Infographic at original size

Infographic

This sample tests Numbers, labels, and visual organization.

Prompt and settings

Create a square German infographic titled SO FUNKTIONIERT PHOTOSYNTHESE. Show exactly four numbered steps in this order: 1 LICHT, 2 WASSER, 3 CO₂, 4 ZUCKER + SAUERSTOFF. Use a clean editorial science style with one plant cross-section, simple arrows, high contrast, legible labels, and no other text.

Generated through openrouter with model ID microsoft/mai-image-2.6. Archived settings were aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, received 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.039317.

Open source

Open Product photography at original size

Product photography

This sample tests Materials, reflections, and fine details.

Prompt and settings

Create a square premium product photograph of a brushed titanium wristwatch standing upright on dark green marble. The watch has a cream dial, thin black hands set to 10:10, twelve distinct hour markers, a realistic crown, and a dark brown leather strap. Soft window light from the left, controlled reflections, shallow depth of field, no text, no logo, no extra objects.

Generated through openrouter with model ID microsoft/mai-image-2.6. Archived settings were aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, received 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.039292.

Open source

Open Typography and layout at original size

Typography and layout

This sample tests Legible text, hierarchy, and composition.

Prompt and settings

Create a square editorial poster for an imaginary night train called MONDFALTER. Show the exact German headline MONDFALTER and the exact subline BERLIN NACH LISSABON. Use a restrained midnight-blue and warm-cream palette, one stylized moth, strong Swiss-grid typography, generous negative space, and no additional words or logos.

Generated through openrouter with model ID microsoft/mai-image-2.6. Archived settings were aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, received 1024x1024, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.039252.

Open source

All benchmark results

Every published result with its source, test setup and comparison models.

Show all 45 published benchmark results

Published benchmarks

Text to image

Text to Image Arena

Elo ratings summarize pairwise comparisons within this leaderboard. They are not percentages. The scale does not express absolute quality or linear gaps between models.

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,227.25 Elo

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,208.16 Elo

GPT Image 21,187.61 Elo

MAI-Image-2.61,168.32 Elo

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,165.79 Elo

Nano Banana 21,141.6 Elo

Muse Image1,127.86 Elo

GPT Image 1.51,123.86 Elo

MAI-Image-2.6 Flash1,121.56 Elo

MAI-Image-2.51,120.06 Elo

Nano Banana Pro1,118.67 Elo

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,109.07 Elo

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,101.17 Elo

Grok Imagine Image Quality1,049.08 Elo

Qwen-Image-2.11,045.48 Elo

Krea 2 Large1,035.45 Elo

MAI-Image-2.5 Flash1,032.28 Elo

Qwen Image 2.0 Pro1,031.23 Elo

FLUX.2 Flex1,027.68 Elo

Recraft V4.1 Utility1,027.66 Elo

FLUX.2 Max1,020.57 Elo

Krea 2 Medium Turbo1,020.35 Elo

Wan 2.6 Text to Image1,017.69 Elo

HiDream-O1-Image-1.51,017.68 Elo

Ideogram 4.51,015.99 Elo

FLUX.2 Pro1,003.17 Elo

Ideogram 4.01,002.93 Elo

HunyuanImage 3.0 Instruct988.05 Elo

HiDream-O1-Image978 Elo

FLUX.2 Klein 9B932.08 Elo

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 Elo - 1,227.25 Elo

Source: Artificial Analysis

|

gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: elo-rating
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 30
Methodology and context: AA appearances: 8626. This count does not establish an independent sample. Lower rank: 4. Upper rank: 6. Source model ID: 5d931c2e-797e-406e-8eb9-83ce18b5710c. Evidence capture ID: aa-image-text-to-image-v2.1-2026-11-06-e430d57b5d0b. Source payload hash: e430d57b5d0bf260d6feb60bb7d8fa32da8d7961ec2bd9a9cae58fb015613cf0

Source: Artificial Analysis

LMArena Text to Image: 3D modeling

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,412.39 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,381.8 points

GPT Image 21,365.33 points

MAI-Image-2.61,323.82 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,291.41 points

Reve 2.11,281.14 points

Nano Banana 21,255.68 points

MAI-Image-2.51,251.47 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,246.55 points

Muse Image1,238.45 points

Nano Banana Pro1,232.1 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,225.65 points

GPT Image 1.51,217.68 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,213.88 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,173.15 points

FLUX.2 Max1,160.58 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,145.47 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,120.68 points

Krea 2 Large1,115.65 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,078.61 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large963.03 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,412.39 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 3,150
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Agentic image generation

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,393.27 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,362.55 points

GPT Image 21,337.71 points

MAI-Image-2.61,316.28 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,287.47 points

Nano Banana 21,257.08 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,240.85 points

GPT Image 1.51,237.12 points

Nano Banana Pro1,236.88 points

Muse Image1,234.77 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,231.48 points

Krea 2 Large1,140.86 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,137.07 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,110.87 points

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst

GPT Image 2.5 Flare

GPT Image 2

MAI-Image-2.6

Grok Imagine Image 2.0

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,393.27 points

Source: LMArena

|

gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 14
Sample: 3,054
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Art

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,410.08 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,387.35 points

GPT Image 21,370.68 points

MAI-Image-2.61,337.7 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,328.25 points

Reve 2.11,290.77 points

MAI-Image-2.51,276.76 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,258.85 points

Muse Image1,258.79 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,255.8 points

Nano Banana 21,239.62 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,234.74 points

GPT Image 1.51,224.81 points

Nano Banana Pro1,224.23 points

FLUX.2 Max1,168.74 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,159.34 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,155.3 points

Krea 2 Large1,122.19 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,116.78 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,078.63 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large997.29 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,410.08 points

Source: LMArena

|

gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 5,427
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Cartoon

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,456.88 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,427.12 points

GPT Image 21,402.93 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,352.36 points

MAI-Image-2.61,348.71 points

Reve 2.11,309.78 points

Muse Image1,274.79 points

MAI-Image-2.51,268.65 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,263.52 points

Nano Banana 21,260.23 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,256.09 points

GPT Image 1.51,243.95 points

Nano Banana Pro1,243.91 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,234.48 points

FLUX.2 Max1,167.57 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,163.29 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,158.62 points

Krea 2 Large1,118.81 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,118.12 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,063.58 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large945.23 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,456.88 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 14,548
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Commercial design

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,415.51 points

GPT Image 21,385.8 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,384.8 points

MAI-Image-2.61,332.9 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,324.96 points

Reve 2.11,315.65 points

Nano Banana 21,267.93 points

MAI-Image-2.51,259.36 points

Muse Image1,258.15 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,248.4 points

Nano Banana Pro1,245.44 points

GPT Image 1.51,237.88 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,237.36 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,236.31 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,172.44 points

FLUX.2 Max1,163.75 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,154.5 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,129.54 points

Krea 2 Large1,110.71 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,070.2 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large936.77 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,415.51 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 11,365
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Overall

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,427.13 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,399.44 points

GPT Image 21,382.1 points

MAI-Image-2.61,330.58 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,317.31 points

Reve 2.11,300.4 points

Muse Image1,268.12 points

Nano Banana 21,257.49 points

MAI-Image-2.51,253 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,250.8 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,249.44 points

Nano Banana Pro1,246.31 points

GPT Image 1.51,236.39 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,226.55 points

FLUX.2 Max1,161.46 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,156.26 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,152.68 points

Krea 2 Large1,115.37 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,114.71 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,069.84 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large938.35 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,427.13 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 38,071
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Photorealism

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,434.4 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,415.95 points

GPT Image 21,379.13 points

MAI-Image-2.61,330.88 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,312.19 points

Reve 2.11,302.1 points

Muse Image1,278.09 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,274.42 points

Nano Banana 21,261.31 points

Nano Banana Pro1,260.39 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,258.64 points

MAI-Image-2.51,250.67 points

GPT Image 1.51,246.79 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,229.66 points

FLUX.2 Max1,160.87 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,151.76 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,145.47 points

Krea 2 Large1,128.88 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,109.06 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,091.05 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large928.41 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,434.4 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 13,227
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Portraits

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,461.22 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,439.29 points

GPT Image 21,426.27 points

MAI-Image-2.61,341.91 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,332.04 points

Reve 2.11,316.59 points

Muse Image1,289.88 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,286.94 points

GPT Image 1.51,258.96 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,256.2 points

Nano Banana Pro1,255.64 points

Nano Banana 21,254.9 points

MAI-Image-2.51,254.78 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,244.1 points

FLUX.2 Max1,156.6 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,144.32 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,143.85 points

Krea 2 Large1,123.58 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,105.31 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,091.81 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large941.86 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,461.22 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 6,728
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Text rendering

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,461.65 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,431.87 points

GPT Image 21,424.21 points

MAI-Image-2.61,365.86 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,349.22 points

Reve 2.11,339.46 points

Nano Banana 21,294.44 points

Muse Image1,293.25 points

MAI-Image-2.51,280.73 points

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,273.63 points

Nano Banana Pro1,270.33 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,254.93 points

GPT Image 1.51,251.47 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,250.12 points

FLUX.2 Flex1,171.57 points

FLUX.2 Max1,165.6 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,154.35 points

HiDream-O1-Image1,134.31 points

Krea 2 Large1,116.42 points

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,057.76 points

Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large921.07 points

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,461.65 points

Source: LMArena

|

gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 21
Sample: 11,642
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source: LMArena

Image editing

Image Editing Arena

Elo ratings summarize pairwise comparisons within this leaderboard. They are not percentages. The scale does not express absolute quality or linear gaps between models.

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,199.46 Elo

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,182.04 Elo

MAI-Image-2.61,149.25 Elo

MAI-Image-2.6 Flash1,141.24 Elo

GPT Image 21,135.9 Elo

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,129.43 Elo

Muse Image1,128.02 Elo

Nano Banana 21,125.1 Elo

MAI-Image-2.51,124.35 Elo

GPT Image 1.51,116.41 Elo

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,115.93 Elo

Nano Banana Pro1,108.99 Elo

Grok Imagine Image Quality1,097.22 Elo

MAI-Image-2.5 Flash1,089.17 Elo

Qwen-Image-2.11,080.38 Elo

Ideogram 4.51,066.78 Elo

HunyuanImage 3.0 Instruct1,065.36 Elo

Qwen Image 2.0 Pro1,056.78 Elo

Nano Banana 2 Lite1,053.63 Elo

FLUX.2 Klein 9B1,012.79 Elo

FLUX.2 Pro1,011.07 Elo

FLUX.2 Max998.84 Elo

FLUX.2 Flex995.52 Elo

HiDream-O1-Image953.1 Elo

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 Elo - 1,199.46 Elo

Source: Artificial Analysis

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: elo-rating
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 24
Methodology and context: AA appearances: 16994. This count does not establish an independent sample. Lower rank: 4. Upper rank: 7. Source model ID: 5d931c2e-797e-406e-8eb9-83ce18b5710c. Evidence capture ID: aa-image-image-editing-v2.1-2026-11-06-0a4f79bb0933. Source payload hash: 0a4f79bb0933c8ef52ce1327ef382eb3442dab864e254d37ecd3176d39727555

Source: Artificial Analysis

LMArena Image Editing: Agentic image generation

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,536.61 points

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,491.71 points

GPT Image 21,459.51 points

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,426.01 points

MAI-Image-2.61,417.96 points

Seedream 5.0 Pro1,409.2 points

Nano Banana Pro1,404.88 points

Muse Image1,382.3 points

Nano Banana 21,376.8 points

Qwen-Image-2.11,362.02 points

GPT Image 1.51,360.14 points

Ideogram 4.51,298.95 points

FLUX.2 Pro1,212.35 points

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst

GPT Image 2.5 Flare

GPT Image 2

Grok Imagine Image 2.0

MAI-Image-2.6

higher is betterAs of November 6, 2026Scale: 0 points - 1,536.61 points

Source: LMArena

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gradually.ai

Methodology and context

Metric: arena-score
Scale: No upper bound is documented. The chart spans the recorded values and zero.
Participants: 13
Sample: 3,540
Methodology and context: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-image_edit-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-4db53937a0d3. Source payload hash: 4db53937a0d39e716e49e4c3fb1b88c68578a094c4339bb7c714dbedfd0a85d0

Source: LMArena

Recorded measurement details

Text to Image Arena (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1168.32
Score: 1168.32
Metric: elo-rating
Unit: Elo
Benchmark version: v2.1
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 5
Confidence interval: 12
Lower confidence bound: 1156.32
Upper confidence bound: 1180.32
Source type: independent-evaluator
Evaluator: Artificial Analysis
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: AA appearances: 8626. This count does not establish an independent sample. Lower rank: 4. Upper rank: 6. Source model ID: 5d931c2e-797e-406e-8eb9-83ce18b5710c. Evidence capture ID: aa-image-text-to-image-v2.1-2026-11-06-e430d57b5d0b. Source payload hash: e430d57b5d0bf260d6feb60bb7d8fa32da8d7961ec2bd9a9cae58fb015613cf0
USD price per 1,000 tokens: 38.912

Source Artificial Analysis

Image Editing Arena (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1149.25
Score: 1149.25
Metric: elo-rating
Unit: Elo
Benchmark version: v2.1
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Confidence interval: 12
Lower confidence bound: 1137.25
Upper confidence bound: 1161.25
Source type: independent-evaluator
Evaluator: Artificial Analysis
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: AA appearances: 16994. This count does not establish an independent sample. Lower rank: 4. Upper rank: 7. Source model ID: 5d931c2e-797e-406e-8eb9-83ce18b5710c. Evidence capture ID: aa-image-image-editing-v2.1-2026-11-06-0a4f79bb0933. Source payload hash: 0a4f79bb0933c8ef52ce1327ef382eb3442dab864e254d37ecd3176d39727555
USD price per 1,000 tokens: 38.912

Source Artificial Analysis

LMArena Text to Image: 3D modeling (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1323.821532398057
Score: 1323.821532398057
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 7
Sample: 3150
Confidence interval: 11.497992
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Agentic image generation (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1316.2819871570555
Score: 1316.2819871570555
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 5
Sample: 3054
Confidence interval: 14.021211
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Art (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1337.7010791703217
Score: 1337.7010791703217
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 5427
Confidence interval: 9.272958
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Cartoon (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1348.712690325956
Score: 1348.712690325956
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 7
Sample: 14548
Confidence interval: 7.163311
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Commercial design (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1332.9037306127018
Score: 1332.9037306127018
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 11365
Confidence interval: 7.505434
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Overall (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1330.5777021594263
Score: 1330.5777021594263
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 38071
Confidence interval: 5.307988
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Photorealism (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1330.8832076367253
Score: 1330.8832076367253
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 7
Sample: 13227
Confidence interval: 7.299082
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Portraits (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1341.9112332873256
Score: 1341.9112332873256
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 6728
Confidence interval: 8.932251
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Text to Image: Text rendering (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1365.860738831856
Score: 1365.860738831856
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 11642
Confidence interval: 7.589985
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-text_to_image-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-43df833a690f. Source payload hash: 43df833a690f9454a344fb4d803c0c2ec845d592681e7f95e9ac50f1c0b25d4a

Source LMArena

LMArena Image Editing: Agentic image generation (Show measurement, test conditions, and source)

Source value: 1417.9627114262037
Score: 1417.9627114262037
Metric: arena-score
Unit: score
Direction: Higher is better
Source rank: 6
Sample: 3540
Confidence interval: 13.296753
Source type: official-leaderboard
Evaluator: LMArena
Retrieved at: 2026-11-06
Methodology: Evidence capture ID: lmarena-image_edit-5a7e6bb84a93f55df56b198be8e56e53755a216a-4db53937a0d3. Source payload hash: 4db53937a0d39e716e49e4c3fb1b88c68578a094c4339bb7c714dbedfd0a85d0

Source LMArena

Page 1 of 4

Popularity compared

How often the model is searched for, used and mentioned, compared with every model of its category.

Popularity index

The 100 most popular models of this category, 0 to 100, higher is more popular

20 of 100 models

Stable Diffusion XL 1.072

Anima Base v1.068

SDXL Turbo63

Stable Diffusion Turbo63

MAI-Image-2.645

PixArt-Sigma-XL-2-1024-MS44

Janus-Pro-7B44

HunyuanImage 3.0 Instruct44

MOSS-Image-Base44

HiDream-O1-Image43

Stable Diffusion XL 1.0

Anima Base v1.0

SDXL Turbo

Stable Diffusion Turbo

MAI-Image-2.6

PixArt-Sigma-XL-2-1024-MS

Janus-Pro-7B

HunyuanImage 3.0 Instruct

MOSS-Image-Base

HiDream-O1-Image

As of November 2026 · Source: gradually.ai popularity index

Over time

Weekly values from October 18, 2026 to November 5, 2026

MAI-Image-2.6FLUX.2 Klein 9BHunyuanImage 3.0 InstructGPT Image 2FLUX.2 Flex

MAI-Image-2.6 compared

Compare with another model

First image modelSecond image model

The most popular comparisons

Show all 108 comparisons

All specifications

Input and output

Context window: 32,000 tokens; no source
Maximum output: 2,359,296 pixels; Source: Maximum output

Watermarking and provenance

AI watermarking refers to invisible signals embedded in the output. Visible marks and provenance metadata are listed separately. Unknown means there is insufficient evidence for that particular field.

AI watermarking: Unknown; no source
Watermarking technique: Not known; no source

Licence and access

Weights: Proprietary; Source: Weights
Access: API; Source: Access
Lifecycle: Preview in Microsoft Foundry; Source: Lifecycle

Further details

Image capabilities: Text-to-image generation and precise image-to-image editing; Source: Image capabilities
Editing controls: Target objects, layouts, and text, and clean up motion blur; Source: Editing controls
Output format and size: PNG, at least 768 pixels on each side and at most 2,359,296 pixels in total; Source: Output format and size
Aspect ratio: Can choose the aspect ratio from the prompt and image inputs; Source: Aspect ratio
Web grounding: Can use current Bing Search results as additional image context; Source: Web grounding
API authentication: Microsoft Entra ID or an API key; Source: API authentication

Prices

Representative price: $0.038912 per imageSource
OpenRouter (microsoft/mai-image-2.6): $0.06 per image (estimated)Source

Frequently asked questions about MAI-Image-2.6

How good is MAI-Image-2.6?

Rank 4 of 21 in the arena rating. Rank 28 of 108 in our own test.

Arena rating from Nov 6, 2026 · GraduallyBench from Nov 3, 2026

Arena ratingfrom user votes · higher is better

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst1,427

GPT Image 2.5 Flare1,399

GPT Image 21,382

MAI-Image-2.6Rank 4 of 211,331

Grok Imagine Image 2.01,317

Reve 2.11,300

Muse Image1,268

GraduallyBenchour own rating, 0 to 100 · higher is better

ChatGPT Image Latest (API-Alias)69

MAI-Image-2.569

FLUX.2 Max69

MAI-Image-2.6Rank 28 of 10868

GPT Image 1.568

Qwen Image 3.068

MAI-Image-2.6 Flash67

What is MAI-Image-2.6 good at?

Best at Product photography (88 out of 100), weakest at Infographic (61).

GraduallyBench, one image per task

Typography and layoutLegible text, hierarchy, and composition62out of 100Rank 45 of 108 in this task
Product photographyMaterials, reflections, and fine details88out of 100Rank 7 of 108 in this task
Character and detailAnatomy, clothing, and spatial consistency63out of 100Rank 34 of 108 in this task
InfographicNumbers, labels, and visual organization61out of 100Rank 51 of 108 in this task

How much does an image with MAI-Image-2.6 cost?

About $0.039 per image. That is fairly cheap: a typical image model costs $0.06.

Price per imageDollars per image · lower is better

FLUX.2 Pro$0.03

Nano Banana 2 Lite$0.034

Recraft V4.1 Utility$0.035

MAI-Image-2.6Rank 10 of 28$0.039

HiDream-O1-Image$0.04

MAI-Image-2.5$0.048

Grok Imagine Image Quality$0.05

Sources and data date

Show all 24 sources

Benchmark sources at a glance

Which independent evaluators tested this model. This is coverage, not a quality ranking.

Evaluator	Test series	Composite indices	Recorded active measurements
LMArena	0	0	1

Without vendor claims and historical or disputed results; those stay labelled in the single values. 1 measurements are not yet assigned to a test series.

Type	Evidence and data date
Research status	Research date October 17, 2026. 11 source URLs checked. This documents the inspected sources, not an exhaustive inventory of every publication.
Not published	exact-serving-revision Note The evaluator shows the exact product row but does not disclose an API route or serving checkpoint revision.
Additional source	Microsoft AI (retrieved September 24, 2026) · Microsoft Foundry MAI-Image-2.6 catalog · Editorial description reviewed October 2, 2026
Additional source	Image pricing (retrieved October 17, 2026; October 28, 2026; November 3, 2026; November 5, 2026; November 6, 2026)
Additional source	Lifecycle data · Microsoft Foundry July and August 2026 updates · Editorial description reviewed October 2, 2026
Additional source	Microsoft AI (retrieved September 24, 2026) · Microsoft Foundry MAI image deployment guide · Editorial description reviewed October 2, 2026
Additional source	OpenRouter
Additional source	Artificial Analysis (retrieved October 17, 2026; October 23, 2026; October 28, 2026; November 3, 2026; November 5, 2026; November 6, 2026)
Additional source	LMArena (retrieved November 6, 2026)1 2
Additional source	Gradually-Bildtest (retrieved November 3, 2026)
Additional source	Arena (retrieved October 19, 2026)
Additional source	Quantslant (retrieved October 19, 2026)
Additional source	Arena.ai Text-to-Image leaderboard (retrieved October 21, 2026; October 23, 2026)
Additional source	Microsoft AI (retrieved October 22, 2026)
Additional source	DesignArena (retrieved October 23, 2026; October 24, 2026; October 28, 2026)
Additional source	Model metadata (retrieved October 17, 2026)
Additional source	Model metadata (retrieved October 23, 2026)1 2
Additional source	Model metadata (retrieved October 28, 2026)
Additional source	OpenRouter: Popularity index (derived), CC BY 4.0
Additional source	Vercel AI Gateway: Popularity index (derived), CC BY 4.0
Additional source	Ollama: cumulative downloads for the popularity index
Additional source	Replicate: cumulative runs for the popularity index
Additional source	Google Trending Now: limited feed selection for Germany and the US
Additional source	Creative Commons Attribution 4.0