How much does Ideogram cost?

Free gives slow credits weekly. Plus is $20 a month, or $15 billed yearly, for 1,000 priority credits and unlimited slow credits. Pro is $60, or $42 yearly, for 3,500. Team is $30 a user a month billed yearly, minimum two users.

Is Visual Sandbox cheaper than Ideogram?

No. An Ideogram 4.0 image at 2K costs $0.02 to $0.06 on Plus at full use, and nothing in the slow lane, against $0.13 for a Nano Banana 2 image at 2K here. Ideogram only makes Ideogram, and Visual Sandbox costs $0 in a month you do not create.

What are Ideogram's slow credits?

Unlimited generations that wait in a queue, on every paid plan. Priority credits skip the queue and are the 1,000 or 3,500 a month the plan counts.

Do Visual Sandbox credits expire?

No. There is no monthly reset. Money you add to the balance stays until you spend it.

All comparisons

Visual Sandbox vs Ideogram

One is unlimited if you wait. One is priced if you do not.

In short

Ideogram plans run $20 to $60 a month for 1,000 to 3,500 priority credits.
Every paid plan adds unlimited slow credits. Wait, and images are free.
An Ideogram 4.0 image at 2K and top quality is 3 credits, about $0.06 on Plus.
Ideogram makes Ideogram. We do not have it.

Our take. Use Ideogram for typography and slow unlimited images. Use Visual Sandbox for other models at a printed price.

See a model's price

Ideogram

Ideogram is a foundation image lab known for typography: Ideogram 4.0, a Canvas, character consistency, unlimited slow credits on paid plans, an API and MCP.

Pricing: $20 to $60 a month, in credits
Free plan: Yes, slow credits weekly
Also does: Typography, Canvas, characters, custom models

Side by side

The same 9 questions, asked of Ideogram

Visual Sandbox compared with Ideogram, question by question
What is compared	Visual Sandbox	Ideogram
What you pay for	Each generation	A monthly credit plan, plus unlimited slow credits
What the balance is in	Money. One credit is one cent	Priority credits. Ideogram 4.0 at 2K is 1 to 3
Free tier	None. A $10 minimum top up	$0, slow credits weekly, one generation at a time, public
Cheapest paid tier	There is no plan	Plus, $20 a month, or $15 billed yearly
A month you make nothing	$0	The plan price
The price before you run	A dollar figure on every model page, before you sign in	A credit cost per model and quality, on the pricing page
Working as a team	Not offered	Team, $30 a user a month billed yearly, minimum two
From the terminal or an agent	A CLI, an MCP server and an API, on the same balance	An API priced separately, and an MCP server
The catalogue	37 models	Ideogram 4.0, 3.0, 2a, 2.0 and 1.0, plus custom models. Its own only

Key takeaways

Is Visual Sandbox a good Ideogram alternative?

Where we win

No subscription: Nothing to cancel. A quiet month costs $0.
Many image models, priced: Nano Banana 2 at $0.13 for 2K. Seedream 5 Pro at $0.12 for 2K. GPT Image 2 from $0.01.
The balance does not expire: No monthly reset.
One balance for the API too: The CLI, the MCP server and the API spend the same cents. Ideogram's API is priced apart.
Video, 3D and audio too: Veo 3.1 at $0.25 a second, Hunyuan 3D 3.1 at $0.63.

Where Ideogram wins

Unlimited slow credits: On every paid plan. If the image can wait, it costs nothing.
Cheap fast images: Ideogram 4.0 at 2K is 1 to 3 credits: $0.02 to $0.06 on Plus at full use.
Typography: Text in images is what Ideogram is known for.
Characters and a Canvas: Unlimited character consistency on every paid plan, and a Canvas with Magic Fill.
An MCP server: Linked in the footer, next to the API.

Worth checking

One family of models: Ideogram makes Ideogram. No Nano Banana, GPT Image or Seedream.
Full use is the condition: For the fast credits. The slow ones are unlimited, so the plan is worth it if you can wait.
Two Team prices: The card says $30 a user a month billed yearly. The comparison table says $20. We quote the card.
Top ups are vague: 'Top up priority credits for $4' does not say how many.
We have no Ideogram: If typography is the job, Ideogram is the tool.

Slow unlimited or a priced run

The price is on the page before the first run

This is the live price card off our Nano Banana 2 page. Ideogram prices its own 4.0 model at 1 to 3 credits, and lets it run free if you wait.

No account needed to read it.
Ideogram Plus is $20 for 1,000 fast credits and unlimited slow ones.
A quiet month here costs $0.

Ideogram sells the month with a free slow lane. We sell the run.

Nano Banana 2

What one run costs, before any account

1K: $0.09 / image
2K: $0.13 / image
4K: $0.19 / image

See it on the model page

The money

Per image, from Ideogram's own credit table

Ideogram prints a credit cost per model and quality, so the fast lane is easy to price. The slow lane is unlimited on paid plans, and free is free.

$0.13

Visual Sandbox

Nano Banana 2 at 2K, in any month.

$0.06

Ideogram Plus, fast

4.0 at 2K, Quality, 3 credits at $0.02 each, at full use.

Ideogram Plus, slow

Unlimited slow credits on every paid plan.

Ideogram plan	A month	Billed yearly	Priority credits	Slow credits
Free	$0	$0	None	Weekly, for eligible accounts
Plus	$20	$15	1,000	Unlimited
Pro	$60	$42	3,500	Unlimited
Team	$30 a user, yearly	$30 a user	1,500 a user	Unlimited

Ideogram 4.0 at 2K is 1 credit in Turbo, 2 in Balanced and 3 in Quality. On Plus billed yearly that is $0.015 to $0.045 an image at full use.
Twenty dollars here buys 153 Nano Banana 2 images at 2K, or 166 Seedream 5 Pro images at 2K, in any month.
If your images can wait and Ideogram's look is what you want, the slow lane makes this a $15 to $20 flat fee. Nothing here competes with free.

Which one fits

Which one fits you?

Four questions. The answer names Ideogram when Ideogram is the right call.

01 of 04

Is text in the image the job?

Or use both

Ideogram covers typography and the slow volume. We cover the other models and the priced run.

01
Take Ideogram Plus and queue the type-heavy images in the slow lane.
02
Run Nano Banana, Seedream and GPT Image here, at a printed price.
03
Run video, 3D and audio here, per run.

The call

Which one to pick

Pick Visual Sandbox when

You want several image models at a printed price.
You want the result now, from a paid queue.
You want an agent to generate through the CLI or the MCP server on the same balance.
You want video, 3D, vector and audio next to image.
You do not want another subscription.