Pick Stability AI when you want open-weight image or audio models you can self-host, or a pay-per-use API with prices from 3 credits per image. Brand teams can look at Brand Studio. Casual users who want a polished app usually do better with Midjourney or Adobe Firefly.
Stability AI is a generative AI company best known for the open-weight Stable Diffusion image models and founded in London. It now offers a credit-priced Platform API, the Brand Studio platform for brand teams, and the Stable Audio music family, three of whose models ship as open weights.
Founded: 2019 · HQ: London, England, UK · Team: Not disclosed · CEO: Prem Akkaraju · Funding: $232M total raised, including a $76M Series B announced 25 August 2026 (two equity rounds plus convertible notes, per the company) · Valuation: Not disclosed in the August 2026 Series B announcement
About Stability AI
Stability AI was founded in London in 2019 by Emad Mostaque and Cyrus Hodes. It became known for Stable Diffusion, the open-weight image model that let developers run text-to-image generation on their own hardware instead of renting a closed API. Prem Akkaraju, formerly CEO of Weta Digital, has been CEO since June 2024, and the company's August 2026 funding release is datelined Los Angeles.
The product line is now split three ways. Developers buy the Platform API, priced in credits at one cent each: Pricing listed on 24 October 2026 included Stable Image Core at 3 credits, Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large at 6.5, Stable Image Ultra at 8, and Stable Audio 3.0 at 8, with 25 free credits to start. Brand teams get Brand Studio, launched on 8 April 2026 with Brand Central for custom Brand ID models, Producer Mode for step-by-step production plans, Curated Model Routing across Stability's own and third-party models, and Precision Inpainting. Self-hosters take the open weights under the Stability AI Community License, with an Enterprise License for organizations above $1M in annual revenue.
Audio is where the company moved most this year. Stable Audio 3.0, released on 20 May 2026, is a family of four models trained on licensed data: Small SFX and Small run on-device, Medium and Large generate tracks of more than six minutes, and the Small, Small SFX and Medium models are open weights you can download from the Hugging Face hub. On 18 August 2026 Stability added a DAW plugin and a more advanced generation experience on StableAudio.com. The consumer-facing Stable Audio product sits beside the Stability AI tool listing, and the music partnerships with Universal Music Group (October 2025) and Warner Music Group (November 2025) point the roadmap at professional music tools.
Image and video work continues through Stable Diffusion 3.5, which the company optimized with NVIDIA for faster RTX performance and packaged as an NVIDIA NIM microservice, and which it brought to Amazon Web Services through Amazon Bedrock. Stable Video 4D 2.0 handles multi-view video from a single clip, and Stable Point Aware 3D (SPAR3D) turns one image into an editable 3D object.
Where Stability loses is polish and mindshare. Midjourney and Adobe Firefly give non-technical users a finished app with consistent aesthetics, Ideogram is a common pick for text inside images, Leonardo.Ai bundles image tools for creators, Runway leads attention in generative video, and Black Forest Labs with its FLUX 3 model competes directly for developers who want open or self-hostable image models; our guide to the best AI image generators compares pricing and licensing across them. In music, Suno and Udio draw the consumer audience, and ElevenLabs is the usual name for synthetic voice. Stability's argument is licensed training data, open weights and direct ties to rights holders. Whether that beats the consumer apps on adoption is still open, and the company has not published usage figures we could check.
Mission
Build the foundation to activate humanity's potential through open-access AI models.
Products
- Stable Diffusion 3.5 (Open-weight image generation models, also served as Stable Image Core and Ultra): https://stability.ai/stable-image
- Stable Audio 3.0 (Four-model music and sound family; three of the four ship with downloadable weights): https://stability.ai/stable-audio
- Brand Studio (Creative production platform with Brand Central, Producer Mode and Precision Inpainting (launched 8 April 2026)): https://stability.ai/brand-studio
- Stability AI Platform API (Credit-priced API (1 credit = $0.01) for image, audio, edit and 3D services): https://platform.stability.ai/pricing
- Stable Video 4D 2.0 (Multi-view video synthesis from a single object-centric video): https://stability.ai/stable-video
- Stable Point Aware 3D (SPAR3D) (Single-image to editable 3D object model): https://stability.ai/stable-3d
Compliance
SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, GDPR
Links
Frequently Asked Questions
How much funding has Stability AI raised?
Stability AI announced a $76M Series B on 25 August 2026, which the company says brings total funding to $232M across two equity rounds and convertible notes. New investors include Electronic Arts, Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, AMD Ventures and Pacific Alliance Ventures. Coatue, Greycroft, Kadmos Capital, Sean Parker and Eric Schmidt invested again. No valuation was given in the announcement.
What does Stability AI sell, and what does it cost?
The Platform API charges in credits, with one credit equal to $0.01 and 25 free credits on signup. On 24 October 2026 Stable Image Core cost 3 credits, Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large 6.5 credits, and Stable Audio 3.0 8 credits per request. Brand Studio is sold to brand teams, and the open-weight models can be self-hosted under the Community License.
Is Stability AI certified for enterprise security?
Stability announced SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports on 5 August 2025, assessed against five trust service criteria by an independent auditor, with the reports available through its Trust Center portal. Hokai also lists GDPR. We did not re-verify HIPAA or ISO 27001, so request current documents before a procurement review.
Who competes with Stability AI?
In images, Midjourney and Adobe Firefly are the main consumer rivals, and Black Forest Labs competes for developers who want open or self-hosted models. For audio, Suno and Udio target consumers, while Stable Audio 3.0 stresses licensed training data. The comparison verdicts below summarize the trade-offs.
Can I try Stability AI models for free?
Yes, in two ways. New API accounts get 25 free credits, and Stable Audio 3.0 Small SFX, Small and Medium are open weights on Hugging Face under the Stability AI Community License. Organizations with more than $1M in annual revenue need the Enterprise License for commercial use.
Top Alternatives
- Black Forest Labs: Pick Stability for audio, 3D and a credit-priced API; pick Black Forest Labs when FLUX image quality is the deciding factor.
- Adobe: Pick Stability for open weights and brand-trained models; pick Adobe when the team already works in Creative Cloud.
Hokai guides that mention Stability AI
- Best Free AI Image Generators in 2026: What the Free Tier Really Gives You: Free tiers of 7 AI image generators read from vendor pages: daily limits, public galleries, and which free plans allow commercial use. Checked 31 Oct 2026.
- Stability AI vs Topaz Photo AI: Different Jobs, Not Rivals: Stability AI generates images for 2.5-8 cents each. Topaz Photo costs $199-599 a year to fix real photos. Checked 8 Nov 2026: which job needs which tool.