Ideogram 4 vs Krea 2 vs Grok: 15 First Outputs Compared
Five same-prompt tests for typography, product photography, portraits, motion, and constrained illustration—one first output per model, with no rerolls.
This test sends the same prompt and aspect ratio to Ideogram 4, Krea 2 Medium, and Grok Imagine through Fal. Each grid shows the first returned output. There are no rerolls, substitutions, or hand-picked alternates. The five prompts isolate different failure modes: exact text, commercial composition, photographic camera style, motion, and multi-constraint illustration.
| Prompt | Strongest result | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Jazz poster | Grok Imagine | Exact copy with the closest condensed headline, flower treatment, and margin structure |
| Serum ad | Krea 2 Medium | Exact label, condensation, reflective pool, side light, and negative space in one frame |
| Diner portrait | Tradeoff | Krea best matched flash and skin; Ideogram the diner; Grok clean anatomy |
| Rainy cyclist | Krea 2 Medium | Most convincing directional traffic blur and compact-camera roughness |
| Risograph market | No clean winner | Every output missed at least one exact clock, crate, object, or palette constraint |
All five same-prompt comparisons
Open any output at full size. The exact prompt, aspect ratio, model route, prompt hash, and output hash sit below each row.
Jazz festival typography poster
All three models rendered the requested words correctly. Grok most closely matched the condensed type, large cream headline, single coral flower, and generous poster margins. Krea also kept the copy intact but made the flower and headline compete; Ideogram used a serif display face instead of the requested condensed typography.
Vote on this model set in the AI Photo Arena ↗Exact prompt and retained controls
A bold vertical editorial poster for a fictional late-night jazz festival. The exact headline text is 'NIGHT BLOOM'. Below it, render the exact secondary lines 'FRIDAY 9 PM' and 'RIVER HALL'. Oversized condensed cream typography, deep midnight-blue background, one vivid coral flower weaving through the letters, subtle screen-print texture, balanced professional graphic design, generous margins, no additional words, no logos, no watermark.
- Prompt SHA-256: 48c39aba977c6757d80fa99245a094bbc9414f7eedfef3736dd26e57c79206ed
- Aspect ratio: 2:3
- Ideogram 4: ideogram/v4 · output SHA-256 556342e3ecc90a39af363f9957bc6018f90eba5287a5cdc715e5d91ec2fd68ff
- Krea 2 Medium: krea/v2/medium/text-to-image · output SHA-256 4a7598c9e9969f09a0511ad9188cc2ff1caa5331a4632ffe5ef48fea1b7c3dd5
- Grok Imagine: xai/grok-imagine-image · output SHA-256 b0af609d3bfa35f1fe12d968d97180a4d6ee244f19d85f55ed1e265613264bc6
Skincare product advertising layout
Krea kept both exact label lines, one product, condensation, warm side light, a reflective pool, and usable negative space in the same frame. Ideogram produced the most conventional bottle close-up but omitted the pool. Grok kept the scene and text, though its cap reads more like a cylinder than a serum dropper.
Vote on this model set in the AI Photo Arena ↗Exact prompt and retained controls
Premium commercial product photograph of one frosted glass skincare serum bottle standing on pale limestone beside a shallow reflective pool. The bottle label must read exactly 'MORNING DEW' with the smaller exact line 'VITAMIN C SERUM'. Warm sunrise side light, restrained sage and amber palette, realistic condensation, clean luxury advertising composition with negative space on the right, no extra products, no people, no additional text, no watermark.
- Prompt SHA-256: 29fe1b0099e573fa95e1518350d6240b1dc0a532a7ad536f7bed762c4ae0d245
- Aspect ratio: 4:3
- Ideogram 4: ideogram/v4 · output SHA-256 c0c1b3741b200d34d706bc64c64c3bcecd2d2b4110b52c3ab7b8c496c953dd46
- Krea 2 Medium: krea/v2/medium/text-to-image · output SHA-256 5036db4c91743f216a77a087751db1aad99a7cba123e8f8ac936ab7a56da4a22
- Grok Imagine: xai/grok-imagine-image · output SHA-256 72263dfb0d9b09680297b61f8ebaa08ad6a322538b368d8a2b60fa3bbf8ffa21
Night diner editorial portrait
Krea delivered the harshest direct flash and least polished skin, but introduced part of another person at frame right despite the subject being alone. Ideogram made the diner environment most legible. Grok kept the hands clean but looked more composed and retouched than the requested candid magazine photograph.
Vote on this model set in the AI Photo Arena ↗Exact prompt and retained controls
Photorealistic editorial portrait of an adult woman seated alone in a chrome diner booth at night, looking directly at the camera with a calm self-possessed expression. She wears a dark red leather jacket over a plain black top. Direct on-camera flash, realistic skin texture and pores, slightly imperfect makeup, reflections in the window, cyan neon outside, shallow depth of field, candid magazine photography, anatomically accurate hands, no text, no logo, no watermark.
- Prompt SHA-256: 836610f8d8e0b0cdb2c8117e5eb906d68ee7ec16dba0a7daab0a2c084128b967
- Aspect ratio: 2:3
- Ideogram 4: ideogram/v4 · output SHA-256 5b8d9c6d09da5a4b539ed82e3918e72c492957499833f641447094a76e7897c6
- Krea 2 Medium: krea/v2/medium/text-to-image · output SHA-256 9f9ca199c5751be3a03221141e05eb3e066f74b615e40fbff4ad0494ff3d870b
- Grok Imagine: xai/grok-imagine-image · output SHA-256 39f591f924c5484b6ae66c5aeb178fe3ccf628934016262f5edc9c708f42d76e
Raw compact-camera motion snapshot
Krea created the clearest directional motion blur around a recognizable cyclist and preserved a noisy compact-camera feel. Ideogram handled rain and wet-street reflections well but left the traffic comparatively sharp. Grok produced a convincing wet intersection, yet the cyclist sits at the edge and the passing cars show less directional blur.
Vote on this model set in the AI Photo Arena ↗Exact prompt and retained controls
A raw early-2000s compact-camera snapshot of a cyclist crossing a wet city intersection at dusk during light rain. The cyclist is sharply recognizable but surrounded by directional motion blur from passing cars. Slightly crooked framing, harsh little camera flash catching raindrops, visible digital noise, clipped highlights, low dynamic range, damp asphalt reflections, unpolished documentary feeling, no cinematic teal-orange grading, no text, no watermark.
- Prompt SHA-256: 5ad3c8bd5f64155108ae5cae0079b54a3c4b6e13c9bfb621d6bd634ad674122c
- Aspect ratio: 4:3
- Ideogram 4: ideogram/v4 · output SHA-256 990f4fe48b7e5dc46c540a55b7eb0b5f10b34a11c21c2e5cf4ba05a9f6022e39
- Krea 2 Medium: krea/v2/medium/text-to-image · output SHA-256 95efa9b5e2ea15675f81a75c7b61e4e7f5aa1fbd4c0b0f346f6583e0755efd4c
- Grok Imagine: xai/grok-imagine-image · output SHA-256 23ab2c3c13ef6a7d77561ee7ac4f79a7ac5f0e33f1112b2d46f51a49ec8b904b
Controlled risograph market illustration
All three captured the risograph idea, but none completed the exact constraint set. Ideogram and Grok missed the 10:10 clock and three-crate stack. Krea added birds, used black outlines beyond the three-color request, and also missed the clock and crate count. This row is the clearest reason not to turn five attractive outputs into a universal adherence claim.
Vote on this model set in the AI Photo Arena ↗Exact prompt and retained controls
Three-color risograph editorial illustration of a neighborhood fruit market viewed straight on. Exactly five objects are prominent: one striped awning at the top, one vendor centered behind the counter, one orange cat sitting at lower left, one stack of three melon crates at lower right, and one hanging round clock showing 10:10. Use only cobalt blue, tomato red, and warm cream, with visible ink misregistration, coarse halftone texture, flat shapes, no gradients, no words, no watermark.
- Prompt SHA-256: defd1001a1c66c40d9b0732f94ca5ca64ae1103901a6395097f73e178d38c721
- Aspect ratio: 4:3
- Ideogram 4: ideogram/v4 · output SHA-256 a883864963de51f1da1e4eac2e37d8ef4ec6248a3fe4ccc2e9f92aae34d785cd
- Krea 2 Medium: krea/v2/medium/text-to-image · output SHA-256 682ca917e8232770f24b8d7659437cfaca6da1ada277f516d2b8ffba0117c2dc
- Grok Imagine: xai/grok-imagine-image · output SHA-256 fa8d9a1e4ead850e2686bf2e545ce1c8f8f39ac9369f9b6c5f754add30f38b4c
What the test supports—and what it does not
- It supports task-level observations about these 15 first outputs. It does not establish long-run reliability or a universal model ranking.
- Ideogram ran with Fal's Large expansion setting, which uses Ideogram Magic Prompt. Krea and Grok used their listed Fal text-to-image routes. Provider defaults therefore differ even though the visible prompt and aspect ratio are shared.
- A single output cannot measure variance. A model that loses one first-output row may still win after a reroll or with provider-specific prompting.
- The risograph row shows why attractive style and exact instruction following must be scored separately.
- Blind community preferences are collected in the Arena and remain separate from these editorial brief-fidelity notes.