Leonardo AI Models Explained: Which Model to Use (2026)

Leonardo now offers more than twenty image models: its own (Lucid, Phoenix and older presets such as Kino XL and Anime XL) plus partner models such as FLUX, GPT Image, Nano Banana, Ideogram and Seedream. This page tells you which one to pick for each job, what free users can use, and gives a prompt to start with for each.

Quick pick

Leonardo's own models

Lucid Origin

Leonardo's help center describes Lucid Origin as its most adaptable and prompt-responsive model: vibrant color, diverse characters, accurate text and native Full HD. Its tips: short prompts work, but add cues for the look you want. For photos, describe lighting, lens and mood; for design, give clear typography directions; for illustration, name the medium.

cinematic photo of a street food vendor at night, steam rising from the grill, neon reflections on wet pavement, 35mm lens, shallow depth of field

poster design, bold sans serif headline "NIGHT MARKET" centered at the top, minimal palette of orange and deep blue, flat illustration of lanterns below

Leonardo's model guide notes it can look overly polished; add words such as "film grain" or "analog photo" if you want a rougher look.

Lucid Realism

Built for cinematic image-to-video input. It is strongest at natural lighting, subtle expressions, mood and atmosphere, so use it when the image will become the first frame of a video, or when you want a quiet, filmic photo.

close-up of an elderly fisherman looking out at the sea, soft overcast light, subtle smile, wind in his hair, cinematic, muted colors

Phoenix 1.0 and 0.9

Leonardo's foundational model. It follows long, detailed instructions closely and renders coherent text, even full sentences. Leonardo's model guide suggests Quality mode rather than Fast for best results, and finds it good for stylized assets and sticker-style vector art. Phoenix is available on every web plan, including Free, and it is one of the models that accepts a negative prompt.

die-cut sticker of a cheerful red panda holding a coffee cup, thick white border, flat vector style, the words "MONDAY MODE" in rounded letters underneath

Leonardo Lightning and Anime XL

The Lightning XL family is built for speed: up to 2–3× faster generations at a lower token cost. There are two models: Leonardo Lightning XL for photorealistic images and Leonardo Anime XL for stylized images. You cannot change the scheduler or guidance scale on them. For best results Leonardo recommends at least 1024 px on one side and Alchemy V2 on.

anime illustration of a girl with short silver hair on a rooftop at sunset, school uniform, wind blowing cherry blossoms, vibrant colors, detailed background

Other Leonardo presets

Cinematic Kino, Concept Art, Graphic Design, Illustrative Albedo, Lifelike Vision, Portrait Perfect and Stock Photography are older Leonardo presets. They are still available, accept negative prompts, and run under Unlimited generations on Premium and Ultimate plans.

Partner models on Leonardo

"Omni" models are Leonardo's name for models with stronger understanding of both image and text inputs. You can use them to generate from scratch or to edit with the Inline Editor: click an image, describe the change, and add references.

Nano Banana edit: replace the grey sky with a warm sunset, keep the people and the building exactly the same

GPT Image: a cozy countryside bakery in a soft hand-painted animated film style, warm afternoon light, a cat sleeping on the windowsill

Free plan: what you can use

• Free accounts get 150 tokens a day. Unused tokens do not carry over to the next day.
• Every model has its own cost, shown on the Generate button before you click. Image size, number of images, mode (Fast/Ultra) and reference images change it.
• Phoenix is available on the Free plan.
• Nano Banana is open to free users at 40 tokens per image (with 1 reference image instead of 6), so 150 tokens cover 3 images a day.
• Lucid Origin is available with a Leonardo account; its cost depends on mode and image size.
• Paid plans add premium models and features, monthly tokens with a rollover bank, and top-ups.

Unlimited generations (paid plans)

Premium plans can keep generating images, and Ultimate plans images and videos, after tokens run out, at slower speed. Supported image models: Lucid Origin, Lucid Realism, Phoenix 1.0, Phoenix 0.9, FLUX Dev, FLUX Schnell, Anime, Cinematic Kino, Concept Art, Graphic Design, Illustrative Albedo, Lifelike Vision, Leonardo Lightning, Portrait Perfect and Stock Photography.

Model settings and negative prompts

The side bar settings vary by model. Negative prompts in particular are only available on some models: Phoenix, Ideogram 3.0 and the older presets such as Kino XL and Anime XL have one; Lucid, FLUX, GPT Image, Nano Banana and Seedream do not. The full table and copy-paste lists are in the Leonardo negative prompts guide.

For keeping the same character across images, see the Leonardo consistent characters guide. For Ghibli-style prompt wording, see the Studio Ghibli prompts guide.

Build your prompt

The prompt generator builds a prompt from subject, style and lighting choices. Paste it into the model you picked above. It runs in your browser and does not generate images.

Primary sources

• Leonardo help center: Lucid Origin
• Leonardo help center: Leonardo Phoenix
• Leonardo help center: Lightning XL Models
• Leonardo help center: Nano Banana
• Leonardo help center: Using Omni Models and the Inline Editor
• Leonardo help center: Tokens FAQ
• Leonardo help center: How to Generate Images with Leonardo.Ai
• Leonardo: AI Image Models, a guide to choosing the right model
• Leonardo API docs index (model list)
• Leonardo API reference: Create Async Generation