COMPARISON · Last verified: September 2026
Krea AI vs Leonardo AI
Ownership
- Leonardo.Ai is part of Canva. Canva announced its acquisition of Leonardo.Ai on July 30, 2024 and said Leonardo would continue to operate independently. Leonardo still sells its own plans, compared below.
Two freemium AI image and video platforms, compared on verified pricing, free-plan rights, training and fit.
🏆 Quick Verdict
Tie (both 4.6/5)
Both have free plans; paid from $9/mo (Krea) and $12/mo (Leonardo), billed monthly
⭐ Strongest At
Every tool has one thing it does better than its competitors. Here is each one's honest edge:
Live, visual-first creation: Realtime updates images and short video clips as you draw, type or move shapes, with more than 150 hosted models in one app.
Repeatable production: trained Elements, a token rollover bank of up to three months, and unlimited relaxed generations on select models from Premium up.
📊 Quick Specs
Krea AI vs Leonardo AI: official demos
Official videos from Krea and Leonardo.Ai, side by side.
Krea AI
Leonardo AI
Official videos via YouTube (Krea; Leonardo.Ai), embedded for reference. ToolChase does not host or claim these videos.
What is Krea AI?
Krea is an AI creative suite for generating, editing, enhancing and animating images and videos. Its standout tool is Realtime: you draw, type, move shapes, or point a webcam or shared browser tab at the canvas, and images or short video clips update as you work, with no render button to press. Krea hosts more than 150 image, video, audio and enhancement models, from Krea's own Krea 2 (launched in May 2026, with open weights for its Raw and Turbo checkpoints since June) to Nano Banana 2, Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0. The Enhancer upscales images and video, the Edit tool changes regions, lighting and camera angles, and a 3D tool turns text or images into meshes. You can train LoRA styles, chain models in the Nodes editor, or hand a whole brief to Krea Agent, open on every plan since September 10, 2026. Krea also offers an iOS app.
What is Leonardo AI?
Leonardo.Ai is a generative AI platform for images, art and video, part of Canva since Canva announced the acquisition in July 2024. Its image tool combines Leonardo's own models, such as Phoenix and Lucid Origin, with third-party ones including Nano Banana Pro, FLUX.2 Pro and GPT Image-1.5, and its Video tool offers Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Motion 2.0. Its core strength is consistency: you can train Elements, its name for LoRA models, on 10 to 50 images of a style, object or character. Other tools include Blueprints (ready-made workflows), the Canvas Editor with inpainting and outpainting, a Pro Upscaler built for AI-generated images, Realtime Canvas and Realtime Gen, and image-to-3D with .glb export. Edit in Canva sends a generated image to Canva in one click for individual users, and Leonardo has iOS and Android apps and a separate pay-as-you-go API.
Key differences at a glance
Both generate images and video, train custom styles and have real-time tools; the differences are emphasis, usage rights and billing:
- -- Creative approach: Krea is built around live, visual-first iteration (Realtime, Nodes, Krea Agent); Leonardo centers on repeatable production (trained Elements, Blueprints, relaxed generations).
- -- Free-plan rights: Krea's free plan does not include the commercial license, which starts on Basic; Leonardo allows commercial use on its free plan, but free generations are public.
- -- Entry price: Krea Basic is $9/month billed monthly; Leonardo Essential is $12/month billed monthly or $10/month billed yearly.
- -- Unused allowance: Krea's Basic, Pro and Max units do not roll over; Leonardo banks unused paid-plan tokens, up to three months' worth.
- -- Team billing: Krea Business is one flat price for up to 50 members, from $50/month; Leonardo Teams is per seat, from $24/seat/month with a 3-seat minimum (both billed monthly).
- -- Score: Both score 4.6/5 in our reviews, a tie.
Feature-by-feature comparison
Here is how Krea and Leonardo AI compare on the capabilities that shape daily use:
Pricing comparison
Krea meters usage in compute units. Free gives 100 units a day, with Krea 2, the real-time models, Krea Agent, limited LoRA training and upscaling up to 2K, but commercial license included. Billed monthly, Basic is $9/month (5,000 units), Pro $35/month (20,000) and Max from $105/month (40,000, with packs up to 100,000 units for $165). In September 2026 Krea's pricing page applied a promotional coupon for 40% off yearly Basic, Pro and Max plans, putting Pro at $21/month billed yearly; without the coupon, yearly Pro is $28/month, and Krea's help docs give the standard annual discount as 20%. These units do not roll over, and extra compute packs expire after 90 days. Business is one flat price for up to 50 members, from $50/month (20,000 units) to $2,850/month (1.5 million), 20% off yearly, with rollover. Enterprise is custom-priced and adds SAML single sign-on.
Leonardo AI meters usage in tokens, and its listed prices exclude tax. Free gives 150 tokens a day that do not carry over, and free generations are public. Billed monthly, Essential is $12/month (8,500 tokens, 10 personal AI models), Premium $30/month (25,000 tokens, 20 models, unlimited relaxed image generation) and Ultimate $60/month (60,000 tokens, 50 models, relaxed image and video generation), with relaxed generation limited to select models; billed yearly they are $10, $24 and $48 a month. Paid plans generate privately, bank unused tokens up to three months' worth, and can buy top-up tokens that never expire (using them requires an active subscription). Teams is per seat with a 3-seat minimum: Starter at $24/seat/month (25,000 tokens per seat) or Growth at $48 (60,000).
What the entry paid plan buys. Krea Basic ($9/month) adds the commercial license, all image models, selected video models, upscaling up to 22K and the Nodes editor; Krea estimates its 5,000 units at about 64 Nano Banana 2 generations or 20 Seedance 2.0 videos. Leonardo Essential ($12/month, or $10 billed yearly) adds private generations, enhanced quality settings, 10 personal AI models, top-up tokens and the rollover bank. Units and tokens are different currencies, so compare the cost each app shows before you generate.
Worked example: a 5-person studio. On Krea, the team shares one Business workspace: the smallest pack is $50/month billed monthly ($40/month billed yearly) for 20,000 shared units, and adding members, up to 50, costs nothing extra. On Leonardo, five Starter seats cost 5 × $24 = $120/month for 125,000 shared tokens, or 5 × $48 = $240/month on Growth for 300,000. If each person bought an individual plan instead, five Krea Pro plans would cost $175/month and five Leonardo Premium plans $150/month, billed monthly.
Pros & Cons
Krea AI
- Realtime updates images and short clips live as you draw, type or use a webcam
- More than 150 hosted models in one app, from Krea 2 to Veo 3.1
- Lower paid entry: Basic at $9/month includes a commercial license
- Enhancer upscales images (up to 22K on paid plans) and video
- Business: one flat price for up to 50 members, with rollover of unused units
- The free plan does not include a commercial license
- Units on Basic, Pro and Max do not roll over, and extra compute packs expire after 90 days
- Basic gets selected video models only; all video models start at Pro ($35/month)
- Video uses units quickly: Krea estimates Basic's 5,000 units at about 20 Seedance 2.0 videos
Leonardo AI
- Commercial use is allowed even on the free plan
- Unused paid-plan tokens roll over, up to three months' worth
- Trained Elements, with 10, 20 or 50 personal AI models by plan
- Unlimited relaxed generation on select models: images on Premium, images and video on Ultimate
- One-click Edit in Canva, plus iOS and Android apps
- Free-plan generations are public, and Leonardo holds a license to use public images
- Only some video models are open to free users, and free videos carry a watermark
- Trained custom models cannot currently be downloaded
- Token costs vary by model and settings, so allowances do not map to fixed image counts
- Teams is billed per seat, with a 3-seat minimum
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Krea AI if you:
- → Think visually and want images or video to update live as you sketch or type
- → Want more than 150 hosted models, from Krea 2 to Veo 3.1, in one app
- → Need a commercial license at the lower entry price, Basic at $9/month
- → Want to chain models in node workflows or hand a whole brief to Krea Agent
- → Run a team that prefers one flat bill for up to 50 members
Choose Leonardo AI if you:
- → Produce the same characters, styles or products repeatedly with trained Elements
- → Want commercial use on a free plan and are fine with free generations being public
- → Generate unevenly month to month and want unused tokens to roll over
- → Want unlimited relaxed generation on select models (images on Premium, images and video on Ultimate)
- → Already work in Canva and want one-click Edit in Canva
Bottom Line
Krea and Leonardo AI tie at 4.6/5 in our reviews, both have free plans, and both now cover images, video, custom training, upscaling and 3D, so the choice comes down to workflow and billing. Pick Krea for live, visual-first exploration, more than 150 hosted models in one app and the lower commercial entry price ($9/month). Pick Leonardo AI for repeatable production, where trained Elements, a three-month token rollover bank and relaxed generations on select models stretch a fixed budget, or if you need commercial use on a free plan and accept that free generations are public.
Frequently asked questions
Krea AI vs Leonardo AI, which one should I pick?
Pick Krea if you work visually: Realtime updates images and short clips as you draw, type or use a webcam, and the app hosts more than 150 models, including Krea 2, Veo 3.1 and Kling 3.0. Pick Leonardo AI for consistent assets at volume: trained Elements, a token rollover bank of up to three months and unlimited relaxed generations on select models from Premium up. Both score 4.6/5 in our reviews.
Is Krea or Leonardo AI cheaper?
Krea starts lower: Basic is $9/month billed monthly, against $12/month for Leonardo Essential ($10/month billed yearly). At the top of the monthly price lists, Leonardo Ultimate is $60/month while Krea Max starts at $105/month. For teams, again billed monthly, Krea Business is one flat price for up to 50 members from $50/month, while Leonardo Teams costs $24 or $48 per seat per month with a 3-seat minimum.
Can I use Krea or Leonardo AI images commercially on the free plan?
Not on Krea: its pricing page lists the commercial license on Basic, Pro, Max, Business and Enterprise, and the Free plan does not include it. Leonardo's help center says free users can use their images commercially, but free generations are public, other users can remix them, and Leonardo holds a license to use them. Private generation, with full ownership, needs a paid Leonardo plan.
Do Krea and Leonardo AI both generate video?
Yes. Krea offers text-to-video, image-to-video and clip extension with models such as Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Seedance 2.0 (selected models on Basic, all from Pro), and Realtime can output short clips live. Leonardo offers Veo 3.1, Kling 3.0 and Motion 2.0 with start and end frames; only some video models are open to its free users, and Ultimate adds unlimited relaxed video generation on select models.
Can I train a custom model on Krea and Leonardo AI?
Yes, on both. Krea trains LoRA styles, characters or objects from as few as 3 images, with up to 50 images per LoRA (2,000 on Max and Business). Leonardo trains Elements, its LoRA models, from 10 to 50 images, and its paid plans hold 10, 20 or 50 personal AI models. Leonardo's help center says trained custom models cannot currently be downloaded.
Is Leonardo AI owned by Canva?
Yes. Canva announced its acquisition of Leonardo.Ai on July 30, 2024 and said Leonardo would continue to operate independently. Leonardo still runs its own platform, plans and API at leonardo.ai and describes itself as part of Canva; individual users can send images to Canva with Edit in Canva.
Do unused credits roll over on Krea or Leonardo AI?
On Krea, units on Basic, Pro and Max do not roll over, while Business and Enterprise carry unused units forward; extra compute packs expire after 90 days. On Leonardo, unused paid-plan tokens go into a rollover bank holding up to three months' worth, and top-up tokens never expire, though using them requires an active subscription. Free daily allowances on both reset each day.