Meta Muse Image: Price, Availability & Test Results

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Muse Image is Meta’s image generator, the first graphics model from the Meta Superintelligence Labs team, available since July 7, 2026 in Meta AI. It ranks seventh in Artificial Analysis and costs $0.01 per image via API, the lowest price in the top ten. We checked where you can use it, whether it works in the EU, and how much it costs. On September 27, 2026, we ran it through five prompts from our image generator ranking. It scored 8.9/10, the highest of all lesser-known models we tested that day.

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What is Muse Image

Meta describes Muse Image as an “agentic” model. Before drawing an image, it breaks down the prompt into steps, can access a web search and image search or run code, then refines its own sketches. It works with the Muse Spark language model. It generates and edits images from text and from multiple reference images at once. Previously, Meta AI used models from external companies, including Midjourney and Black Forest Labs.

Don’t confuse Muse Image with the Meta Muse app. That’s a separate product, an AI assistant that launched on September 8, 2026, only in the US. We covered it in our article Meta Muse: new AI assistant.

The launch didn’t go without a hitch. In the first version, you could tag a public Instagram account and use its photos as references without notifying the owner. On July 10, 2026, three days after launch, Meta withdrew this feature. Details in our articles Meta Muse: generator that can use your photos and Meta withdrew the Instagram feature.

Where to use Muse Image

Advertisers will get the model in Advantage+ creative tools. Meta states that daily image creation in Meta AI is free, and paid plans offer higher limits. It doesn’t publish specific numbers.

Does Muse Image work in the EU

In the app, probably not. Meta AI launched in the European Union in March 2025, but with limited features: without image generation that Americans had from the start. The Muse Image announcement from July 7, 2026 doesn’t mention a date for Europe, and German site Servola reports that image generation is a category Meta is withholding in the EU due to GDPR, DSA, and the AI Act. We haven’t tested the Meta AI app from an EU account ourselves, so we’re relying on these sources.

API is a different story. Meta Model API documentation doesn’t mention regional restrictions, and through fal and OpenRouter the model is available like any other. On OpenRouter, however, you must first confirm in your account settings that you are 18 or older.

How much does Muse Image cost

Meta charges a flat rate of $0.01 per generated image. The price doesn’t depend on prompt length, “reasoning” strength, or whether the model used search. You only pay for images that were returned: those rejected by safety filters are free. The limit is 150 requests per minute. Here’s how it compares to the Artificial Analysis top ten:

Muse Image is 21 times cheaper than GPT Image 2.5 in “max” quality, while losing 85 Elo points to it. In our test it was the opposite of Elo: Muse Image scored 8.9/10, while Sunburst in “max” got 8.8. In our opinion: at this price, it’s the most interesting model from the top tier for mass production via API.

Our test: Muse Image on five prompts

We used the same script and the same prompts as in our ranking: a market, a sign reading “PIEKARNIA ŻÓŁĆ” (Polish for “Bakery Bile”), a flat illustration with a llama, a portrait with hands, and pierogi from above. We tested it in Polish, a heavily inflected language with diacritics, to evaluate non-English text rendering. One attempt per prompt, no cherry-picking, through OpenRouter’s image API (/api/v1/images). Each image cost exactly $0.01, and the entire test cost $0.05. Time ranged from 9.7 to 31.6 seconds, averaging 16.5 seconds. The model worked longest on the illustration, which fits the model’s description of planning the image before drawing.

At the market, Muse Image wrote the same prices as GPT Image 2.5 in “high” quality: tomatoes 6, cucumbers 5, dill 2. We don’t know why this convergence occurred. In our opinion: such amounts simply appear frequently in materials that models train on.

One technical flaw: Muse Image ignored the aspect_ratio parameter. Instead of 16:9, it returned every image in 1920×1280 resolution, a 3:2 aspect ratio. In OpenRouter, the model doesn’t list aspect ratio or resolution among supported parameters, so you need to crop to 16:9 format yourself. On comparison charts in our lesser-known image generators test, we center-cropped it like the other models. We didn’t count this against the score because aspect ratio wasn’t in the prompt content.

Who is Muse Image for

• Developers with large scale: $0.01 per image with search included is the lowest rate in the Artificial Analysis top ten, and in our test the quality matched models 13 times more expensive.
• Graphics with non-English text: sign and price cards without errors, without adding slogans nobody asked for.
• Product catalogs and editing: Meta advertises the model as a tool for changing exactly what you ask for without touching the rest of the image. We didn’t test this.
• Regular user in the EU: for now there’s no way to use it in Meta AI. Free alternatives are in our free image generators roundup.

Frequently asked questions

Is Muse Image free?

In the Meta AI app yes, with a limit, but Meta AI in the European Union doesn’t generate images. In the API, Muse Image costs $0.01 per image.

Does Muse Image work in the EU?

According to available sources, not in the Meta AI app: Meta hasn’t announced a date for the EU. Through API (Meta Model API, fal, OpenRouter) the model is available without regional restrictions in the documentation.

How did Muse Image perform in your test?

It scored an average of 8.9/10 on five prompts, more than GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst in “max” quality (8.8) and MAI-Image-2.6 (8.5). It wrote the sign “PIEKARNIA ŻÓŁĆ“ without errors, and the image cost $0.01.

What rank does Muse Image have?

On September 27, 2026, seventh in Artificial Analysis, with 1111 Elo. Higher were GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst and Flare, GPT Image 2, Grok Imagine Image 2.0, MAI-Image-2.6, and Nano Banana 2.

How does Muse Image differ from the Meta Muse app?

Muse Image is an image generation model in Meta AI. Meta Muse is a separate app with an AI assistant, launched September 8, 2026, only in the US.

// read moreMAI-Image-2.6 Review: Pricing, Availability & Test ResultsBenchmarksGrok Imagine Image 2.0: xAI Image Generator Pricing & TestBenchmarksLesser-Known AI Models: MiMo, Qwen3.8 Max, GLM-5.3, Muse SparkBenchmarks

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