Grok Imagine Image 2.0 Ranks 4th on Artificial Analysis Text-to-Image Leaderboard, Hitting the Quality-Price Pareto Frontier

On Sept 19, Artificial Analysis published evaluations showing xAI's Grok Imagine Image 2.0 entering its image leaderboard: 4th overall in text-to-image (Elo 1154, tied 4-5th with Microsoft MAI-Image-2.6), the highest-ranked model outside OpenAI and up 14 places from its predecessor (previously 18th). It also ranks 4th in image editing, at roughly 30% of GPT Image's price—an image model with a standout quality-price profile.

Confirmed

• Text-to-image: 4th overall at Elo 1154, tied 4-5th with Microsoft MAI-Image-2.6; up 14 places from the previous generation; highest-ranked outside OpenAI (also relayed by @XFreeze).
• Across 9 capabilities: knowledge (real landmarks, species, science and common-sense facts) and text rendering (long text, small text, symbols, stylized lettering) are closest to the frontier, followed by reasoning, materials and complex composition.
• Across 10 use cases: animation & gaming plus productivity & knowledge work are closest to the top, followed by consumer (book covers, stock, editorial illustration) and UI/UX design; improved over the previous generation on every use case.
• Image editing: across 7 edit-action categories, scene & style edits (relighting, restyling, background and holistic changes) are closest to the frontier, followed by identity-preserving edits and restoration/enhancement; across 10 use cases, animation & gaming (game assets, concept art, character design, comics) is strongest, followed by live-action film and knowledge work.
• Independent speed test: median 84 seconds for a 1024x1024 medium-quality image—faster than GPT Image 2 (high) at 121 seconds, but slower than the fastest models in its tier.
• Pricing: $80 per 1K 2K-resolution images, on the quality-price Pareto frontier between Microsoft MAI-Image-2.6 and OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 Flare.

Why it matters

• Grok Imagine Image 2.0 enters the top tier at a fraction of GPT Image's cost and sits on the Pareto frontier—a new low-cost option for pay-as-you-go developers and content producers.
• Its strengths in knowledge and text rendering make it practical for productivity, knowledge work and text-bearing design, not just stylized generation.

2026-09-19 ~ 2026-09-20 · 9 related posts

• [source] Grok Imagine Image 2.0 Climbs 14 Spots to #4 on Text-to-Image Leaderboard, Best Non-OpenAI Model — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• [source] Grok Imagine 2.0 Priced at $60-80 per 1K Images, on Quality-vs-Price Pareto Frontier — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• Grok Imagine 2.0 Takes a Median 84s Per 1024x1024 Image, Slower Than Rivals at Its Quality Tier — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• Grok Imagine 2.0 Strongest at Knowledge, Text Rendering and Reasoning in Text-to-Image — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• Grok Imagine 2.0 Closes the Gap to the Frontier Across All 10 Text-to-Image Use Cases — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• Where Grok Imagine 2.0 Edits Best: Scene & Style, Identity-Preserving, Restoration — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• [source] Grok Imagine Image 2.0 debuts at #4 on image leaderboard, 1/3 the price of GPT Image — ArtificialAnlys · 2026-09-19
• Grok Imagine Image 2.0 jumps from #18 to #4 in text-to-image with 1,154 Elo — XFreeze · 2026-09-20

1 near-duplicate retellings: ArtificialAnlys