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Most buyers should pick ComfyUI.
Pick ComfyUI if you want a cloud option, workflow APIs, or a shared team workspace; its cloud plans start at $20 monthly, or $16 per month billed annually. Pick InvokeAI if local, unlimited image generation and layered editing matter more: Community Edition is free and Apache 2.0, but requires compatible hardware. Invoke’s listed Starter-to-Enterprise hosted tiers have been sunset, so don’t treat their old prices as an available alternative. Neither is a simple prompt-box-first tool.
01Side by side
| ComfyUI | InvokeAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $0; cloud Standard $20 monthly, or $16 annual | $0 local; hosted tiers sunset |
| Free plan | 5 GPU runs; free Agent credits for new users | Unlimited local generation |
| Best for | Custom workflows, cloud access, and API deployment | Local image generation and layered editing |
| Core strength | Agent-built workflows and production APIs | Layered canvas and composition controls |
| Learning curve | Review ease-of-use score: 5/10 | Review ease-of-use score: 8/10 |
| Integrations/data | Desktop, Cloud, and developer API | Local data; Flux, SDXL, ControlNet, and LoRAs |
| Team/seat costs | $700 monthly; up to 50 members | Free self-managed local seats |
| Support | Review support score: 5/10 | Review support score: 4/10 |
ComfyUI Choose ComfyUI if
- Choose ComfyUI if you want cloud access and custom workflows.
- Choose ComfyUI if you need workflow APIs for your app.
- Choose ComfyUI if your team wants shared workflows and credits.
InvokeAI Choose InvokeAI if
- Choose InvokeAI if you want free, unlimited local generation.
- Choose InvokeAI if layered image editing is central to your work.
- Choose InvokeAI if keeping prompts and creations on your hardware matters.
02Pricing compared
InvokeAI costs nothing for local generation with compatible hardware: Community Edition includes unlimited local generation and is Apache 2.0-licensed. ComfyUI has a free option, but it includes five GPU runs and free Agent credits for new users, not unlimited cloud use.
For Comfy Cloud, Standard is $20 monthly or $16 per month billed annually. It includes 50,400 annual credits, a 30-minute workflow runtime cap, five API builds and two deployments. InvokeAI’s listed hosted Starter tier was $19 monthly or $15 per month annually, but its hosted tiers have since been sunset. Treat those prices as historical, not an available alternative. Comfy API GPU use costs $1.75–$11.23 per GPU hour, billed by the second.
03Features and depth
ComfyUI is built around a visible node graph: connect models, processing steps and outputs, then adjust the workflow. Community templates offer a starting point, while Comfy Agent can plan, build and run workflows from a task description. ComfyUI also has a desktop app, Comfy Cloud and developer APIs for deploying workflows. Cloud plan limits matter: Standard allows two deployments and up to two workers per deployment.
InvokeAI combines a layer-based canvas for drawing and editing with node workflows for reproducible pipelines. It supports Flux, SDXL, SD 1.5, checkpoints, LoRAs, Textual Inversions and ControlNets. Its listed tools include batch generation, prompt wildcards and high-resolution upscaling; ControlNet can use depth maps, edges and poses. Invoke’s clearest distinction is local image work and layered editing. ComfyUI’s is workflow flexibility plus a current cloud and API option.
04Ease of use and learning curve
Neither is a prompt-box-first tool. ComfyUI’s node canvas makes each step visible and adjustable, but building or changing a workflow means working with those connected steps. Templates and Comfy Agent can help users get started; they do not make the product a simple text-to-image interface.
InvokeAI offers a layer-based canvas and familiar editing actions such as drawing, painting and sketching. That may suit image editors better, though local generation still requires compatible hardware. Our review rates InvokeAI higher for ease of use than ComfyUI, but both ask users to learn a workflow-oriented interface. Choose based on whether you prefer nodes and cloud options or local image editing.
Questions people ask
Which is better, ComfyUI or InvokeAI?
Choose ComfyUI if you need cloud access, workflow APIs or shared workspaces. Choose InvokeAI if you want unlimited local generation and layered editing on compatible hardware. InvokeAI’s hosted tiers have been sunset, so its old hosted prices should not drive a current buying decision.
Can I run ComfyUI and InvokeAI locally?
Both offer local use: ComfyUI has a desktop app for your own hardware, and InvokeAI’s Community Edition runs locally with unlimited generation on compatible hardware. ComfyUI also offers Comfy Cloud; InvokeAI’s listed hosted tiers are no longer active, according to the published pricing information.
Does InvokeAI have a current hosted plan?
The listed Starter, Indie, Premier and Enterprise hosted tiers have been sunset, so we would not treat their published prices as currently available. InvokeAI’s active Community Edition is free and self-managed. Comfy Cloud is the current option here with published plan prices.
Which one supports workflow APIs?
ComfyUI supports deploying workflows as APIs. Its Standard plan lists five API builds and two deployments, while Pro lists ten builds and five deployments. InvokeAI supports node workflows and custom parameters, but the published feature information does not list an API deployment offering.