Adobe Firefly is Adobe's generative studio for images, video and audio, built into its own web app. It combines Adobe's own Firefly Image models with a roster of other companies' models in one place, so what decides whether it suits you is whether its credit-metered plans, billed annually in monthly instalments, match how much you generate.
What is Adobe Firefly?
Firefly is made by Adobe Inc., a United States company founded in 1982. It runs as a web app at firefly.adobe.com. Adobe builds its own Firefly Image models, currently up to Firefly Image 5 in preview, and alongside them hosts other companies' models, including Google, OpenAI, Kling, Black Forest Labs, ElevenLabs, Topaz Labs, Luma AI and Runway.
What Adobe Firefly generates
The newest Adobe-built model is Firefly Image 5, in preview, with Firefly Image 3 the default in the generation tool. Images can be shaped with a Style Reference panel, which takes an uploaded or gallery image, and a separate Composition Reference panel for structural guidance, including a sketch or line-art reference. Character consistency is a named feature, generating variations of a character in new situations while keeping its style consistent.
The image editor removes objects, expands backgrounds, upscales and removes backgrounds as its own labelled tools. A public beta of Firefly Custom Models lets you upload your own images to train a model that captures your signature style. Firefly also generates vectors, and video clips at flexible resolutions and aspect ratios. There is no seed field and no negative-prompt field in the Text to Image tool.
Working with other people
Firefly Services gives developers a separate API and Creative Cloud APIs for integrating generation into a workflow, priced apart from the consumer plans covered here. Bulk actions are available for generating at volume. Firefly itself runs on the web.
Adobe Firefly pricing: what each plan gives
The Free plan costs nothing and gives limited free daily generations across standard and premium features, on a selection of image, video and audio models. Prices are shown here in euros, as the vendor's site served them, and are not converted.
Firefly Standard costs €11.35 a month, billed annually, and gives 2,000 generative credits a month. Firefly Pro costs €22.73 a month, billed annually. Firefly Pro Plus costs €56.84 a month, billed annually. No true month-to-month rate is published for any paid plan; every price shown is an annual commitment paid in monthly instalments.
Rights and privacy
Adobe's Terms of Use state that you own your content and Adobe does not. Those same terms have you indemnify Adobe, rather than the other way round. Adobe will not use your content to train its generative models, with one exception: content you choose to submit to the Adobe Stock marketplace, which is opt-in.
Firefly is covered by Adobe's SOC 2 Type 2 attestation for Creative Cloud, and Adobe publishes a dedicated GDPR page. Support runs through a help center, Discord and the Adobe Firefly Community forum.
Who Adobe Firefly suits
Adobe Firefly suits people who want one place to reach Adobe's own image model alongside models from several other companies, plus editing tools like background removal, outpainting and upscaling, and the option to train a custom style on their own images.
It suits less well anyone who wants a seed value or a negative prompt to steer a generation precisely, since the Text to Image tool has neither, or anyone who wants a month-to-month price, since every published plan is an annual commitment paid monthly.
How Adobe Firefly compares
Adobe Firefly scores 8.1 out of 10 among the AI image generators we rate. These three do the same job and are the closest to it, compared on what each vendor publishes.
Midjourney
Firefly gives you a free plan and Midjourney doesn't, its cheapest tier starting at $10 a month with no trial on the main product. Firefly's terms say it does not train on what you make, while Midjourney gives you no way to opt out. Midjourney's edge is a seed you can fix and reuse plus a Stealth Mode for private generations on its higher plans, both missing from Firefly.
Pick Midjourney if you want a reusable seed or private generations on a paid plan.
Pick Adobe Firefly if you want a free plan that skips training on your images.
Ideogram
Training is the split here: Firefly's terms say it never uses what you make, while Ideogram only guarantees that on its Enterprise plan, so standard accounts have no opt out. Firefly also generates from a pose, sketch or depth map and exports true vector files, both missing from Ideogram. Ideogram counters with Magic Prompt to rewrite your wording and a fixed seed to reuse, on a paid plan starting at $20 a month.
Pick Ideogram if you want Magic Prompt, a reusable seed and negative prompts.
Pick Adobe Firefly if you want pose or depth control and true vector exports.
Recraft
Recraft's free plan is personal use only, with commercial rights starting on its $12 a month Basic plan. Firefly keeps a character consistent across images and takes pose or depth map input, capabilities Recraft doesn't list. Recraft counters with four support channels against Firefly's two.
Pick Recraft if you want vector exports or more support channels and platforms.
Pick Adobe Firefly if you need character consistency or pose and depth map control.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Adobe Firefly cost?
There is a free plan with limited daily generations. Paid plans, billed annually in monthly instalments, are shown in euros: Firefly Standard at €11.35 a month, Firefly Pro at €22.73 a month and Firefly Pro Plus at €56.84 a month.
Does Adobe Firefly use its own image model or other companies'?
Both. Adobe builds its own Firefly Image models, up to Firefly Image 5 in preview, and also hosts other companies' models, including Google, OpenAI, Kling, Black Forest Labs, ElevenLabs, Topaz Labs, Luma AI and Runway, in the same app.
Can I train Firefly on my own style?
Yes. Firefly Custom Models, in public beta, let you upload your own images to train a model that captures your signature style.
Does Adobe Firefly train on my content?
No, with one exception: Adobe will not use your content to train its generative models unless you choose to submit that content to the Adobe Stock marketplace, which is opt-in.
