PixelLab
Concept art & 2D assets · Free tier + paid- Commercial use
- Commercial use allowed
- Free plan
- Free planFree trial tier, no credit card
- Ship free-plan output?
- Yes
- Engines
- Any (standard file export / engine-agnostic)
PixelLab vs Retro Diffusion
Facts from each vendor's published pages, checked . Compare different tools →
Our ranking
In Concept art & 2D assets, Retro Diffusion ranks #1 and PixelLab ranks #6. No independent quality tests found. Ranked on game-dev fit: commercial use allowed; Godot, Unity, Unreal integrations; API and official MCP server.
Retro Diffusion
Concept art & 2D assets · Pay as you go- Commercial use
- Commercial use allowed
- Free plan
- Free trial or credits onlyFree starting balance for new accounts
- Ship free-plan output?
- Yes (free option is a trial or credits)
- Engines
- Godot, Unity, Unreal
Bottom line for game devs
- Commercial use: both commercial use allowed (PixelLab terms; Retro Diffusion terms).
- Free plan: PixelLab: free plan (Free trial tier, no credit card) pricing. Retro Diffusion: free trial or credits only (Free starting balance for new accounts) pricing.
- Shipping free-plan output in a paid game: both allow it, per their published terms.
- API and MCP: both: public API, official MCP server.
- Engine integrations stated by the vendor: PixelLab: none stated (standard file export). Retro Diffusion: Godot, Unity, Unreal.
Best for
Pixel-art characters, rotations, animations and tilesets
Pay-per-image pixel-art sprites and tiles
What it does
AI generator for pixel art game assets: characters, 4/8-direction rotations, text- and skeleton-based sprite animations, tilesets, maps and UI elements.
Pixel-art-specific image models for sprites, tiles, tilesets and animations, plus low-poly 3D model generation with export for Godot, Unity and Unreal. Also sells an Aseprite extension.
Verdict
For 2D devs who need pixel-art sprites, rotations and animations; outputs are usable commercially on every plan, but its terms bar training other models on them.
For pixel-art devs who want pay-per-image pricing with no subscription; the site says all output is yours for commercial use.
Tasks●
Concept art & 2D assets
Concept art & 2D assets, 3D model generation
Engines●
Any (standard file export / engine-agnostic)
Godot, Unity, Unreal
Free plan●
Free plan Free trial tier, no credit card
Free trial or credits only Free starting balance for new accounts
Pricing
Free trial tier (no credit card). Paid plans listed at $12/month (2,000 generations), $24/month (5,000) and $50/month (10,000). API and MCP calls use your plan's generations; separate USD API credits are only needed without a subscription or once the plan's generations run out (PixelLab, by email, 17 Oct 2026; the API's balance endpoint reports both). source
Pay per generation from a prepaid balance: images from US$0.03 (RD Fast), US$0.06, US$0.18 (RD Pro); animations from US$0.07 per clip. New accounts get a free starting balance. source
Export formats
Not stated by vendor
Not stated by vendor
Commercial use
Commercial use allowed
Pricing page lists "Use generated images commercially" and says the user owns the rights to generations, except using them to train models. Terms also reference the Open RAIL-M license. source
Pricing page lists "Use generated images commercially" and says the user owns the rights to generations, except using them to train models. Terms also reference the Open RAIL-M license. source
Commercial use allowed
Official FAQ: "Everything you generate is yours, for personal and commercial projects alike." source
Official FAQ: "Everything you generate is yours, for personal and commercial projects alike." source
Revenue share / caps
Not stated by vendor
Not stated by vendor
API
Available. REST API; calls draw on subscription generations, or on USD credits without a plan source
Available. REST API (pay per generation) source
MCP server
Official MCP server. Remote MCP server for coding assistants (bearer token) source
Official MCP server. Hosted MCP server source
Last checked
Rows marked ● differ between the two tools. Licence badges: green = commercial use allowed (including any free plan or trial), amber = paid plans only, restricted, or allowed but with no free plan, red = not allowed, grey = not stated by vendor or not applicable. Read the vendor's current terms before you ship.