AI Model Explorer: Compare 317 Models by Cost & Quality
Replicate lists 600+ models with no cost comparison. Hugging Face has model cards with no pricing. Neither helps you answer the question that actually matters: which model gives you the best result for what you can spend?
FairStack’s Model Explorer is a free tool that lets you filter AI models by modality (image, voice, video, music, 3D, talking head), sort by cost or quality tier, and see the exact infrastructure cost plus platform fee before you generate anything. This page explains how the tool works, what models are available, and why we selected them.
Model Explorer
[Interactive component: Filter by modality, sort by cost/quality/speed. Renders live from FairStack’s model registry.]
The explorer shows every model FairStack offers, organized by modality:
Prices below are rendered from the live catalog every time the site is built. The models page always has the current price for every model, shown before you spend.
Image Models
| Model | Type | FairStack Price |
|---|---|---|
| Z-Image Turbo | Text-to-image | $0.0048/image |
| GPT Image 2 (low) | Text-to-image | $0.00744/image |
| Ideogram V3 | Text-to-image | $0.021/image |
| Grok Imagine T2I | Text-to-image | $0.024/image |
| FLUX.2 | Text-to-image | $0.03/image |
| FLUX.1 Kontext Pro | Image editing | $0.03/image |
| Seedream 4.5 | Text-to-image | $0.039/image |
| Nano Banana Pro | Text-to-image | $0.1608/image |
Video Models
| Model | Type | FairStack Price | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok Imagine T2V | Text-to-video | $0.108 (720p) | 6s |
| Hailuo 2.3 Fast I2V | Image-to-video | $0.1872 (768p) | 6s |
| Seedance v1.5 Pro | Image-to-video | $0.156 (480p, no audio) | 4s |
| WAN 2.6 T2V | Text-to-video | $0.42 (720p) | 5s |
| Kling 3.0 Pro | Text-to-video | $0.81 | 5s |
| Veo 3.1 Quality | Text-to-video | $1.53 (1080p) | 8s |
Voice Models
| Model | Type | FairStack Price | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Audio S2.1 Pro | TTS | $0.018/1K chars | Per 1K chars |
| IndexTTS2 | TTS + cloning | $0.108/1K chars | Per 1K chars |
| ElevenLabs TTS Multilingual V2 | TTS | $0.216/1K chars | Per 1K chars |
| ElevenLabs Sound Effects | Sound effects | $0.00144/s | Per second |
| Stable Audio Open | Sound effects | $0.012 per generation | Per generation |
Music Models
| Model | FairStack Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Suno Generate Music | $0.072/track | Full-length songs with vocals |
| Mureka V9.5 (Song) | $0.18/track | Full-length songs with vocals |
Why Open-Source Models?
FairStack runs open-source and open-weight models such as FLUX, WAN, IndexTTS2 and Whisper. We also offer commercial API models (Google Imagen 4 Ultra, ElevenLabs, Kling, Veo) through provider partnerships.
Three reasons for this approach:
1. Cost transparency is only possible with visible infrastructure. When we run FLUX.1 Schnell on an A100 GPU, we know the exact cost per second of compute. We publish that cost and add our 20% platform fee on top. Proprietary models with opaque pricing make this impossible — we can only pass through what the provider charges, plus our platform fee.
2. Open-source models improve faster than any single company’s model. FLUX and WAN both released major quality improvements in the past 6 months. When a new open-source model surpasses the current best, we add it. You get the upgrade automatically — no waiting for one company’s R&D roadmap.
3. No vendor lock-in on either side. If a better hosting provider appears, we can move open-source models without changing the model itself. If you want to self-host the same model, you can — the weights are public. FairStack competes on convenience and pricing, not on locking you into a proprietary format.
For commercial models (Runway, Imagen, ElevenLabs, Kling), we pass through the provider’s cost plus our platform fee. The pricing formula is the same — you see infrastructure cost + platform fee for every generation, regardless of whether the model is open-source or commercial.
How We Select Models
Not every model makes the cut. FairStack curates rather than catalogs. The selection criteria:
Quality gate. Every model must produce output that a professional would use in production. We test across standard prompts and reject models with consistent artifacts, low coherence, or poor prompt adherence. Models that pass are assigned a quality tier (budget, standard, premium).
Cost efficiency. For each modality, we maintain at least three price tiers. The model explorer makes this tradeoff visible.
Provider reliability. Models must be available with >99% uptime through at least one of our infrastructure providers (RunPod, Kie.ai, fal.ai). We route each model to the provider with the best available rate and fall back automatically if one provider goes down.
Update cadence. We evaluate new models monthly and retire models that have been surpassed. When WAN 2.6 shipped, it replaced WAN 2.1 as the recommended video model at its price tier. Old models remain available but are marked as superseded in the explorer.
Model Cost Breakdown: Infrastructure + Platform Fee
Every price in the model explorer follows the same formula:
Your cost = Infrastructure cost + 20% platform feeThe infrastructure cost is what FairStack pays the GPU provider (RunPod, Kie.ai, or fal.ai) to run the model. The platform fee is FairStack’s revenue — a flat 20% on every generation. No subscription required. No tiers.
Worked example — Nano Banana 2 (text-to-image, 1K): you pay $0.048/image, which is the provider’s cost for the image plus the 20% platform fee.
Every generation receipt shows this breakdown. No credits to decode, no hidden fees, no “compute units” that obscure the real cost.
You can check the cost of any generation before running it:
# Estimate cost before generating (nothing is deducted from your balance)
curl -X POST https://api.fairstack.ai/v1/estimate \
-H "Authorization: Bearer fs_your_api_key" \
-d '{
"modality": "image",
"model": "nano-banana-2-t2i"
}'The response gives the exact cost in microdollars with its breakdown: infrastructure cost, the 20% platform fee, and the total.
FAQ
How often do you add new models?
We evaluate new models monthly and add any that pass our quality gate at a competitive price point. When a model is added, existing users can access it immediately — no plan upgrade required.
Can I request a specific model?
Yes. If there is a model you want that we do not currently offer, contact us. If it meets our quality and reliability criteria, we will add it. Many of our current models were added based on user requests.
What happens when a model is retired?
Retired models are marked as “superseded” in the explorer with a pointer to the recommended replacement. We keep retired models available for at least 90 days after marking them superseded, so existing workflows are not disrupted.
Why are some models more expensive on FairStack than self-hosting?
FairStack’s price includes infrastructure management, auto-scaling, CDN storage for outputs, and the persistent asset library. If you self-host a model, you pay only the GPU cost but also manage deployment, scaling, monitoring, and storage yourself. FairStack is priced for people who want to generate, not operate infrastructure.
Do all models support the API?
Yes. Every model in the explorer is accessible through the REST API and MCP server at the same price as the web app. No separate API pricing tier.
Want to see the full model catalog with live pricing? Open the Model Explorer — filter by modality, sort by cost, and check prices before you generate. Or add funds ($1 minimum) and try any model.