NovelAI
What it is
Overview
An anime-focused AI generator that produces both images and written stories. Built on proprietary models rather than wrapped versions of mainstream tools. The audience pulling 4 million monthly visits skews toward creative writers, anime artists, and content creators working in Japanese visual styles. Positions itself around creative freedom and fewer content restrictions than general-purpose generators.
At a glance
Usability & Quality overview
Best for
- Short story writers
- Fan fiction authors
- World-building enthusiasts
Watch out for
- Novelists seeking a writing tool
- Users needing reliable export functionality
- Those sensitive to confusing pricing
Real product, not a wrapperIndependent product
NovelAI offers proprietary anime-focused AI models that allow NSFW content generation, which mainstream tools like ChatGPT and Claude don't support. It combines specialized image generation with creative writing tools and world-building features in one platform.
Strong evidenceQuality score
NovelAI is a fun collaborative storytelling tool for short stories and fan fiction, but it is not suitable for writing novels due to deceptive naming, clunky interface, and recurring export issues.
Plans
Pricing
How free is free?
Trial only
30 free generations, then $10+/mo required
What you get for free
- 30 free AI image generations
- Up to 1024x1024 resolution
- Anime-style art generation
Behind the paywall
- Unlimited generationsTablet ($10/mo)
- Advanced editing featuresScroll ($15/mo)
- Premium models and featuresOpus ($25/mo)
Community feedback
Aggregated reviews
Ratings and quoted comments below are aggregated from third-party sources and reflect those users' views, not SearchTools.ai's.
What reviewers talk about
themes inside the Sentiment pillar — not score ingredients
45Output Quality56 mentions
“This is the best web-based AI generator for furry and anime images that allows NSFW content, and arguably offers the best inpainting of any AI without requiring any setup. However, they’ve been taking steps in the wrong direction with each new update since they released NAI 4.5.”
“This is the best web-based AI generator for furry and anime images that allows NSFW content, and arguably offers the best inpainting of any AI without requiring any setup. However, they’ve been taking steps in the wrong direction with each new update since they released NAI 4.5.”
“Textgen is ancient, 8k context is abysmal, literally use claude , even chatgpt , both can be jailbroken pretty much for anything uncensored. Image gen is unmatched though and at that price, that alone makes up for it for me to continue the subscription.”
“Novelcrafter and $5-10 / month on openrouter is 10x better than NovelAI ever was or likely ever will be, for text gen. I have yet to hit any censorship, even starting out NSFW and going from there.”
42Value & Pricing19 mentions
“I've been wanting to try Novel out but haven't gotten to it yet. What I can say is: FL is definitely worth the $7. The paid models can be a bit slower during peak hours, won't lie about that. But the whole system alone it is worth it imho. The models, the memory, the customizatio”
“With PayPal being removed, it is now impossible for me to pay for NovelAI. A large part of the world does not use credit cards, and it's nearly impossible to just get one where I live. It's super uncomfortable having to jump thru many many hoops just to pay you guys. Please, plea”
“Hello, my subscription and my partner's subscription have expired, but we don't have a credit card to pay directly. I'm using PayPal, and we can no longer complete the payment.”
“Thanks for the info.Recently, I was surprised that PayPal suddenly vanished from the payment method options.I had to manually renew, as my credit card didn't have available credit when PayPal tried to auto-renew. [A tip for Firefox users]I tried adding my credit card directly as ”
26Reliability12 mentions
“So context...generally i always pay monthly in time but this time, my check came a bit late than usual so i tried to pay with my card once more to recover my subscription but out of nowhere i cant pay, it rejects both my credit card and my débit card and idk whats wrong...at firs”
“Don't panic just yet. I get this issue nearly every time I have to renew or change cards, and has happened to me at least three or four times. I'd usually call the bank, the bank will say it's on NovelAI's side, then I'll contact NoivelAI who says it's on the Bank's end. It's a c”
“I've been a NovelAI subscriber in the past, but then let my subscription lapse during the payment service switch at the start of 2025 because my locally hosted LLM in the 12B class almost reached parity with Kayra. Now I tried the GLM model with my 50 free messages and it convinc”
“PayPal payments remain under maintenance, and we currently do not have an estimated resolution time. Active PayPal subscriptions are expected to renew as usual, provided there are no payment-related issues (such as card declines or bank authorization failures within PayPal). We a”
36Supportthin data · 7 mentions
“This actually seems like the right answer, under the assumption that you may have several questions like this to ask. They certainly would not have the time to answer all of them and collectively the community does, so they are providing good service by directing you to a place w”
“Don't panic just yet. I get this issue nearly every time I have to renew or change cards, and has happened to me at least three or four times. I'd usually call the bank, the bank will say it's on NovelAI's side, then I'll contact NoivelAI who says it's on the Bank's end. It's a c”
“I've been a NovelAI subscriber in the past, but then let my subscription lapse during the payment service switch at the start of 2025 because my locally hosted LLM in the 12B class almost reached parity with Kayra. Now I tried the GLM model with my 50 free messages and it convinc”
“I've ran into this before, but all I had to do was use my credit card. Now that's not even working. Of course their support "can't help" and I still don't understand why they have PayPal as an option and that hasn't worked in forever. Smh”
46Ease of Use21 mentions
“Now before everyone starts their complaining consider the criteria: Needs to be as easy to use and accessible at comparable, if not better, price. Needs to be unrestricted with privacy protections assured. Must be at least as good as a writing assistant/co-author without addition”
“Thanks for the info.Recently, I was surprised that PayPal suddenly vanished from the payment method options.I had to manually renew, as my credit card didn't have available credit when PayPal tried to auto-renew. [A tip for Firefox users]I tried adding my credit card directly as ”
“I'll answer, which is the answer you would have gotten had you done the tutorial or joined the discord. NAI's model is not an instruct model. It can't take commands. It's a cowriter. If you want it to describe a bathroom, you have to guide it to where it would naturally do so. "D”
“Novel AI (not taking into account image gen) is hopelessly outdated. It's 70B model, no matter how hard they train and adjust it, loses even to 120B models - and that's not even talking about 600B+ parameter ones. What used to be achieved by training and ridiculous amount of mode”
60Trust derived from dimensions + predator detectionview math
A composite of the quality dimensions weighted by mention volume, then capped by predator / abuse-detection rules.
Reasoning
Capabilities
Key features
Photo & Image Generator
Generates original images and photos from text prompts and reference inputs
Story Writing
Drafts fiction, plots, and narrative prose from prompts, characters, or outlines
Creative Writing
Helps you draft stories, poems, and fiction with original prose and ideas
The honest take
What users love & flag
Distinct themes surfaced across 15 reviews from 2 sources — each grounded in real review text, ranked by how often it comes up.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is NovelAI?
NovelAI is an AI-powered creative platform that specializes in generating anime-inspired art and stories. It combines image generation and writing assistance tools designed specifically for creators who want fewer content restrictions than typical AI platforms. The platform focuses on anime-style content and storytelling with enhanced creative freedom.
Is NovelAI free to use?
NovelAI offers a free trial with 30 generations at up to 1024x1024 resolution to test the service. After that, it operates on a subscription model with three paid tiers: Tablet ($10/month), Scroll ($15/month), and Opus ($25/month). Pay-as-you-go options are also available for users who prefer not to subscribe monthly.
What makes NovelAI different from other AI art generators?
NovelAI distinguishes itself by maintaining creative freedom with fewer content restrictions compared to other AI art generators that have implemented stricter ethical filters. It's specifically designed for anime-style content and offers specialized features like anime character creation, with tools tailored for this artistic style rather than general-purpose image generation.
What is Vibe Transfer and how does it work?
Vibe Transfer is NovelAI's technology that extracts aesthetic elements from your favorite generated images to inspire new creations. This allows you to maintain consistent artistic styles across multiple generations by transferring the visual 'vibe' or aesthetic qualities from reference images to new artwork you're creating.
Can I edit images after generating them with NovelAI?
Yes, NovelAI includes comprehensive image editing tools. You can use Image2Image to modify existing compositions while maintaining their structure, inpainting with brush tools for corrections, background removal, and format conversion between line art, sketches, and colored versions. Additional features include emotion adjustment, decluttering, and image enhancement for increased detail levels.
What writing capabilities does NovelAI offer?
NovelAI provides a creative writing editor and recently introduced Xialong, a text generation model based on ZhipuAI's GLM-4.6 that's fine-tuned with NovelAI's creative datasets. The writing assistant helps create stories with improved consistency and can adapt to different writing styles, making it suitable for various creative writing projects.
What are Anlas and how do they work in NovelAI's pricing?
Anlas is NovelAI's internal currency system used for generating content. All paid plans include monthly bonus Anlas refills - Tablet and Scroll plans provide 1,000 bonus Anlas monthly, while Opus offers 10,000. All subscription tiers also include a 20% discount when purchasing additional Anlas beyond the monthly allocation.
Can I create multiple characters in a single image with NovelAI?
Yes, NovelAI's image generation system supports multiple character prompts, allowing you to design separate characters within a single composition. This feature gives you precise control over complex scenes with multiple anime characters, making it useful for creating detailed artwork with multiple subjects.
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