Ideogram converts written descriptions into images, competing directly with DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion in a crowded market. Its core strength is rendering legible text within images—a notoriously difficult task for generative models—plus native support for non-English prompts. The free tier grants limited monthly credits; paid plans start around $10/month but scale quickly with usage. The real friction point isn't the base price but the tokenomics: heavy users hit costs faster than simpler, flatter-rate competitors. The tool works well for mockups, marketing assets, and concept work, but requires budget discipline.