AI Image Generation Cheat Sheet

AI image generation tools compared — DALL-E 3 vs Midjourney vs Stable Diffusion SDXL, parameters guide, style prompting, and use case selection for production and.

Last Updated: May 1, 2025

Major Tools Comparison

Feature	DALL-E 3	Midjourney v6	SDXL (Stable Diffusion)
Access	OpenAI API / ChatGPT	Discord / Web app	Open-source / Replicate / ComfyUI
Prompt Style	Natural language	Keyword + parameters	Detailed technical prompts
Resolution	1024×1024 (1792×1024)	Up to 2048×2048	1024×1024 (upscaleable)
Speed	5-15s	30-60s (Relax mode)	2-30s (depends on GPU)
Control	Low (follows prompt)	Medium (style refs, --cref)	Very high (ControlNet, IP-Adapter)
Inpainting	Built-in (ChatGPT)	Vary (Region)	Inpaint + ControlNet inpainting
Cost	$0.040–$0.120/image	$10–$60/mo subscription	$0.001–$0.01/image (GPU rental)
Text Rendering	Excellent	Good	Poor (improving with SD3)
Photorealism	Very good	Excellent	Excellent (with right model)
Safety	Strong filters	Moderate	None (model-dependent)

SDXL Parameters Guide

--steps 30

Number of denoising steps: 20-30 for standard, 40-50 for detailed — higher = more refined but diminishing returns

--cfg 7

Classifier-Free Guidance scale: 5-9 typical — higher = more prompt adherence (but artifacts >12)

--seed 42

Fixed seed for reproducible outputs — same seed + same prompt + same settings = same image

--negative_prompt 'ugly, blurry, distorted'

What to avoid — use 'bad anatomy, extra limbs, watermark, text' for portraits

--sampler DPM++ 2M Karras

Sampler choice: DPM++ 2M Karras (best all-around), Euler a (creative), DDIM (fast)

--width 1024 --height 1024

SDXL native resolution is 1024×1024 — significantly different from this degrades quality

--hires_fix

Hi-res fix: upscale with a second pass to avoid duplication artifacts at high resolutions

--refiner 0.8

SDXL refiner: switch to refiner model at 80% of steps for better detail — pass switch_at parameter

Midjourney Parameters

--ar 16:9

Aspect ratio: --ar 1:1 (square), 16:9 (widescreen), 9:16 (vertical), 2:3 (portrait), 3:2 (landscape)

--stylize 100

Stylization strength: 0=accurate, 100=default, 1000=max artistic — higher = more Midjourney 'look'

--chaos 50

Variation between grid images: 0=consistent, 100=very different — use for exploring ideas

--quality 1

Quality/render time: 0.25 (fast), 0.5, 1 (default), 2 (max detail, 2x cost)

--v 6.0

Model version: --v 6.0 (latest), --niji 6 (anime style), --v 5.2 (previous stable)

--cref

Character reference: maintain consistent character across images

--sref

Style reference: match the style of a reference image

/describe

Reverse prompt: upload an image and Midjourney suggests prompts that would generate it

Use Case Selection

Use Case	Best Tool	Why
Marketing visuals	Midjourney	Best aesthetics out of the box
Product mockups	DALL-E 3	Accurate text rendering, natural language
Game assets	SDXL + fine-tune	Consistent style via LoRA fine-tuning
App icons/logos	Midjourney / DALL-E 3	Clean compositions, good text
Photo-realistic avatars	SDXL + IP-Adapter	Face consistency with reference images
Storyboard / concept art	Midjourney	Fast iteration, strong style control
API integration	DALL-E 3 (OpenAI API)	Simplest API integration
Custom model training	SDXL	Open-source, full control, LoRA training
E-commerce product photos	SDXL + inpainting	Replace backgrounds, add products to scenes

Pro Tip: DALL-E 3 for natural language prompting (beginners), Midjourney for aesthetics (creatives), SDXL for control + fine-tuning (developers). Use the right tool for your workflow.