// I want to solve · Creators / Small teams & business
🎬 Creators: AI images and video
Choose image, video and editing tools and build a script-to-final-cut pipeline; check commercial rights and label AI-generated content where rules require it (e.g. mainland China).
5 steps6 alternatives4 stacks · 2 problemschecked 2026-10-22
How to do it
- 01Decide the use and rights first: for commercial work pick services and plans that allow it, and keep generation records
- 02Images: explore styles in the cloud with Midjourney / Jimeng / Adobe Firefly; for control, batches and unlimited runs use ComfyUI locally with open models
- 03Video: generate 5–10 s shots with Kling, Runway, Vidu or Hailuo, storyboarding first
- 04Edit in CapCut to unify captions, voice-over and pacing, then export per platform
- 05Publish: on mainland Chinese platforms, declare AI-generated content and use the platform’s labelling tools as required by the AI-generated content labelling measures (effective 2025-09-01)
What it costs
Free start
Jimeng, Kling, CapCut and others have free credits; ComfyUI is free locally (needs a GPU)
Individual paid
Generators mostly sell monthly credits, entry tiers often from about $10/mo; see their sites
Team / enterprise
Team / enterprise plans add commercial licences and asset management; see their sites
Prices change; the vendor’s official page wins. Subscriptions compared · API prices
Alternatives: which to pick
| Option | Choose it when |
|---|---|
| Midjourney | Aesthetics and style exploration |
| 即梦 AI | Chinese prompts and domestic publishing |
| ComfyUI | Local, reproducible, batch |
| 可灵 / Runway | Generating video shots |
| 剪映 / CapCut | Editing, captions, templates |
| Adobe Firefly | Design teams that prioritise commercial safety |
✓ Good fit
- Short videos, product shots, covers, ad creatives, storyboards
✗ Not a good fit
- Using a real person’s face or voice without consent: high legal risk
Ready-made stacks
All stacks AI video production From script to finished video: generate, edit, caption and voice. 4 tools Image & design generation Generate and refine product shots, marketing visuals and 3D assets. 4 tools Creator / self-media Topics, copy, covers, short video and scheduling. 4 tools Designer workflow From concept to hi-fi: generate, design systems, hand off to coding agents. 4 tools
Software that helps
All software Midjourney AI image & video AI image and video generator known for its artistic style. Closed / commercial Paid WebDiscord 即梦 AI AI image & video ByteDance's AI image and video creation community (Dreamina overseas). Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid 可灵 Kling AI image & video Kuaishou's AI video and image generation platform. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid Runway AI image & video Generative video and image platform for film and creative work. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAPI Vidu AI image & video Shengshu's video generator supporting reference images and videos. Closed / commercial Freemium WebAPI 海螺 Hailuo AI image & video MiniMax's text-to-video and image-to-video tool. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid Higgsfield AI image & video AI video and image studio aggregating many models, focused on cinematic shots. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOS ComfyUI AI image & videov0.39.2 ★ 142k Node-based diffusion workflow GUI, a de-facto standard for image/video generation. Open source localWebAPI Fooocus AI image & video ★ 54k Simplified Stable Diffusion UI focused on prompting. Open source local InvokeAI AI image & videowin-arm64-wheels-v1 ★ 29k Creative engine for Stable Diffusion for professionals. Open source local Adobe Firefly AI image & video Adobe's generative studio for images, video and audio with multiple models. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid CapCut（剪映） AI image & video ByteDance's video editor with AI captions, voiceover and generation. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid Canva AI image & video Online design and office suite with AI image, editing and presentation features. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid HeyGen AI image & video Avatar video generator turning text, photos or voice into talking-head videos. Closed / commercial Freemium WebAPI Photoroom AI image & video AI studio for e-commerce product photos: cutouts, backgrounds and batch edits. Closed / commercial Freemium WebiOSAndroid
Problems & solutions
All problems- How-toGenerate images locally with ComfyUIComfyUI is a node-based local image generator: unlimited, reproducible and batch-friendly. Beginners can start with simpler Fooocus or InvokeAI.
- How-toLabelling AI-generated images and video on Chinese platformsChina’s Measures for Labelling AI-Generated Synthetic Content took effect on 1 September 2025: users who publish AI-generated content must declare it and use the platform’s labelling tools, and must not remove or alter labels.
Official references
Compiled from official documentation on 2026-10-22; not reproduced in our own environment. Follow the official docs if they differ.