The best AI image detector for most people checking the odd image on a computer is Hive’s free Hive Detect, which did well in independent research and suggests which generator likely made an image. If you check images on your phone and don’t want them uploaded, Expose AI runs entirely on the device. Developers who need an API with published prices should look at Sightengine or AI or Not. And for images that may carry provenance labels, Content Credentials Verify and Google’s Gemini SynthID check give certainty that no classifier can, but only for the images they cover.
No detector is 100% accurate, and every vendor’s accuracy figure comes from its own testing. Pick based on where you check images, how many, and what happens to the file.
The detectors at a glance #
| Tool | Where it runs | Free option | Paid (at time of writing) | Standout | Main limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hive Detect | Web, Chrome extension | Yes | Enterprise API via sales | Strong in independent tests; likely generator | Uploads to Hive; API pricing not public |
| AI or Not | Web, API | 20 image checks a month | Pro from $5 a month | Images, video, audio and text in one account | Small free allowance |
| Sightengine | Web demo, API | 2,000 operations a month | From $29 a month | Wide generator coverage, developer-friendly | Built for developers more than casual users |
| Illuminarty | Web | Basic checks | From $10 a month | Highlights AI regions on paid plans | Key features behind paywall |
| Expose AI | iPhone and Android app | Unlimited, with ads | $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year | Fully on-device; reads Content Credentials | Phone only; still images only |
| Content Credentials Verify | Web | Yes | Free | Reads signed C2PA provenance | Only works if credentials survive |
| Gemini SynthID check | Gemini app | Yes | Free | Confirms Google AI images via watermark | Only detects Google AI content |
Prices and plans change, so check each provider’s pricing page before you commit.
1. Hive Detect: best free web detector #
Hive is a content moderation company whose AI-generated content detection covers images, video and audio. Its free Hive Detect tool lets you upload files or paste media URLs, and returns a confidence score plus the generator most likely behind the content (Hive). A free Chrome extension scans media as you browse, with no Hive login required.
Hive has independent support. In a 2024 University of Chicago study comparing detectors and human groups on human versus AI art, Hive and expert artists both did very well, though Hive was weaker against adversarial perturbations (Ha et al.).
Wrong for: people who don’t want to upload images to a third party, and small developers who want self-serve API pricing. We cover options in Hive AI detector alternatives.
2. AI or Not: best all-in-one account #
AI or Not checks images, text, video, audio and deepfakes, and claims 98.9% accuracy on its homepage (AI or Not). Its free plan includes 20 image checks a month and API access. The Pro plan costs $5 a month with 500 image checks and some video included, and credits work across detection types (pricing).
Wrong for: heavy free users, since 20 image checks a month runs out quickly. See AI or Not alternatives.
3. Sightengine: best for developers #
Sightengine is an image and video moderation API with a drag-and-drop demo for AI-generated image detection. It says it covers a long list of generators, including DALL·E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Adobe Firefly, Google Imagen, Flux and Ideogram, and adds new ones as they appear (Sightengine). The free plan includes 2,000 operations a month (maximum 500 a day), and paid plans start at $29 a month (pricing). To its credit, it states that no detector is 100% reliable.
Wrong for: casual users who want an app rather than an API dashboard.
4. Illuminarty: best for seeing which areas look generated #
Illuminarty offers free basic detection for images and text. Paid plans (Basic at $10 a month, Pro at $30) add localized detection that highlights which regions of an image look generated, and model identification (Illuminarty). The region view is useful for images you suspect were only partly edited.
Wrong for: anyone who needs the extra features for free.
5. Expose AI: best for private checks on a phone #
Expose AI is an iPhone and Android app that runs the whole check on the device. Share an image from any app, crop away interface if it’s a screenshot, and it returns Likely real, Uncertain or Likely AI-generated with a confidence meter. Two passes run side by side: a metadata read for Content Credentials, XMP and generator tags, and an on-device neural network. The “How we decided” card shows which one made the call.
Checks are free and unlimited with a banner ad. Pro ($4.99 a month or $29.99 a year) swaps in a larger on-device model that returns roughly half as many Uncertain verdicts on the developer’s evaluation set, adds batch check for up to 12 images, and removes ads. There’s no account, no upload, and it works offline.
Wrong for: desktop users, anyone who needs video or audio analysis, and anyone who wants a pixel-based guess at the specific generator. It also doesn’t check for Google’s SynthID watermark.
6. Content Credentials Verify: best for provenance #
The Content Authenticity Initiative’s free Verify page reads C2PA Content Credentials from a file and shows who signed them, which tools were used, and whether AI was involved. When credentials are present and valid, that’s stronger than any classifier’s guess. When they’re missing, which is most of the time after social media, it can’t help.
7. Gemini SynthID check: best for Google AI images #
Since November 2025, you can upload an image to the Gemini app and ask if it was created with Google AI. Gemini checks for SynthID, Google’s invisible watermark (Google). It’s reliable for Google’s own content and silent on everything else.
How to choose #
- You check the occasional image on a laptop: Hive Detect, with Content Credentials Verify for files that might carry provenance.
- You check images on your phone, including private ones: Expose AI.
- You’re building a product: Sightengine or AI or Not, both with published pricing.
- You suspect a partial AI edit: Illuminarty’s region view, or crop around the area and check again in any tool.
- You suspect Google’s tools specifically: Gemini’s SynthID check.
For important images, run two different detectors and compare. If they disagree, treat the image as unverified and fall back on source and context checks. And read how accurate AI image detectors are before trusting any headline accuracy number.
Frequently asked questions #
What is the most accurate AI image detector? #
There’s no single winner for every kind of image. Hive has performed well in independent academic testing on AI art, and Sightengine cites academic comparisons in its favor. Accuracy drops for every tool on compressed images, screenshots and new generators, so running two tools is more reliable than trusting one.
Is there a free AI image detector with no limits? #
Expose AI offers unlimited on-device checks for free, supported by ads. Hive Detect and Content Credentials Verify are free on the web. AI or Not and Sightengine have free tiers with monthly limits.
Do AI image detectors keep my photos? #
Online detectors upload your image to their servers, and what happens next depends on each company’s policy. On-device detectors like Expose AI analyze the image on your phone without uploading it. See online vs on-device AI image detectors.
Can AI image detectors check videos? #
Some can. Hive and AI or Not both cover video as well as images. Expose AI analyzes still images only, so for a video you’d need one of those services, or check a paused frame and treat the result as a rough hint.