Russian AI image generators: which models are made in Russia and how they compare

“Russian AI image generators” can mean two things. Some people are looking for models made in Russia. Others want services that work in Russia and accept Russian cards. These are different: Russia has two families of its own models, but dozens of services that give access to global models. We cover both groups, with facts from the developers’ help pages.

Russian AI image generators: who makes them

Two companies in Russia develop their own image generation models.

	Kandinsky	YandexART
Developer	Sber	Yandex
Current version	Kandinsky 6.0 Image (April 28, 2026)	YandexART v.2.5 PRO in Shedevrum Pro
Where it works	GigaChat	Alice AI, Shedevrum
Free	yes, with no limit on generations, according to Sber	yes: Alice AI — “unlimited,” Shedevrum — with a watermark
Sign-in	Sber ID, Russian IP, no VPN	Yandex account
Commercial use	not specified by the developer	Alice AI — allowed, Shedevrum — only in Pro
Open weights	Kandinsky 5.0, MIT license	no
Arena rank (Sept 24, 2026)	not ranked	not ranked

Kandinsky by Sber

Sber introduced Kandinsky 6.0 Image on April 28, 2026 and built it into GigaChat. According to the company, the model is free and doesn’t limit the number of generations. It generates from text and edits photos: restoration, stylization, virtual photoshoots, changing outfits and locations, retouching. Sber specifically notes that text in images is now rendered more accurately, and built-in image search helps it draw current objects.

Since June 9, 2026, GigaChat lets you upload up to three photos and combine them into one composition, select an area for targeted edits, and the model picks the aspect ratio itself: vertical for a portrait, horizontal for a panorama.

GigaChat sign-in works via Sber ID, only from a Russian IP and with VPN turned off: the service won’t open from abroad.

Kandinsky 5.0 is the previous generation, which Sber released openly on GitHub under the MIT license. The image model is Kandinsky 5.0 Image Lite with 6 billion parameters. You can run it on your own computer with a powerful GPU or build it into your own service. It’s the only Russian image model with open weights.

YandexART by Yandex: Alice AI and Shedevrum

Alice AI draws images right in the chat. Yandex says generation is unlimited and the results can be used in presentations, ads and product listings. The free version differs from Alice Plus in how long images are stored: 14 days versus 30.

Shedevrum is a separate Yandex app with a feed of works, similar to a social network. Free images come with a watermark and are for personal use only. The Shedevrum Pro subscription, at 100 rubles a month with Yandex Plus, adds 4K, commercial use, watermark removal and a Studio with five models, including YandexART v.2.5 PRO.

“Russian AI tools” in roundups are services, not models

Most “top 10 Russian AI tools” articles list Russian aggregator services, not models. Inside, they run the same global models — Nano Banana, GPT Image, Midjourney, Seedream — and what makes them “Russian” is a Russian-language interface, payment with Russian cards and access without a VPN. That’s convenient, but it’s important to understand that the model, not the service, determines image quality.

AI2Face is a service of this kind. Its generator includes models from the top of the global leaderboard: GPT Image, Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro, Seedream, Midjourney. You can pay by card or crypto, credits from packs don’t expire, and you get welcome credits after signing up.

Myth: “only Russian AI models understand Russian”

The main argument in roundups is that Russian models “understand the Russian language and culture better.” The first part is outdated: global models have long understood prompts in Russian and render Cyrillic text in images.

Knowledge of Russian context is Kandinsky’s strength: in the Kandinsky 5.0 description on GitHub, the developers specifically emphasize that the model understands Russian concepts better than other open models. If you need an image with recognizably Russian subjects, test Kandinsky and a global model on the same prompt and pick the better result.

Russian AI models vs. the global leaders: the quality ranking

The Arena leaderboard allows an independent comparison: users blindly pick the better of two images generated from the same prompt. As of September 24, 2026, the leaderboard lists 80 models.

Arena rank	Model	Developer	Where to use
1	GPT Image 2.5	OpenAI	in AI2Face
9	Nano Banana 2	Google	in AI2Face
10	Seedream 5.0 Pro	ByteDance	in AI2Face
14	Nano Banana Pro	Google	in AI2Face
—	Kandinsky	Sber	in GigaChat
—	YandexART	Yandex	in Alice AI and Shedevrum

Not being on the leaderboard doesn’t mean the models are bad — they’re simply not part of the independent comparison. More about free generators and their limits is in our article free AI image generator, and about choosing a model for the task, in our overview of AI image generators.

Bottom line

There are two Russian AI image generators: Kandinsky by Sber and YandexART by Yandex. Both are free and understand Russian, and Kandinsky 5.0 can even be downloaded. They’re enough for greeting cards, post illustrations and subjects with a Russian flavor. But they’re absent from the independent quality ranking, and commercial rights and 4K aren’t available everywhere. If you need an image for ads, a marketplace or a client, use models from the top of the leaderboard — in AI2Face, they’re all in one generator, paid by card or crypto.