Image generation services keep appearing across the web, but most have moved to subscriptions and token systems, limiting or eliminating their free tiers. However, alternatives like Mage.space exist, offering access to the latest Stable Diffusion XL model along with advanced parameters such as negative prompts, schedulers, guidance, and step counts, among other features.
Once Stable Diffusion XL reached its stable version, the Clipdrop service from StabilityAI became our first stop for generating images with that model. But in recent days, the company confirmed the removal of SDXL from its free mode. While the service was generous, the absence of a more limited version with 20 or 30 daily images is noticeable.
So, alternatives. Not everyone can run SDXL locally, and a trained eye will always find a space on HuggingFace, assuming it tolerates errors and waiting queues. Fortunately, there is also Mage.space, a service that grants free access to Stable Diffusion XL, with advanced parameters typically only available in offline versions.
How to Generate Images in Stable Diffusion XL with Mage.space
The first step is to create an account (another good option is using Google credentials). Free profiles can only select three models: Stable Diffusion 1.5, 2.1, and XL. Other features like LoRA usage, textual inversion, and pose control with ControlNet are exclusive to Pro users. Instead, secondary models are available for Basic profiles, including Deliberate, DreamShaper, epiCRealism, and Anything.
Mage.space activates the "Easy Mode" by default, but the best we can do is disable it, check the Advanced box, and open the Settings tab. There we find format values, steps (30 is the maximum in free accounts), guidance scale, manual seeds, two refiner modes (Denoise and Refine), negative prompts, and more than a dozen schedulers. There is a lot to experiment with here, and I recommend trying each option.
The basic mode of Mage.space opens access to additional models, but it is the Pro plan of 15 dollars per month that unlocks all resources. However, the free mode does not impose limits on the number of generations under Stable Diffusion XL, making it an excellent starting point.
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