You would possibly keep in mind Freepik as a inventory picture catalog. However over the previous few years, it has advanced right into a full artistic AI suite and racked up over 100 million month-to-month customers. It has spent a number of time making an attempt to punch above its weight, difficult business titans like Adobe. Now, launching a redesign of its program at CES 2026, Freepik’s AI-first strategy is able to stand by itself amid of a sea of artistic AI instruments and sort out the arduous activity of convincing skilled creators to embrace generative AI.
There was a flood of artistic AI over the previous few years. Inventive firms like Adobe have been giving their packages AI makeovers, whereas tech firms are dipping into artistic AI work with fashions like Sora and Nano Banana. Generative media has grow to be an integral a part of AI improvement, and Freepik is a singular character amid a plethora of choices.
Freepik has many professional-grade AI instruments, together with a collaborative workflow named Areas.
Freepik executives espouse a full-throated, acquainted perception that AI is just the most recent artistic software and will not substitute employees. However the firm faces an uphill battle to persuade skilled creators not simply to make use of AI, however to make use of it in each step of their work — one thing that Adobe and others have prevented in favor of highlighting particular, sensible use instances. To take action, Freepik has redesigned its platform to be an “multi functional” place, with many modifying instruments to assist constrain AI outputs to suit the detail-oriented work that skilled creators produce. The result’s spectacular, with essentially the most complete, professional-grade modifying suite I’ve seen in an AI program.
Its new redesign was constructed with and by skilled creators, co-founder and CEO Joaquin Cuenca Abela informed me in a demo. Freepik formed its generative AI for its current artistic clients, who needed methods to collaborate throughout a wide range of tasks.
“Totally different firms have totally different contexts. So we actually advanced the product [by] taking a look at what they wanted,” Abela mentioned. “Our UI may be very tailor-made to them.”
Freepik versus Adobe, Midjourney and extra
Freepik and Adobe actually have loads in widespread. Each used inventory catalogs to coach AI fashions, compensating creators. Freepik’s deal with detail-oriented modifying instruments goals to enchantment to skilled creators who cannot use unpredictable and hallucination-prone AI turbines of their work. It presents a slew of fashions, from OpenAI’s Sora to Google’s Nano Banana Professional and ElevenLabs‘ audio era fashions, just like Adobe’s growing list of associate fashions.
Freepik’s AI product terms say creators personal the rights to AI-generated works and promise the corporate will not practice its AI fashions in your content material. Paying Freepik subscribers can get restricted business protections for AI outputs. For skilled creators, which means you will want to make sure Freepk aligns with any stringent authorized necessities.
However whereas Adobe is making an attempt to take care of a considerably tempered angle towards AI, providing AI instruments amongst many different choices, Freepik is diving all in. Freepik is for professionals who’re able to combine AI all through their whole workflow, not the creator who makes use of AI for the odd activity or brainstorming session. That will not be each creator — there are rising considerations about AI’s encroaching role in creative work — however for many who need to use AI, Freepik is a worthy different to Adobe.
The neighborhood gallery and templates are nice for brainstorming and sparking concepts.
For those who’ve used AI artistic software program earlier than, Freepik could have a number of acquainted components. To me, it felt loads like totally different components of Midjourney, Figma and Adobe’s Firefly had been thrown in a blender. You can also make annotations, just like feedback in Figma, and use them to run prompts on particular objects with out altering the remainder of the picture. It additionally features a neighborhood gallery, just like Midjourney. You will not have the identical degree of pixel-by-pixel management you get with Adobe’s non-AI instruments. However Freepik has probably the most complete modifying suites and workflows I’ve seen, with the bonus of by no means having to fret about utilizing the proper object choose software.
Learn Extra: My CES 2026 Secret Weapon? This New Wearable AI Note-Taking Pin From Plaud
Areas for collaboration
Areas is among the newer additions, and it is nice for visualizing workflows in a single place.
Think about an limitless canvas. You’ll be able to add particular nodes and hyperlink them collectively in a visual workflow. In a single node, you’ll be able to throw in three totally different reference pictures, and within the subsequent one, you’ll be able to write a immediate to mix them into one single picture. Then, you’ll be able to animate that picture right into a video. You’ll be able to create an internet of workflows on your whole group to see.
On this workflow, I uploaded a reference picture, chosen AI fashions and ran all the movement to create an animated AI video.
One of the best half: If you wish to change one thing originally of the method, like changing a reference picture, you’ll be able to rerun all the course of with one click on and watch all the chain regulate as wanted. It is a straightforward method to check out totally different concepts and customise content material with out having to copy workflows manually. Adobe previewed the same functionality, known as Project Graph, at its annual conference final fall, nevertheless it is not out but.
As generative media fashions have advanced, so have the methods creators use them. We have gone by phases of producing wholesale, bespoke pictures with instruments like Midjourney, and now we have moved on to an a la carte strategy, selecting AI fashions for particular duties based mostly on their personalities on to an a la carte strategy, selecting AI fashions for particular duties based mostly on their “personalities.” Now collaboration-forward AI areas, like in Freepik and Adobe’s Firefly boards, are rising to carry all of the items of AI creation collectively. Past giving creators extra methods to make use of AI, it highlights how normalized and built-in AI has grow to be in artistic work.
For extra, try our guide to Photoshop’s AI and the best AI video generators.
