This is just a quick, concise, no nonsense guide to cover what I think are the best resources out there/the ones I typically use in 2026. It's not meant to be comprehensive, but rather cut to the chase with all the best resources you should start with objectively (with the minimal opinion/subjectivity possible). It's meant for those new to AI, or switching over to local use (mostly).
Check my other more comprehensive Resources Worth Checking Out guide if you feel you need more https://civitai.red/articles/12416/resources-worth-checking-out
Qwen Image 2512 / Qwen Edit 2511
https://civitai.red/models/2268063/qwen-image-2512?modelVersionId=2552908 Qwen-Image-2512 This is what I overwhelmingly use locally; FP8 & edit 2511 (which are two separate models). Will require 12GB VRAM at least, so look at GGUF models. You seemingly get a massive speed boost with RTX 4000 architecture & up. The Wuli Turbo LoRA gives you amazing quality & speed image outputs (Can be used 4 or 8 steps). I barely use any other LoRAs for Qwen (because you don't need them, it'll generate an extremely wide range of content base model, & NSFW is surprisingly lax right out of the gate).
Qwen Edit 2511 is simply amazing! The natural language understanding of both is outstanding; you can quickly make precise micro edits like it's nothing "Change to red t-shirt, fix hands, remove clothes", etc, & it'll just do it without any fuss 95% of the time.
https://civitai.red/models/2268063/qwen-image-2512?modelVersionId=2552908 Qwen-Image-2512
https://huggingface.co/Qwen/Qwen-Image-2512
https://huggingface.co/QuantStack/Qwen-Image-Edit-GGUF/tree/main
https://huggingface.co/Wuli-art/Qwen-Image-2512-Turbo-LoRA/tree/main (This 4/8-step LoRA is amazing, & somewhat essential when using Qwen 2512 or Edit 2511 for speedy hi-quality image generations). Make sure you download V3 of the LoRA.
Z-Image Turbo
Quick, amazing quality (relatively) on low end hardware. This is probably what most people are using locally now. Will need LoRAs to get more aggressive NSFW content though.
https://civitai.com/models/2168935/z-image-turbo
https://civitai.com/models/2342797/z-image-base (intended more for training)
FLUX Klein
Relevant, but just use Z-Image Turbo tbh. Same can be said of most other official FLUX models now if you don't want tons of downloads.
https://civitai.com/models/2322332/flux2-klein
https://huggingface.co/black-forest-labs/FLUX.2-klein-4B (Just start with this one first)
https://huggingface.co/black-forest-labs/FLUX.2-klein-9B (Higher Quality, but slower & requires more VRAM)
Anima
If you're really into anime, then this is a no-brainer; it's the 'z-image' of anime (amazing quality on low end hardware), & kind of the new Illustrious contender. It's a 3.89 GB download for the main checkpoint (will also need clip).....but at that size; why wouldn't you just try it out locally?
Don't let the name fool you btw; if like me, you don't really care much for anime, you should know this will do realism better than Illustrious, & basically any art style you could really want (classical oil paintings, modern art, etc). It has a massive breadth of styles available.
https://civitai.com/models/2458426/anima?modelVersionId=2945208
SDXL/Pony
Still very relevant for total NSFW control - Generate the image in something newer, then to a second in-paint pass using one of these for NSFW.
Pony Realism 🔮 https://civitai.com/models/372465/pony-realism My favourite SDXL/Pony checkpoint. v2.2 & v2.1
CyberRealistic Pony https://civitai.com/models/443821
Juggernaut XL https://civitai.com/models/133005/juggernaut-xl Realistic in-painting
Illustrious (Good for anime NSFW; a ton of great custom checkpoints, you can't really go too wrong with any of the popular ones)
Civitai On-site Image Generation
If like me, you already have a good GPU; it'll leave you wondering where to spend buzz. The only sensible answer for generating content is either; Video generation or Grok Imagine (Qwen 2.0 or Qwen 2512/2511 edit also).
https://civitai.red/models/2435474/grok-imagine?modelVersionId=2738377 Grok Imagine
Grok Imagine is cloud only (so it's not an option to download), but it's cheap at only 26 buzz an image / 29 for img-2-img, it's more NSFW than the other cloud only options, excluding Qwen. In terms of quality/NSFW overall; this offers the absolute best bang for your buck. The Qwen options are really good; extremely lax NSFW (will do nudity, etc, no problem). Grok is fussy now with NSFW, but it's not impossible like ChatGPT or other cloud only options when it comes to doing edgy content. Grok will give you enough high quality base images to then finish off with something else in-painting. Make sure you remember to remove the "Tip" option before you start each session. ChatGPT 2.0 "Low Quality" is another cheap option at like 12 buzz; but you'll get nowhere with anything even remotely NSFW (this even just includes something as simple as "Swimwear" or "Beautiful Woman"; it'll block it. See below to test everything out yourself.
AI LLM (Large Language Models) - AI Chatbots, basically.
I've moved this section into a separate guide. It was getting too long (& I intend to expand it further).
https://civitai.red/articles/30489/ai-llms-for-laser-precision-assisted-creative-prompting AI LLMs for Laser-Precision Assisted 'Creative' Prompting ;)
Free Stuff
All 2 mins or less sign-ups only requiring an e-mail (use a dummy burner e-mail if you care).
You get 5 free image gens a day with a free ChatGPT user account (3 image uploads for img-2-img also; still only 5 total, regardless).
https://chat.qwen.ai/ Very generous Qwen 2.0 image allowance (even video generation for free tier users). Qwen is extremely lax with censorship btw....lol.
https://grok.com/ Pretty stingy allowance on their site tbh....lol (probably overloaded by popularity/user migration from ChatGPT AI LLM quality drop frustrations/over-censorship).
But by the time you've quickly bunny hoped across all these sites; you'll have about 30+ free premium images a day potentially (Qwen, Grok, ChatGPT + civitai).
PS (again) - Sometimes ChatGPT gives free users 12-20+ free images a day (this is super rare though). The others depend on user congestion also, so it can vary quite a bit. Personally, I like testing all the different models out, instead of just using the same style all the time.
https://openmodeldb.info/ Get all your Upscaling needs here.
https://krita.org/en/ Completely free Photoshop Image editing alternative. Since Qwen edit 2511 is so amazing, I barely use this so much now tbh (why bother when you can just prompt "fix thing x & y" & it's done in 30 seconds with zero skill or effort lol).
Honourable Mentions
https://civitai.red/models/2548387/ernieimage ERNIE‑Image (If you're down bad with Asian fever, this will specialise in producing attractive Asians; but beyond that, I think it's mostly inferior to Qwen, & the other options. Ergo, if you don't care about the whole Asian focus/strength it has there, then I think there's little reason to check this out).
https://civitai.red/models/2676710/ideogram-4?modelVersionId=3005491 Ideogram 4
https://civitai.red/models/2684606/ideogram-4-nvfp4
https://huggingface.co/Comfy-Org/Ideogram-4/tree/main/diffusion_models