NovelAI
NovelAI is a subscription service from Anlatan combining an anime-focused AI image generator with a long-form storytelling assistant and customisable text-to-speech. It runs on in-house models, starts at USD 10 per month, and is restricted to adults.
What is NovelAI?
NovelAI is a subscription service run by Anlatan Inc. that puts two generative products behind a single account: an image generator trained for anime-inspired art, and a text model built for long-form storytelling. Both run on models the company trains itself. On the image side, NAI Diffusion is described as a set of custom models built on Stable Diffusion with self-researched improvements; on the text side, in-house models sit alongside GPT-Neo, GPT-J, fairseq and Llama 3 Erato. Anlatan says it hosts its own API and runs those models on machines supplied by CoreWeave.
The image half is built around prompt control. You describe a scene with visual tags or plain English, then adjust steps, guidance, seed and sampler. Separate prompts can be attached to each character in a composition, and Prompt Chunks, Prompt Mixing, Quality Tags and Undesired Content shape the result further. Once an image exists, Image2Image, Inpaint, Canvas, Enhance and Upscale rework it, while Director Tools handle background removal, line art, sketching, colourising, emotion and decluttering. Vibe Transfer lifts the aesthetic of one image and applies it as direct visual inspiration to new generations.
The text half is a writing environment rather than a chatbot. A Lorebook stores world details the model should remember, Text Adventure mode turns the same engine into interactive fiction, and Phrase Bias, repetition penalties and full sampling controls let you steer output closely. Context length is what really separates the tiers, from 3,072 tokens on the cheapest to 28,672 on Opus. A customisable text-to-speech voice reads both your input and the AI's output, and a documented client-side Scripting API lets developers extend the editor itself.
Everything runs in the browser, with Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge supported, and the site installs as a Progressive Web App on mobile. There is no native application. NovelAI Explore adds an opt-in community gallery whose submissions pass manual review. The service is restricted to users aged 18 or over, and its own FAQ still describes it as an open beta with no announced release date.
What it does
- Generate anime-style illustrations from tag lists or natural-language prompts
- Write long-form fiction with a model that tracks context and stored lore
- Rework a generation with inpainting, canvas editing, upscaling and enhancement
- Carry the aesthetic of one image over to new ones with Vibe Transfer
- Play interactive fiction through the built-in Text Adventure mode
- Read text aloud with a customisable AI voice
- Publish and browse community generations in the Explore gallery
When to use NovelAI / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if NovelAI is the right fit.
When to use NovelAI
- Novelists and fiction writers who need long context and a lorebook to keep a world consistent
- Illustrators and character artists working in anime and manga styles
- Visual novel, interactive fiction and narrative game creators
- Freelance and hobbyist creators happy to pay a flat monthly fee rather than buy credits
- Privacy-minded writers who want drafts encrypted in the browser rather than stored in clear
When not to use NovelAI
- Organisations that need a signed DPA, a subprocessor list or an EU Article 27 representative
- Developers looking for a public generation API to embed in their own product
- Anyone needing photographic, corporate or non-anime visual styles
- Users under 18, since the terms restrict the service to adults
- Teams wanting shared seats: the terms tie one licence to a single individual account
How to use NovelAI
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Create an account on the NovelAI site and verify your email address to unlock the free trial
- Choose where to start: the image generator or the story editor
- Use the free allowance first, granted once: 30 images, 50 text generations and 100 text-to-speech runs
- For images, write a prompt as visual tags or plain language, then set steps, guidance, seed and sampler
- Refine the result with Image2Image, Inpaint, Canvas, Enhance or the Director Tools
- Save images with the save icon rather than right-click, so prompt, seed and settings stay in the metadata
- Export the session as a ZIP before leaving, because image generations are session-based and vanish on refresh
- For stories, fill a Lorebook and set the story options, then write alternately with the model
- Download your stories regularly, since resetting your password permanently destroys the server-side copies
- Subscribe from Manage Account when the trial runs out; billing then renews every 30 days
Pros & Cons
Pros
- One subscription covers image generation, text generation and text-to-speech
- Models are trained in-house, so the service does not depend on a third-party AI provider
- Stories are encrypted in the browser and Anlatan states it cannot read them
- The FAQ states that prompts, uploads, edits and generations are never logged or stored
- You keep full ownership of everything you generate, with no commercial restriction
- Dense documentation, tutorials, a detailed FAQ and a public status page
- Quantified free trial, plus accessibility options including dyslexic fonts and colourblind themes
Cons
- No permanent free plan, and the FAQ says none is planned
- No standalone privacy policy, and the publisher's own policy explicitly excludes NovelAI
- No DPA, no subprocessor list, no EU Article 27 representative and no hosting location disclosed
- Image generations disappear on refresh unless exported by hand
- Losing your password permanently destroys stories stored on the servers
- No refunds unless expressly granted, and the terms allow termination without cause or notice
- No native mobile app, no named third-party integrations, and the documented API extends the editor rather than exposing generation to outside applications
Pricing & Plans
There is no permanent free plan; NovelAI offers a one-off free trial instead. The cheapest paid tier, Tablet, costs USD 10 per month, billed in 30-day intervals. Scroll costs USD 15 per month and Opus USD 25 per month. No annual billing is advertised and all charges are stated in US dollars.
- 30 images up to 1024x1024
- 50 text generations and 100 text-to-speech generations
- granted once
- unlimited text and text-to-speech
- 1
- 000 monthly Anlas
- 20% discount on extra Anlas
- everything in Tablet plus a larger context window
- 1
- 000 monthly Anlas
- largest context at 28
- 672 tokens
- exclusive Xialong
- Krake and Llama 3 Erato models
- 10
- 000 monthly Anlas
- and Anlas-free image generation under stated conditions
- the internal image-generation currency
- sold to active subscribers only
- purchased Anlas do not expire
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how NovelAI handles your data.
GDPR overview
NovelAI publishes no standalone privacy policy. Everything sits in section 6 of the terms of service, effective 8 December 2025, and Anlatan's own policy on its corporate site states explicitly that it does not cover NovelAI products. The terms do name the GDPR, defined as Regulation (EU) 2016/679, and commit Anlatan to being compliant with all data protection laws. Rights of access, correction, deletion, restriction and portability are granted to users in applicable jurisdictions, and the right to be forgotten is recognised for GDPR-covered users, although it does not extend to AI-produced data or to material already used in training. Beyond that there is nothing: no legal basis stated, no data protection officer, no Article 27 EU representative, no DPA, no subprocessor list, no transfer mechanism and no privacy-specific contact address.
Who owns the data?
The terms are unusually direct on this point. You retain every right and all ownership over the content you create, and Anlatan claims no ownership unless both sides specifically agree to a transfer. Generated material is treated as yours alone, and the company states it acts neither as publisher nor as a platform for it. Anlatan keeps ownership of the service itself, its software and its models, granting only a non-transferable licence tied to one account. Staff may not view your content without your express permission, and access is limited to what delivering the service technically requires.
Reuse rights
You can reuse whatever you generate without asking Anlatan for anything: the company waives ownership of images and text and places no restriction on commercial use. It does warn that a model can produce material resembling copyrighted work, so reviewing your output before publishing or selling it is your own responsibility. On its side, Anlatan states it does not log the content of your requests without explicit consent, and its FAQ says prompts, uploads, edits and generations are neither logged nor stored. Text needed for generation travels unencrypted in transit only, over HTTPS. The one thing you cannot take back is anything you voluntarily submit for model training: once training has begun, the terms say it cannot be deleted.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Anlatan states that personal information and content sit on its own servers and on those of service providers, encrypted at rest, and that its models run on machines supplied by CoreWeave. Beyond that, nothing is disclosed: no country, no region, no data centre and no jurisdiction. Text stories are encrypted in the browser before reaching the servers, so what is stored remotely is unreadable to Anlatan by design, and purely local browser storage is offered as an alternative. Fragments of a story travel unencrypted during generation, over HTTPS, and are described as neither stored nor logged. Input images used for image-to-image work are cached briefly under encryption with a client-supplied key the company says it does not keep. Strict access controls, encryption and physical controls are claimed, but no certification such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001 is published, and there is no subprocessor list and no data processing agreement. For a US-registered company serving European users, the absence of any stated hosting jurisdiction is the notable gap.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting NovelAI.
- Image generation is session-based: refresh, close the tab or lose your connection and the whole batch is gone unless you exported it
- A password reset wipes server-stored stories for good, and no support request can recover them, since Anlatan holds no decryption key
- Unlimited text generation makes it easy to let the model write first and think second, which quietly erodes your own voice over months of use
- Strong privacy claims rest on one section of the terms rather than a dedicated policy, so there is less to hold the company to than the promises suggest
- No refunds unless expressly granted, and the terms let Anlatan terminate access with or without cause and without notice
- The service is adults-only with an advertised unrestricted creative scope and no content policy beyond its terms; manual review covers only the Explore gallery
- The models can produce material close to existing copyrighted work, and the terms put the burden of checking your output entirely on you
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Setup is trivial. Create an account, verify your email address and start generating in the browser; Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge are supported and any reasonably current computer or phone will do. Nothing is installed, although the site can be added to a mobile home screen as a Progressive Web App. The learning curve lies elsewhere: tag-based image prompting and the advanced sampler settings take real practice, and the Lorebook rewards planning. The client-side Scripting API assumes programming knowledge but is entirely optional.
Deployment
Supported languages
Behind NovelAI
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free version of NovelAI?
How much does it cost?
Are my prompts and generations stored?
Who owns the images and stories I create?
Is there a mobile app?
What is the minimum age?
Does NovelAI have a public API?
Can Anlatan read my stories?
Which languages are supported?
Can I get a refund?
Should you pick NovelAI?
NovelAI is a niche tool that knows exactly what it is. Anlatan built its own image and text models rather than reselling someone else's, and the result is aimed squarely at anime illustration and long-form fiction rather than at general productivity. For that audience the value is concrete: a single subscription between USD 10 and USD 25 a month covers image generation, storytelling and text-to-speech, the prompt and sampler controls run deeper than most consumer generators, and the documentation is unusually thorough.
Its privacy posture is the most interesting tension. The product commitments are strong, with stories encrypted in the browser, prompts and generations described as never logged, and full ownership of output left to the user. The paperwork behind them is thin. There is no standalone privacy policy, only section 6 of the terms; the publisher's own policy states it does not cover NovelAI; and there is no DPA, no subprocessor list, no EU representative and no stated hosting location. An individual creator may find that acceptable. Anyone buying on behalf of an organisation will not.
Two practical things deserve attention before subscribing. Image generations are session-based and disappear on refresh unless exported, and a password reset permanently destroys server-side stories. Both follow from the encryption design rather than from any defect, but both cost real work when discovered late. The service is also restricted to users aged 18 or over, with an advertised unrestricted creative scope, no content policy beyond the terms, and moderation applied only to the Explore gallery.
One oddity remains: years into commercial operation, the FAQ still calls NovelAI an open beta with no release date set.
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Opens in a new window.