I tried the best AI thumbnail makers to save you time and money.
In this post, I will show you my results, how to use these tools, discounts, and more.
Top 3 Picks
Here’s a quick overview of the best AI thumbnail makers for busy readers.
👉 1. Pikzels AI
👉 2. Canva
👉 3. ChatGPT
Let’s get into the reviews.
Disclaimer: This article is reader-supported. If you choose to pay for the tools listed in this article, I might earn a small commission at no cost to you.
1. Pikzels AI
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Pikzels AI is the best AI thumbnail maker I’ve tested.
It’s the only “fully automated” option on this list that does everything from start to finish with AI.
My favorite feature is the “Recreate” feature which takes inspiration from existing thumbnails and creates similar thumbnails for you.
Just tell the AI what you want to create, and it’ll take care of the rest.
The only thing I don’t like is that the free trial feels a bit limited, and the free thumbnails have a big watermark.
Even so, I still think Pikzels is worth it. It really makes your thumbnails look so much better.
Let me show you my results (and how it works).
My Experience
Let’s begin by making a simple, eye-catching thumbnail with Pikzels.
Then, I’ll walk you through adding your face, making custom changes, and improving it even more.
1. Creating a thumbnail
Using Pikzels is easy — tell the AI what you want to create, and it will turn that into reality. It’s almost like a ChatGPT for video thumbnails.
For example, you could type in something like: “A man swimming underwater, looking terrified at the camera while a shark looms menacingly in the background.”
After that, give it about 20 seconds to generate the image.
After the wait, here’s the first version of the thumbnail:
Remember, this is all AI-generated. I didn’t do anything else than tell the AI what I wanted to see.
To be honest, though, this is not that impressive. Even tools like ChatGPT could make a similar shot.
So let’s focus on what makes this tool stand out instead.
For every image you create, you’ll see three main options:
1: Edit — This lets you tell the AI what changes you want to make to your thumbnail.
2: Redo — This option generates a new version of the thumbnail you just made.
3: FaceSwap — This lets you add your face to the thumbnail, giving it a nice, authentic, and personalized touch that makes it look like yours.
Just as an example, here’s a new thumbnail that I made with the “Redo” option:
I will show you more examples, including the face swap, in just a second.
Remember that AI is always a bit of a dice roll. Experiment to figure out what works best!
I recommend keeping your input simple. Don’t give too many instructions at once to overwhelm the AI.
2. The “Thumbnail Copy” feature
Now, let’s talk about what makes Pikzels stand out — the Recreate feature.
With this feature, you can take a thumbnail from your favorite channel and easily create a similar one in seconds.
To activate this feature, click on “Recreate.”
Here’s an example thumbnail that I found on YouTube that looks nice to me:
I wanted to create a similar thumbnail for my video as well.
This is easy on Pikzels. Just add a link to the video and click Generate.
If you’re on YouTube, grab a link to the video by clicking the three dots next to the video.
Copy the link:
Paste the link into Pikzels.
Don’t forget to adjust the Inspiration Weight. This tells the AI how similar or distant you want the new thumbnail to be. I recommend using the Medium option. This way it’s not too close but not too far either.
Just as an example, I told the AI to write $500/day instead of $100/day in the background of the thumbnail.
Here’s what I got:
Isn’t that epic?
Here’s a side-by-side comparison:
Perfect! That looks more or less like what I wanted.
But it’s not ready just yet. There are some things I want to do now that I see the results.
To change the design, just continue chatting with Pikzels.
For example, I asked the AI to darken the background and change the shirt to blue.
Here’s the result:
Then I told the AI to remove the helmet from the background:
Notice that editing your image might unintentionally tweak other parts of the image too! This happens because AI isn’t good at keeping characters consistent (yet), and there’s not a lot you can do about it.
That said, I think this version turned out great:
But there’s still a problem: The thumbnail doesn’t look like me. Not even close. It’s a completely random, non-existent, made-up person.
Luckily, Pikzels has a FaceSwap feature. This lets you add your face to the thumbnails.
3. The FaceSwap feature
To do a face swap, click on the FaceSwap feature.
Upload the thumbnail and your picture into the view:
Click “Generate.”
After 20 seconds, you will see a face-swapped version of the image.
For example, here’s my new thumbnail with my face in it:
Just so that you can compare, here’s the real face of mine:
Isn’t that cool?
To top it off, I asked the AI to remove the glasses since I don’t have a pair.
After these tweaks and edits, here’s the final version:
I call it virality potential! With a little more tweaking — like adjusting the hair and body type — it could be an even better match. But let’s move on with this design for now.
Tip: One step at a time
When creating thumbnails with Pikzels, do it step-by-step.
Run simple instructions to create the initial thumbnail, then make edits one simple instruction at a time.
For example, the above thumbnail was created with a flow like this:
- Recreate
- Edit instructions: “Darker background”
- Generate
- Edit instructions: “Remove glasses”
- Generate
- Edit instructions: “Remove background helmet”
- Generate
- Edit instructions: “Change background color”
This prevents Pikzels AI from getting overwhelmed. Give one or two instructions per edit only!
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Pricing
Pikzels.com offers three pricing plans — Essential ($14/month), Premium ($28/month), and Ultimate ($56/month) — when billed annually.
- Essential: Includes basic features, 2,400 credits, and up to 240 thumbnails per year.
- Premium: The most popular option, offering more tools, 18,000 credits, and 1,800 thumbnails per year.
- Ultimate: Unlocks all features, with 54,000 credits and 5,400 thumbnails per year.
Pros
- User-Friendly — Just describe what you want, and the AI generates a matching thumbnail.
- High-Quality Results — Delivers some of the best outputs compared to other tools.
- Face Swap — Easily swap in your face for a more realistic, personalized look.
- Inspiration Tool — Replicate proven designs to create eye-catching thumbnails effortlessly.
Cons
- Limited Free Trial — Only 5 thumbnails with large watermarks make it nearly unusable.
- Inconsistent Quality — Some results may be disappointing, wasting credits.
- Expensive Plans — $80/month for 300 thumbnails can add up, especially with multiple edits needed.
- Short-Lived Appeal — AI thumbnails may lose their uniqueness as they become more common.
My honest take
If you’re new to thumbnails, Pikzels AI is worth a try — it saves time and gives you great ideas as well as ready-to-use thumbnails.
But here’s the thing — when everyone’s using tools like this, those viral, eye-catching thumbnails could start to feel like generic AI garbage.
Trends change fast.
Lately, YouTube has started to lean toward minimalistic content with fewer edits. Simple, accurate thumbnails are making a comeback, letting the content do the talking.
So if you’re using tools like this, don’t get blindsided. Look around to see what’s working in the field right now!
👉 Try Pikzels AI free—Get 50% off with code JALLI50.
Let’s move on to the next AI thumbnail makers.
2. Canva (with BetterPic.io)
Canva YouTube Thumbnail Maker helps you design YouTube thumbnails.
It offers templates and AI tools to assist in the design process.
Canva lets you create backgrounds, fix colors, and adjust lighting.
But it’s not fully automated — you’ll need to tweak things to fit your video.
More control, but it takes a little practice. I’m no designer, and I picked it up in a few days.
Let me show you my Canva workflow.
My experience
I use Canva AI features to do parts of the thumbnail creation process, but there are some customizations and edits I do manually, although they’re simple.
Here’s an example thumbnail I made with Canva:
Let me show you how to get similar results.
1. Enhance your selfies first
I always like to add an image of myself to my thumbnails. That builds my brand reputation and makes the thumbnails unique.
You can use traditional selfies in your YouTube thumbnails as those are authentic, simple, and look good.
But depending on your topic and niche, you might also want to use an AI headshot generator to generate professional lookalike images of you (without having to hire a photographer.)
Just as an example, here’s an AI-generated headshot that I got from BetterPic AI.
The idea with tools like this is simple: Upload a bunch of selfies, wait for 45 minutes, enjoy your professional AI photos.
But this is not part of Canva. If you want to use traditional selfies or images from the past, be my guest.
Now let me show you how to make a thumbnail with Canva.
2. Open Canva
First, open up the YouTube thumbnail editor, Canva.
Click “Start Designing a YouTube Thumbnail.” This opens up a view like this:
3. Upload your selfie
To create a thumbnail, drop one of your selfies or AI headshots into the view:
4. Remove background
Now the problem is that there’s an annoying background. Let’s get rid of it.
To do this on Canva, follow these steps:
- Click your image to activate it.
- Click “Edit image.”
- Click “BG Remover.”
After about 3 seconds the AI has removed the background perfectly:
This is a paid feature, though!
If you don’t have Canva Pro, use a free AI background remover called Remove.BG.
Drop the image there and download it. Then drop it into the Canva editor and continue with your thumbnail process.
5. Make minor adjustments
Make your face as big as possible while still showing some upper body.
Also, feel free to tweak the image’s sharpness to make it look crisper.
To do this:
- Click on your image.
- Click “Edit Image.”
- Choose “Adjust.”
- Scroll down.
- Scrub the “Sharpness” slider to your liking.
6. Change the background
Change the background color by clicking the background and choosing a color.
I like dark backgrounds, so I will choose a nearly black bg.
7. Add some glow
Then highlight your selfie by adding a glow behind the image:
- Choose “Elements” from the left-hand menu.
- Then search for “Gradient.”
- Choose “Graphics.”
- Choose a spherical one like this:
Drop the gradient behind your back:
- Click on “Position.”
- Click on “Backward.”
Resize the gradient to make it look like a light source behind you.
Keep the glow at bay. Choose the transparency option and drag the slider to 50–70%.
This makes it subtle, and one doesn’t pay too much attention to it. Feel free to tweak the gradient color too!
8. Add a relevant object
Now the thumbnail looks good, but it doesn’t represent anything.
You can fix this by adding an object that’s relevant to your video. Also, you can add a word or two that describe the message of your video.
As an example, if this were a ChatGPT review, I could drop an app icon into the view:
For example, here’s one of my earlier thumbnails I used in one of my videos:
It’s not perfect, but it surely looks much better than those amateur thumbnails with tons of text, low-res images, and messy backgrounds.
9. Zoom out
Make sure your thumbnail looks good and clear when it’s small. This is because most of the time, people only see a small version of it, or at least significantly smaller than in the desktop view on Canva.
Looks good, looks good!
10. Download
Then download the thumbnail:
- Click on “Share.”
- Click “Download.”
11. Use it
Open up your YouTube studio and upload the thumbnail. You can update any of your existing videos this way, too.
So that’s how you create a thumbnail with Canva and its AI features.
As you can see, there’s a lot of manual work and some learning. But also, you can use AI filters, background removal, upscaling, and other cool features to make your thumbnails look better.
Key features
Here’s a brief recap of the core features of Canva:
- Templates — Pre-designed layouts for quick edits.
- Drag-and-Drop Editor — Easy customization with no design skills needed.
- Media Library — Stock photos, icons, and graphics included.
- Text Tools — Add and edit fonts, colors, and effects.
- Photo Editing — Adjust brightness, contrast, and filters.
- AI Design Tools — Generate ideas and layouts with AI assistance.
- Collaboration — Share and edit designs with team members.
- Brand Kit — Save logos, fonts, and colors for consistency.
- Export Options — Download in YouTube-ready formats.
Pros
- User-Friendly Interface — Anyone can begin using it immediately without any learning curve.
- Extensive Customization Options — Offers a wide variety of templates, assets, fonts, colors, and more to suit diverse needs.
- Advanced AI Tools — Includes features like background remover, image expander, upscalers, colorizers, filters, sharpening, and many others.
Cons
- Requires Manual Input — Involves a slight learning curve to get started.
- Limited Free Features — Some of the best tools are only available with a paid plan.
- Subpar AI Thumbnails — The AI-generated thumbnails feature lacks quality and effectiveness.
Price
- Free (€0/year): Basic features for individuals — drag-and-drop editor, 1 M+ templates, 3 M+ photos, AI designs, and printing.
- Pro (€110/year): Advanced tools for individuals — everything in Free plus premium templates, 100 M+ assets, brand kits, resizing, background removal, and 20+ AI tools.
- Teams (€90/year per person): Designed for teams (min. 3 people) — includes collaboration tools, approvals, AI copy generation, team reports, and scalable branding features.
Plans scale from free personal use to advanced features for teams.
3. ChatGPT
Of course, I had to include ChatGPT on this list because it can do a lot when it comes to creating a thumbnail.
I don’t need to introduce ChatGPT to you at this point, so let me just show you how to use it for epic YouTube thumbnails.
My Experience
ChatGPT is good because it lets you create images. You can even create some on the free plan.
1. Generate thumbnails
The obvious way to make a thumbnail with ChatGPT is by telling it that you want to make a thumbnail. Just tell the AI you want a 16:9 aspect ratio YouTube thumbnail about XYZ, and it will get the job done.
For example, here’s one I just created.
However, this is far from what we want. This looks very generic and highly AI-generated. Not good!
You can tell the AI to make it look more realistic and add/remove stuff from it. For example, if the AI adds text, you can tell it to remove it.
Here’s the new version of the AI thumbnail I got after a couple of simple prompts I sent to ChatGPT:
That’s cool! It’s a bit 3D-like still, but let’s roll with it for now.
The big issue now is that this thumbnail doesn’t look like me at all. I’d like to show up in that image to make it look like mine.
To this end, you can use a free AI swapping tool, such as AIFaceSwap.
Here’s a real image of me:
I want to mix my face in that AI-generated image.
After I ran the images through the face swap, here’s what I got:
That’s epic! It’s not exactly like me, but that’ll do for now. To make it match me better, I could use a different prompt to match my hairstyle. (Or as I showed before, I could just use an AI headshot generator like BetterPic.)
To finish this thumbnail off, you can use a tool like Canva to remove the change the background and add some text to it.
(In case you don’t know how to do this, just check Canva earlier on this list. There, I show how to create effects like this for your thumbnails.)
However, there’s a reason ChatGPT is not higher on the list today. As you can see from the above thumbnail, even with a lot of prompting and edits, the image doesn’t look that great. I mean it’s better than an average thumbnail, for sure. But it looks like an AI-generated one a bit too much to my liking.
2. Generate backgrounds
Of course, creating an image is not the only way to use ChatGPT for thumbnails. You can also use it to create backgrounds for your thumbnails and add them into the mix in Canva or another editor.
For example, here’s a background I created with ChatGPT:
Now let’s see how big a difference this can make to the vibe of one of my thumbnails.
Here’s the first version I’ve created in Canva.
There’s nothing wrong with that. But one could argue there could be a nicer background.
So let’s add the ChatGPT-generated background in:
I’d say that looks good.
But to be brutally honest, now that I look at it, I can’t tell which version is better; the one with the background or the one without it. It’s a question of personal taste, so there’s no right or wrong.
Nonetheless, this shows you the power of AI-generated backgrounds. You can tell ChatGPT to create a background to add some action to your thumbnails easily.
3. Ask for inspiration
Also, don’t forget that you can tell AI to just describe the thumbnail.
For example, here I’ve told ChatGPT to give me ideas for a thumbnail to one of my videos.
4. Ask feedback
Similar to asking for direction, you can ask ChatGPT to get feedback (if you’re on the pro plan) by dragging and dropping an image to the chat.
Of course, creating a thumbnail is like creating art. There’s no one right or wrong design. But these can help you get some direction.
Price
- Free Plan ($0/month): Limited access to image generation — good for basic testing but not ideal for frequent or high-quality needs.
- Plus Plan ($20/month): Extended limits on image generation — great for regular use and higher-quality AI images.
- Pro Plan ($200/month): Unlimited access to advanced tools — best for professionals who need top-tier image quality and frequent generation.
Pros
- Easy to use — no learning curve, all you need to do is type what you need.
- Generates unique images — perfect for quick, one-of-a-kind designs or for inspiration and direction.
- Allows for text-based customization — just describe what you want.
- No design skills needed — great for non-designers.
- Quick and time-saving — faster than fiddling with design software.
- Affordable — cheaper than hiring designers or buying fancy tools. Also, the free plan lets you create some images every day.
- Can create different styles — good and versatile for any type of thumbnail designs and vibes.
Cons
- Looks unrealistic — don’t expect photorealism. Most of the images have a 3D vibe in them.
- Can feel generic — sometimes lacks personality or flair.
- Inconsistent editing — can’t reuse the same characters or styles easily.
- Bad with text — you’ll probably need to add text using another app.
- Limited control — details like shadows or lighting can be tricky.
- Can get frustrating — takes trial and error to get what you want. Some images simply aren’t possible to create with AI reliably—no matter what you tell the AI to do.
Anyways, I highly recommend testing ChatGPT for your thumbnails. Especially with backgrounds and feedback!
Thanks for reading this list! Hope you find it useful.