Fal AI vs Replicate vs Kie AI vs Atlas Cloud: Image and Video APIs for Claude Code and Codex

Can Claude generate images? Claude’s models write text and code; they don’t produce images themselves. But Claude Code can generate images and video for you, and so can OpenAI’s Codex CLI and Gemini CLI, by calling an image and video API such as fal.ai, Replicate, Kie.ai or Atlas Cloud. Connect one through MCP, describe what you want in plain English, and the agent picks a model, runs it, and saves the files to your project folder.

This guide compares the four platforms artists ask about most, shows exactly how to connect them, and flags the settings that quietly cost money or lose your files.

Checked against each company’s own docs and pricing pages on September 29, 2026. Prices change often.

The Short Version

fal.ai

fal.ai is an inference platform focused on generative media. It hosts hundreds of models, including FLUX.2, Nano Banana Pro and Nano Banana 2, Seedream, Kling 3.0 and Veo 3.1, and also supports custom LoRA training and ComfyUI workflows.

• Pricing: per output. For example, FLUX.2 [pro] is listed at $0.03 for the first megapixel, so a 1024x1024 image costs about 3 cents.
• For terminal users: fal has an official hosted MCP server with tools to search models, check pricing, run jobs and upload files. Every model page also has an llms.txt version that agents can read for up-to-date parameters and prices.
• Files: generated media stays on fal’s CDN for at least 7 days by default.

Replicate

Replicate runs tens of thousands of community-published models alongside curated ones, and lets you deploy your own fine-tuned models. Cloudflare acquired Replicate in December 2025; it still runs as its own brand.

• Pricing: most models bill per second of GPU time; some popular ones bill per output. Check the model page before running anything big.
• For terminal users: an official MCP server, hosted at mcp.replicate.com (sign in through the browser) or run locally with the replicate-mcp npm package.
• Files: outputs of predictions made through the API are deleted after 1 hour by default. Download them right away, or tell your agent to.

Kie.ai

Kie.ai is a reseller: one prepaid credit balance gives you API access to popular closed models, including Veo, Nano Banana Pro, Kling, Seedance, Runway and Suno, often below the official price.

• Pricing: prepaid credits; Kie advertises prices 30-70% below official APIs.
• For terminal users: a plain REST API with webhooks. There’s no official MCP server; the ones on GitHub are community-made, so review them before giving them your key.
• Reputation: reviews are mixed. Trustpilot feedback, from a small number of reviews, mostly complains about credits and support responsiveness. Start with a small top-up.

Atlas Cloud

Atlas Cloud offers one API for hundreds of image, video, audio and language models, including GPT Image 2, Nano Banana 2, Seedance and Kling, and markets itself directly to people using Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI.

• Pricing: pay per generation, no subscription. Its pricing page lists GPT Image 2 at around a cent per image.
• For terminal users: an official MCP server (atlascloud-mcp) with 13 tools, including image, video and audio generation, file upload, and tools to check your balance and costs.
• Reputation: less independent feedback than the others, so test before relying on it.

Other Options Worth Knowing

• Runware: very low per-image pricing and a huge model catalog including LoRAs and ControlNet.
• WaveSpeedAI: fast inference with a fal-style catalog.
• Together AI: mainly for language models, but hosts FLUX; handy if you already use it.

How to Connect Your Terminal Agent

You need an API key from the platform. Keep it in an environment variable, never in a file you commit or a chat message.

Claude Code

fal.ai (official hosted server):

claude mcp add --transport http fal-ai https://mcp.fal.ai/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer $FAL_KEY"

Replicate (official hosted server; sign in through the browser when prompted):

claude mcp add --transport http replicate https://mcp.replicate.com

Atlas Cloud (official npm server; needs ATLASCLOUD_API_KEY set in your environment):

claude mcp add atlascloud -- npx -y atlascloud-mcp

OpenAI Codex CLI

Codex reads MCP servers from ~/.codex/config.toml. For a local server such as Replicate’s npm package, forward your key from the environment:

[mcp_servers.replicate]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "replicate-mcp"]
env_vars = ["REPLICATE_API_TOKEN"]

Remote servers can be added with codex mcp add <name> --url <url>; see OpenAI’s Codex MCP docs for passing an auth header.

Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI reads ~/.gemini/settings.json, and can expand environment variables:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atlascloud": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "atlascloud-mcp"],
      "env": { "ATLASCLOUD_API_KEY": "${ATLASCLOUD_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Prefer plain code?

Every platform also works without MCP. Ask your agent to write a small script instead. fal’s official quickstart, for example:

import fal_client

result = fal_client.subscribe(
    "fal-ai/flux/schnell",
    arguments={"prompt": "a futuristic cityscape at sunset"},
)
print(result["images"][0]["url"])

It reads your key from the FAL_KEY environment variable. Replicate’s Python client works the same way with REPLICATE_API_TOKEN.

Prompts That Work Well in Claude Code or Codex

Once a server is connected, you can work in plain language. For example:

• “Check the price first, then generate 4 variations of a surreal lighthouse made of glass with FLUX.2. Save them to ./renders/ with the prompt in each filename.”
• “Take ./renders/lighthouse-2.png and animate it into a 5-second slow push-in with Kling 3.0. Tell me the cost before you run it.”
• “Compare the same prompt in Nano Banana Pro and FLUX.2 and put both images side by side in an HTML file.”

Agents are good at the boring parts: batching variations, naming files, keeping a log of prompts and seeds, and writing a contact sheet so you can compare results.

Five Things That Cost Artists Money or Files

1. Download outputs immediately. Replicate deletes API outputs after 1 hour by default; fal keeps them at least 7 days. Tell your agent to save every result locally.
2. Ask for the price before running. fal’s MCP server has a pricing tool and Atlas Cloud’s has cost and balance tools; ask the agent to check before big batches, especially video.
3. Use prepaid credit as your budget. Load a small amount at a time rather than relying on a card that bills whatever you use.
4. Keep keys out of git. Put keys in a .env file, add .env to .gitignore, and never paste a key into a chat.
5. Review community MCP servers before installing them. A server gets your API key and runs on your machine; prefer the official ones listed above.

Which Should You Choose?

Many artists end up with two: fal.ai or Atlas Cloud for everyday generation, and Replicate for open-source experiments.

Next Steps

• New to prompting? Start with How to Write AI Art Prompts
• Planning video? Read our AI Video Prompting Guide and Best AI Video Generators
• Using Claude for creative work? See How to Use Claude for AI Art