What does CFG scale do?

Question

Accepted Answer

CFG (Classifier-Free Guidance) scale controls how closely the AI follows your prompt versus generating freely.

**How it works:**
- Lower CFG (1-5): More creative, may ignore parts of your prompt
- Medium CFG (6-8): Balanced, recommended starting point
- Higher CFG (9-15): Stricter prompt following, can become oversaturated
- Very high CFG (15+): Often produces artifacts and unnatural results

**Recommended values:**
| Model | Typical CFG Range |
|-------|-------------------|
| SDXL | 5-8 |
| SD 1.5 | 7-11 |
| Flux | 3-4 (uses different scale) |

**When to adjust:**
- Image ignoring your prompt → Increase CFG
- Colors oversaturated → Decrease CFG
- Unnatural/artificial look → Decrease CFG
- Need exact prompt match → Increase CFG (carefully)

Think of CFG as a "prompt obedience" dial. Too low and the AI does its own thing; too high and it overcompensates, creating artifacts.