AI writing tools, tested honestly

NovelAI Free: What You Actually Get

The NovelAI free trial covers 30 image generations, not unlimited story writing. Here's the real breakdown before you sign up.

Rewrite your draft free See the free trial limits
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The numbers

NovelAI free trial, in real figures

30
free image generations included in the trial, no card needed
1024x1024
max resolution and 28 steps per image on the free tier
$10-$25
monthly range across the three paid plans (Tablet, Scroll, Opus)
20%
Anlas purchase discount on every paid plan, including the cheapest
Free vs. paid

What's actually free, and what isn't

NovelAI splits its free trial into a fixed image quota and a limited story sandbox. Here's where the line sits.

30 image generations

The free trial's clearest number: 30 generations at up to 1024x1024 resolution, then you're either buying Anlas or subscribing.

Capped story sandbox

Text generation is testable through an anonymous trial mode, but context length and model quality are well below the paid tiers.

Best model is paid

Xialong, NovelAI's strongest text model as of March 2026, is an Opus-only feature at $25/mo, not part of the free trial.

Three paid tiers

Tablet ($10/mo) and Scroll ($15/mo) share pay-as-you-go image access; Opus ($25/mo) adds unlimited generation and the top model.

Anlas allowance

Paid plans add monthly Anlas: 1,000 on Tablet and Scroll, 10,000 on Opus, on top of a 20% discount on any extra purchase.

Output still needs editing

Free or paid, generated prose reads generic until someone tightens the tone and cuts what's not doing any work.

Use case

Testing the free trial on a short scene

Thirty image generations and a capped story sandbox are enough to judge NovelAI's interface: prompt handling, generation speed, and how the tool feels day to day. They are not enough to finish a project. Most writers hit the wall inside a single afternoon, right around the point where they've decided whether the tool fits their process.

  • 30 generations covers a handful of test images per project, not a full set
  • The anonymous story trial is best used to check tone and pacing, not to draft a full chapter
  • Track which prompts actually worked before the quota runs out
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Use case

Cleaning up the output before it goes anywhere

The test concret: paste a NovelAI draft into a plain document, read it out loud, and count the sentences that don't sound like you. That's the edit list. A rewriting pass, tone by tone, professional to casual, is what turns a generic first draft into something you'd actually publish under your name.

  • Match tone to the destination: academic for a paper, confident for a pitch, friendly for a newsletter
  • Cut repeated phrasing that AI generators default to across long passages
  • Keep the meaning, change the voice, in one rewrite pass instead of a full rewrite from scratch
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What people said after the trial

Three writers, three verdicts on the free tier

The 30 free generations were enough to know I liked the interface. They ran out before I finished a single cover concept, which is exactly what a trial should do: get you to decide fast.
Marc-Andre T. Self-published author
I used the anonymous story mode to test tone before committing. The free sandbox is short on context, so long scenes drift. Worth trying before you pay, not worth relying on after.
Priya K. Freelance content writer
Free trial got me curious, Opus got me the better model. Either way, I still run everything through a rewrite pass after, the raw draft never sounds like my newsletter.
Lena F. Newsletter writer

NovelAI free trial: common questions

Is NovelAI actually free?
Partly. The free trial gives you 30 image generations at up to 1024x1024 resolution, no subscription required. Story writing has a limited anonymous or free-account sandbox, but the full text-generation experience (longer memory, faster queue, better models) sits behind the Tablet, Scroll, or Opus plans.
What exactly do you get in the NovelAI free trial?
30 free image generations, capped at 1024x1024 resolution and 28 sampling steps per image. On the story side, NovelAI shows an anonymous trial mode in its dashboard, so you can test the writing tool before creating an account, but output length and model access are limited.
Does the free trial include NovelAI's story-writing model?
You can test it, but the best text model, Xialong (a GLM-4.6 fine-tune released in March 2026), is reserved for the Opus plan at $25/mo. The free sandbox uses a lighter model with shorter context, which shows in weaker consistency over longer scenes.
How much do NovelAI's paid plans cost?
Tablet is $10/mo, Scroll is $15/mo, and Opus is $25/mo (all USD). Every tier includes a 20% discount on Anlas, NovelAI's in-app currency, plus a monthly Anlas allowance: 1,000 on Tablet and Scroll, 10,000 on Opus, which unlocks near-unlimited image generation.
What is Anlas, and why does it matter for the free trial?
Anlas is NovelAI's pay-as-you-go currency for image generation beyond your plan's included quota. On the free trial you're not earning or spending Anlas, you're using the fixed 30-generation allowance instead. Once that runs out, further images need a subscription or an Anlas purchase.
Do I need a credit card to try NovelAI for free?
NovelAI's own interface shows an anonymous trial option for stories, meaning you can test the writing tool without even creating an account. For the 30 free image generations, an account signup is the standard path; no card is required until you pick a paid plan.
What's the real catch with a free AI writing trial like this?
Volume and voice. A 30-generation or short-context free trial is enough to judge the interface, not to finish a project. And raw model output, free or paid, tends to read generic until someone edits it into a consistent, human tone.
How does Rephrasee fit in if I'm already using NovelAI's free trial?
NovelAI drafts and generates; Rephrasee rewrites what you already have into the tone you actually want, professional, concise, confident, friendly, academic, or simple, while keeping the meaning intact. Most writers pair a generator with a rewriting pass before anything goes out the door.
After the free trial

Rewrite what NovelAI drafted, free

Paste the output, pick a tone, keep the meaning. Rephrasee's free tier handles the edit pass most AI drafts still need.

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