Leonardo AI Review Australia 2026: The Sydney-built image generator Canva bought
- From
- A$24.99/mo · inc. GST · billed in AUD
- Your data
- No advertised AU region. Hosted on AWS with geographically separated backups; privacy framed around GDPR/UK DPA. SOC2 certified.
The gate: Australian Fit 4/5 clears it, so five stars are permitted.
Skip to the verdictVerdict (TL;DR): Leonardo AI is the rare global AI tool that is actually Australian. It was founded in Sydney in December 2022, shipped Phoenix — billed as Australia's first homegrown foundation model — in 2024, and was bought by Canva, another Australian company, the same year. Under the hood it is a serious image and video generator: its own models (Phoenix, Lucid Origin), plus top third-party models (Google's Veo 3 and Nano Banana, OpenAI's GPT Image 1), a Realtime Canvas for sketch-to-image work, a Universal Upscaler to 8K, and short AI video. You can start free on 150 tokens a day. The catch for Australians is billing, and it has two halves. On the web, plans are priced in USD through Stripe (Essential US$12/mo, ≈ AUD$16.80), with GST added at checkout only if Leonardo has crossed the local tax threshold — so the number you pay is not fixed in advance. In the iOS and Android apps you do pay a native Australian price, GST included, but you pay a lot more for it: Essential is A$24.99 a month on the Australian App Store, about 49% above the web rate. Sign up on the web, not on your phone. There is no published Australian data-residency region either, though SOC2 certification and full commercial ownership on paid plans are genuine strengths. For an Australian designer, marketer or small business owner who wants more control than Canva's built-in tools, it is an easy recommendation.
Last reviewed: 3 June 2026 by Adam.
What Leonardo AI is
Leonardo AI is a web and mobile platform for generating images and short videos from text prompts. You type a description — "a flat-lay product photo of a candle on a linen runner, soft window light" — and it returns finished images you can refine, upscale, edit or animate. It sits in the same category as Midjourney, DALL·E and Adobe Firefly, but aims at creative professionals and businesses rather than hobbyists alone: game studios, advertisers, marketers and designers who need volume and control.
The Australian story is the unusual part. Leonardo was founded in Sydney in December 2022 by JJ Fiasson and five co-founders, raised A$47 million in Series A in 2023 (Blackbird Ventures led), and in June 2024 released Phoenix, which it described as Australia's first in-house generative AI foundation model. In August 2024 it was acquired by Canva — also Australian — and now powers parts of Canva's Magic Studio and Dream Lab while continuing as a standalone product. By late 2024 it reported more than 29 million users and over 200 staff.
What you actually get today is a deep toolkit. Image generation runs on Leonardo's own models (Phoenix, Lucid Origin) plus a roster of third-party models — Google's Veo 3 for video, Google's Nano Banana and OpenAI's GPT Image 1 for images. Around that sit Realtime Canvas (turn a rough sketch into a finished image as you draw), Image Guidance (upload a reference to steer composition and style), a Universal Upscaler to 8K, inpainting and outpainting, custom model training on your own datasets, Motion for short AI video, and a Pay-As-You-Go API for developers. It runs as a web app and as native iOS and Android apps that sync to your account.
What it costs in Australia
This is where the AU pedigree and the AU experience part ways. Despite being Sydney-built, Leonardo prices in US dollars and bills through Stripe. Its own pricing FAQ is explicit: prices exclude tax, and tax "will be added at the point of payment with Stripe" — meaning GST is applied at checkout only if Leonardo has crossed the Australian tax threshold, and is not baked into the headline number.
Everything runs on a token system. Tokens are a single currency you spend on generating images, running video, and post-processing; heavier jobs (video, upscaling) cost more tokens than a basic image.
Two price lists, and the gap between them is large. Everything in the table below is the web path — USD through Stripe, which is the cheaper way in. Leonardo also sells the same plans as in-app purchases on the Australian App Store, in Australian dollars with GST included:
| Plan (in-app, AU App Store) | Monthly | Yearly |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | A$24.99 | A$249.99 |
| Premium | A$59.99 | A$599.99 |
| Ultimate | A$129.99 | A$1,199.99 |
| Token top-ups | A$19.00 (5,500) · A$99.00 (35,000) · A$399.00 (165,000) | — |
Read from the Australian App Store listing on 21 September 2026; it declares "priceCurrency":"AUD" and names Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd as seller. Apple is merchant of record in Australia, so GST is in the number and the receipt is a valid tax invoice.
Essential at A$24.99/month is roughly 49% more than the US$12/month web rate (≈ A$16.80). That premium is the standard app-store commission passed on to you. Subscribe on the web and use the app to sign in.
| Plan (web, via Stripe) | Price (USD, ex tax) | Approx AUD (≈1.40) | Tokens | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | $0 | 150 tokens/day | Trying it out; light, occasional use. Images are public by default and IP vests in Leonardo |
| Essential (was Apprentice) | US$12/mo (≈$9.60/mo billed annually) | ≈ AUD$16.80/mo | 8,500 tokens/mo | Solo creators, light commercial use |
| Premium (was Artisan) | US$30/mo ($24/mo annually) | ≈ AUD$42.00/mo | 25,000 tokens/mo | Regular commercial output |
| Ultimate (was Maestro) | US$60/mo ($48/mo annually) | ≈ AUD$84/mo | 60,000 tokens/mo | Heavy users; lots of video and upscaling |
| Teams | from US$24/seat/mo (min 3 seats) | ≈ AUD$33.60/seat/mo | 25,000 tokens/seat (Starter) | Small studios and agencies |
| API | Pay-As-You-Go (from US$5 credit) | — | per-call | Developers building on Leonardo |
Pricing re-verified 2 September 2026 against Leonardo's pricing page (plans renamed from Apprentice/Artisan/Maestro in mid-2026; prices and allowances unchanged). Prices are USD and exclude tax; AUD figures are our own conversion at ≈1.40 and will move with the exchange rate and your card's conversion fee. GST is added at checkout only if applicable. Annual billing saves up to 20%. Paid plans also bank unused tokens — the rollover Token Bank holds up to 3× your monthly allowance.
Value verdict: The free tier is unusually generous for this category — 150 tokens a day is enough to learn the tool and produce real work, with the important caveat that free-plan images are public by default and their IP vests in Leonardo. Essential at US$12/month (≈ AUD$16.80) is fair for a solo creator who wants private generations and full ownership. The token model is the thing to watch: video and 8K upscaling burn tokens fast, so a heavy month can push you up a tier sooner than the headline price suggests. For pure value, it sits a notch behind tools that bill in plain AUD — but the feature depth largely earns it back.
How it works in practice
Type a prompt, pick a model, and Leonardo returns a grid of images in seconds. From there the platform earns its keep. Image Guidance lets you upload a reference photo and tell it to match the composition, pose or style — useful when "describe it in words" isn't getting you there. Realtime Canvas is genuinely handy for non-artists: sketch a rough shape and it fills in a finished image live, so you can art-direct by drawing rather than re-prompting. The Universal Upscaler takes a good image to print resolution (up to 8K) with generative refinement rather than a blunt resize.
The model choice matters. Phoenix and Lucid Origin are Leonardo's own; Phoenix is strong on prompt adherence and text-in-image, Lucid Origin on stylised, creative output. Then you can switch to Google's Nano Banana or OpenAI's GPT Image 1 for a different look without leaving the app — a real advantage over single-model tools. For video, Motion produces short clips, and Veo 3 brings Google's text-to-video in-house. None of this is one-click; you will spend time learning which model and which guidance settings suit your job.
The honest friction points: the token economy adds a layer of mental maths, the sheer number of models and sliders is more than a casual user needs, and the newer video features are short-clip novelties rather than production tools. This is a creative workstation, not a "make me a logo" button.
What it does well
- It's actually Australian. Founded in Sydney, owned by Canva, and the home of Phoenix — Australia's first homegrown foundation model. For buyers who care where their tools come from, that's rare in this category.
- Real feature depth. Own foundation models plus the best third-party models (Veo 3, Nano Banana, GPT Image 1), Realtime Canvas, 8K upscaling, custom model training and an API. Few competitors are this complete.
- A genuinely useful free tier. 150 tokens a day is enough to do real work, not just kick the tyres.
- Full ownership on paid plans. Paid subscribers own their outputs and can use them commercially; Leonardo states it won't use your private content to train models without written consent.
- Serious security posture. SOC2 certified, AWS-hosted, AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit, geographically separated backups — better documented than most consumer AI tools.
What to watch out for
- No native AUD pricing on the cheap path. Despite the Sydney roots, web plans are billed in USD via Stripe — expect currency conversion on your statement and a price that moves with the exchange rate. There is an AUD path, through the iOS and Android apps, but Essential costs A$24.99/month there against about A$16.80 on the web. You can have the local currency or the lower price, not both.
- GST isn't baked in. Leonardo's own FAQ says tax is added at checkout only if it has crossed the local threshold — so you can't be certain the headline number is the final number until you pay.
- No published Australian data-residency region. Hosting is on AWS, but Leonardo doesn't advertise an AU region. Per its DPA and privacy policy, data is stored in the United States on AWS (no specific region code published) and processed in Australia and elsewhere — so despite the Sydney roots, your data isn't kept onshore.
- Free-tier IP trap. On the free plan your images are public by default and the intellectual property vests in Leonardo — fine for learning, not for client work. You need a paid plan to own what you make.
- The token system takes learning. Video and upscaling burn tokens quickly, so budgeting your month isn't as simple as the per-month price implies.
Australian fit
- Available in Australia: Yes — web app plus native iOS and Android apps, no region lock.
- Australian-built: Yes — founded in Sydney (Dec 2022), owned by Canva (Australian), maker of Phoenix, "Australia's first" foundation model.
- Pricing in AUD: On the app stores, yes; on the web, no. The Australian App Store bills Essential at A$24.99/month or A$249.99/year, GST included, with Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd as seller of record. leonardo.ai prices and bills in USD via Stripe, and Australians pay a converted amount — but about 49% less than the in-app rate. (Corrected 21 Sep 2026; this line previously read "No.")
- GST: Prices exclude tax; GST is added at the Stripe checkout only if applicable, and Leonardo may not charge it until it crosses the local threshold. Leonardo is an Australian entity (Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd, ABN 56 662 209 485), so a Stripe invoice carrying its ABN is downloadable.
- Data residency: No advertised AU region. Hosted on AWS with geographically separated backups; privacy framed around GDPR/UK DPA. SOC2 certified.
- Local support: No AU-specific support line. Help centre, docs and community.
- Training on your data: Paid plans — no training on private content without written consent. Free plans — images public by default, may train future models.
Alternatives
| Tool | Why you might prefer it |
|---|---|
| Canva (Magic Media / Dream Lab) | If you already pay for Canva, you get Leonardo's Phoenix model baked in alongside layout, branding and publishing — simpler for non-designers. |
| Adobe Firefly | If you need commercially "safe," licence-clean training data and tight Photoshop/Creative Cloud integration for client work. |
| Midjourney | If raw aesthetic quality on stylised images matters more than canvas tools, an API, or where the company is based. |
Bottom line
For an Australian designer, marketer or small business owner who has outgrown one-click tools, Leonardo AI is an easy yes. It has the deepest toolkit in this review's category — its own foundation models, the best third-party models, a real sketch-to-image canvas, 8K upscaling and an API — wrapped in a security posture (SOC2, AES-256, AWS) that most consumer AI tools can't match. The free tier is generous enough to learn on, and paid plans give you full ownership of your work. That it was built in Sydney and is owned by Canva is a genuine point of difference in a field dominated by US labs.
It scores 21 rather than higher for honest reasons. The cheap path is USD with GST bolted on at checkout, so the Australian buyer who wants the best price doesn't get the clean, native-AUD experience the company's pedigree might promise — and the path that is native AUD, the app stores, charges about 49% more for it. There's no advertised Australian data-residency region. The token system rewards planning and punishes the careless. And the free tier's "your images are public and we own the IP" terms are a trap for anyone doing client work — you must pay to own. None of that dents the core recommendation. Under the Australian Fit gate, Leonardo clears the bar (AU Fit 4/5), so it keeps its five-star rating: for Australians who want a serious, locally-built image generator with room to grow, it's our top pick in this category. We'll refresh this if the pricing moves to native AUD or an AU data region appears.
Score
| Criterion | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Value for Money | 4/5 | Unusually generous free tier (150 tokens/day); Essential at US$12/mo on the web is fair. Token model can burn fast on video and upscaling, and the native-AUD route — A$24.99/mo on the app stores — costs about 49% more than the web rate. (Rationale corrected 21 Sep 2026: "not native AUD" was wrong; the problem is that the native-AUD path is the dear one.) |
| Ease of Use | 4/5 | Polished web and mobile apps; Realtime Canvas helps non-artists. Token economy and model sprawl add a learning curve |
| Feature Depth | 5/5 | Own foundation models (Phoenix, Lucid Origin) plus Veo 3, Nano Banana, GPT Image 1; canvas, 8K upscaler, custom training, video and API |
| Australian Fit | 4/5 | Sydney-built, Canva-owned, SOC2, full paid-plan ownership, and real AUD billing through the app stores with GST included. Loses a mark because the web path — the one you should actually use, at about two thirds the in-app price — is USD with GST resolved only at checkout, and there is no advertised AU data region. (Rationale corrected 21 Sep 2026; mark unchanged.) |
| Reliability & Support | 4/5 | 29M+ users, Canva-backed, SOC2 certified, AWS-hosted with encrypted backups; support is help-centre and community, no AU line |
| Total | 21/25 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent (AU Fit 4/5 — Australian Fit gate cleared) |
Update history
- 21 Sep 2026 — Correction: Leonardo does bill Australians in Australian dollars — in its own apps, and it charges more there. No score change. This review said in four places that there is "no native AUD price". That is true of leonardo.ai and false of the Australian App Store, where the listing declares
"priceCurrency":"AUD"and the seller of record is Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd — the Sydney company itself. The in-app tiers are Essential A$24.99/month or A$249.99/year, Premium A$59.99/A$599.99, Ultimate A$129.99/A$1,199.99, plus token top-ups at A$19.00 (5,500), A$99.00 (35,000) and A$399.00 (165,000), all GST-inclusive on an Apple tax invoice. Essential is A$24.99 in the app against US$12 ≈ A$16.80 on the web — about 49% more for the same plan. So the finding is not "we were wrong about the price", it is "there are two prices and we only ever looked at one, and the one we missed is the expensive one". Why nothing moves. Australian Fit stays 4/5: it was never docked for the absence of an AUD path so much as for USD billing, no GST clarity and no advertised AU data region, and the residency gap is untouched. Value for Money stays 4/5: an AUD path that costs 49% more is not an improvement in value, and saying otherwise would be the opposite error to the one being corrected. This review has cited the US App Store listing (apps.apple.com/us/…) as source 7 since June. Changing two characters in that URL would have surfaced all of the above. Found by the app-store pricing pass,Audits/app-store-pricing-2026-09-21.md. Source · Wayback: capture pending (archive.org unavailable 21 Sep 2026). - 2 Sep 2026 — Pricing re-verified: individual plans renamed — Apprentice is now Essential, Artisan is now Premium, Maestro is now Ultimate. Prices and token allowances unchanged (US$12/US$30/US$60 per month; 8,500/25,000/60,000 tokens; free tier still 150 tokens/day). Annual billing is now a flat "up to 20% off" (Essential ≈ US$9.60/mo annually). Paid plans add a rollover Token Bank holding up to 3× the monthly allowance. Still USD billing via Stripe, ex tax — no native AUD pricing. Verified against Leonardo's pricing page (25 Aug 2026 capture; the live page blocks automated fetching). Source
- 21 Apr 2026 — Leonardo AI adds Google's Veo 3 and Veo 3.1 video models (incl. Fast and Lite variants, 4K, native audio); paid-plan access. Source
- 3 Jun 2026 — First reviewed.
Frequently asked questions
Is Leonardo AI available in Australia?
Yes — and it's actually Australian. Founded in Sydney in December 2022, owned by Canva (also Australian) and the home of Phoenix, "Australia's first" foundation model. It runs as a web app plus native iOS and Android apps with no region lock.
Does Leonardo AI charge in AUD?
It depends where you subscribe, and the difference is large. On leonardo.ai, no — plans are priced and billed in USD via Stripe (Essential US$12/mo ≈ AUD$16.80, Premium US$30, Ultimate US$60), with GST added at checkout only if Leonardo has crossed the local tax threshold. In the iOS and Android apps, yes — the Australian App Store charges A$24.99/month or A$249.99/year for Essential, A$59.99/A$599.99 for Premium and A$129.99/A$1,199.99 for Ultimate, GST included, with Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd as seller. That is about 49% more than the web price for the same plan, so subscribe on the web and sign in on your phone. Either way Leonardo is an Australian entity (ABN 56 662 209 485) and a Stripe invoice carrying its ABN is downloadable.
Is there a free plan?
Yes, and it's generous — 150 tokens a day, enough to do real work. The catch: free-plan images are public by default and their IP vests in Leonardo, so you need a paid plan to privately own what you make.
Where is my data stored?
On AWS in the United States (no specific region code published), with no advertised Australian data-residency region despite the Sydney roots. It's SOC2 certified with AES-256 encryption; paid plans aren't used to train models without written consent.
Read next
- Category guide: Best AI Image Generators in Australia 2026
Sources
- Leonardo AI pricing (Individual, Team & API plans; token system; USD pricing; Essential/Premium/Ultimate plan names) — leonardo.ai/pricing — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026, archived 25 Aug 2026 — checked 3 June 2026; re-checked 2 September 2026 via the 25 Aug 2026 capture (live page blocks automated fetching)
- Leonardo AI Pricing & Plans FAQs (tax added at checkout via Stripe; GST/VAT threshold treatment; token usage) — docs.leonardo.ai/docs/pricing-and-plans-faq — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
- Leonardo AI Pay-As-You-Go API guide (PAYG pricing, $5 starting credit) — docs.leonardo.ai/docs/payg-guide — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
- Leonardo + Canva announcement (acquisition, integration, Phoenix into Canva) — leonardo.ai/news/supercharging-leonardo-with-canva — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
- Leonardo AI Privacy Policy (AWS hosting, SOC2, AES-256/TLS, training-on-data policy, paid-plan ownership) — leonardo.ai/privacy-policy — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
- Leonardo AI Commercial Usage / ownership (paid vs free IP ownership) — intercom.help/leonardo-ai/en/articles/8044018-commercial-usage — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
- Leonardo.Ai — Image Generator, Australian App Store (in-app purchase tiers in AUD,
priceCurrency: AUD, seller Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd) — apps.apple.com/au/app/id1662773014 — Wayback: capture pending (archive.org unavailable 21 Sep 2026) — checked 21 September 2026. (The US listing was cited here from June to September 2026, which is how the AUD tiers went unseen: apps.apple.com/us/app/leonardo-ai-image-generator/id1662773014 — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026) - Leonardo.Ai — Image Generator, Google Play (Android app, updated 31 May 2026) — play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.leonardo.leonardo — Wayback: archived 3 Jun 2026 — checked 3 June 2026
Secondary (context only): Wikipedia (Leonardo.ai — founding, founders, user count, Phoenix/Lucid Origin), Business News Australia and TechCrunch (Series A funding, Sydney HQ, Canva acquisition). Used only for company background and dates, cross-checked against primary vendor sources; not relied on for pricing or feature claims.
The AI Directory Australia is an independent editorial publication. We don't accept payment for positive reviews. Read our Methodology and Affiliate Disclosure pages.
Reviewed by Adam for The AI Directory Australia. First published 3 June 2026.
Price Watch · Free
Know before your AI bill changes
A short email when AI tools change what they charge Australians: the new price in AUD, what it means for you, and whether to switch. No hype, no spam, unsubscribe any time.