Platform alternative
ComfyUI is free, open source and runs on your own GPU. Without one there are two hosted routes: Comfy Cloud, the official hosted ComfyUI, and a hosted canvas such as RelayMe that calls third-party image and video models for credits. Every ComfyUI and Comfy Cloud fact below comes from their public pages, with a source and check date.
If you want ComfyUI itself without a GPU, the official route is Comfy Cloud: the same node graph on hosted GPUs, with plans from $20 a month (checked 2026-09-30). If you want product images and short videos from a canvas without managing models, RelayMe offers 8 image models and 4 video models (Grok Imagine, MiniMax-H3, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1) and bills each generation in credits (1,000 credits ≈ US$1; Veo 3.1 Fast is 150 credits per second with audio). RelayMe cannot run custom nodes, LoRAs or local checkpoints, and it cannot open a ComfyUI workflow file; if you rely on those, stay on ComfyUI.
| Item | ComfyUI (local or Comfy Cloud) | RelayMe |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Open-source node-based app for diffusion models (GPL-3.0), run on your own hardware. [1] Comfy Cloud is the officially hosted ComfyUI, used in the browser. [2] | A hosted node canvas that calls third-party image, video and text models; nothing to install. |
| GPU needed? | Local: your own hardware; Comfy notes you may need a good GPU depending on what you create. [2] Comfy Cloud: no; it runs on Blackwell RTX 6000 Pro GPUs with 96 GB VRAM. [2] | No. Generation runs at the model providers; you only need a browser. |
| Price | ComfyUI itself is free. [2] Comfy Cloud, monthly billing: Standard $20, Creator $35, Pro $100; up to 20% off on yearly billing; 5 free runs to try, no card. [3] Comfy Cloud Team plans: five tiers from $200 to $2,500 a month, set by a credit commitment. [3] | Pay-as-you-go top-ups, or plans: Starter US$19/mo (20,000 credits), Basic US$32/mo (35,000 credits), Pro US$90/mo (110,000 credits). 1,000 credits ≈ US$1. |
| What you pay for | Comfy Cloud credits pay for active GPU time and Partner Nodes; building workflows and idle time are free. [3] | Each generation at the model’s rate, e.g. Veo 3.1 Fast 150 credits/sec with audio, Nano Banana Pro 220 credits per 1K/2K image (standard rate). |
| Models | Comfy Cloud: 900+ pre-installed models, plus proprietary models such as Nano Banana Pro through Partner Nodes. [3] | Video: Grok Imagine, MiniMax-H3, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1. Image: Nano Banana, Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, GPT Image 2.5, GPT Image 2.5 Flare, GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, GPT Image 2 and Grok Imagine Image 2.0. Plus LLM text nodes. |
| Custom nodes, LoRAs, checkpoints | Local: install community custom nodes and load your own checkpoints and LoRAs. [1] Comfy Cloud: the most-used custom nodes; Creator, Pro and Team plans can import your own models and LoRAs from CivitAI or Hugging Face. [3] | None: no custom nodes, no code node, no LoRA or checkpoint upload. |
| Offline use | Comfy Desktop runs entirely on your computer and works offline. [2] | No. It needs a connection; the model providers do the generation. |
| Run limits | Comfy Cloud: 30-minute maximum per workflow run (1 hour on Pro); queue up to 100 workflows. [3] | Set by each model, e.g. Veo 3.1 clips up to 8 seconds and MiniMax-H3 up to 15; image nodes return 1–4 candidates per run. |
| API | Comfy Cloud API runs your workflows from code; 1 / 3 / 5 concurrent runs on Standard / Creator / Pro. [3] | HTTP API with an OpenAPI spec, cost estimates, Idempotency-Key and signed webhooks; no MCP server. |
The ComfyUI column quotes its public pages as checked on 2026-09-30; bracketed numbers are sources. RelayMe prices and model names come from the live model catalog at build time, the same list as the pricing page.
Local ComfyUI: the software is free and open source (GPL-3.0). The cost is your own hardware, power and the time spent installing models and custom nodes; Comfy itself notes that, depending on what you create, you may need a good GPU. [1] [2]
Comfy Cloud (checked 2026-09-30): Standard $20, Creator $35 and Pro $100 a month on monthly billing, up to 20% less on yearly billing; team plans from $200 to $2,500 a month. Credits pay for active GPU time and Partner Nodes; idle time and building workflows are free, and new users get 5 free runs without a card. [3]
RelayMe: no GPU and no GPU-time billing. Each generation costs the model’s rate in credits, e.g. Veo 3.1 Fast 150 credits per second with audio (100 without) or Nano Banana Pro 220 credits per 1K/2K image. Top up as you go or subscribe from US$19 a month for 20,000 credits; 1,000 credits is about US$1.
The units differ (GPU time versus per-result prices), so there is no fair single “cheaper” answer. Price one real job both ways: run the same brief with Comfy Cloud’s free runs and with any introductory RelayMe credits shown at sign-up, then compare the recorded spend.
Rebuild one small chain — a Text node, an image model node and a video node — and run it once. Task history records the credits for each step, so you can compare the spend with how you do the same job today.
Registration does not need a credit card; any introductory credits and their validity are shown at sign-up.
No credit card required · 1,000 credits ≈ US$1
Yes, through Comfy Cloud, the official hosted version: you use it in the browser and it runs on Comfy’s GPUs, with plans from $20 a month (checked 2026-09-30). Local ComfyUI needs your own hardware.
ComfyUI itself is free and open source. Comfy Cloud costs $20, $35 or $100 a month on monthly billing for Standard, Creator and Pro, with up to 20% off on yearly billing and 5 free runs to try (checked 2026-09-30). Its credits pay for active GPU time and Partner Nodes.
For some jobs. RelayMe is a hosted node canvas that generates images and videos with third-party models, billed per generation in credits. It cannot run ComfyUI graphs, custom nodes, LoRAs or local checkpoints, so it is an alternative only when hosted models cover the job.
No. RelayMe cannot open ComfyUI workflow files. Rebuild the graph with RelayMe’s Text, Image and Video input nodes, model nodes and tool nodes; steps that depend on custom nodes have no equivalent.
Grok Imagine, MiniMax-H3, Veo 3.1 Fast and Veo 3.1: 4 in total. Veo 3.1 Fast is 150 credits per second with audio and MiniMax-H3 starts at 120; models outside this list are not available, and the pricing page is the live list.
No. RelayMe calls hosted third-party models and neither trains nor loads custom weights. For LoRAs, use ComfyUI locally or Comfy Cloud on the Creator, Pro or Team plans.
Third-party prices and plans change; the other product’s current page is authoritative.
