Since Civitai’s inception, one of our biggest challenges has been hardware limitations - the number of GPUs available to power services like LoRA training and image generation. While we’ve always wanted to support all Checkpoints for generation, our infrastructure simply wasn’t there.
For the past year, we’ve managed to support around 200 of the most popular Checkpoints, prioritizing widely used models to ensure the best experience for the majority of users. But the long-term goal has always been clear: full Checkpoint coverage.
Now, we’re finally at a place where we think we can make that happen! Over the past few months, we’ve been:
Expanding our GPU resources and reducing reliance on third-party providers.
Optimizing our Orchestrator and Worker code, the middleware that controls image generation.
Building and deploying new scaling systems to handle tens of thousands of Checkpoints efficiently.
This rollout marks a major milestone for Civitai, and while we expect some initial hiccups (we've added over 6,000 lines of code to make this work!), we’re thrilled to finally bring this vision to life!
How We’re Rolling Out Full Checkpoint Coverage
Supporting tens of thousands of new Checkpoint models on the Generator while keeping the system efficient requires a smarter allocation of resources. That’s why we’ve introduced a usage-based allocation system, ensuring that high-demand models get priority while lower-use models remain accessible without overloading infrastructure.
Every Checkpoint now has a "thermometer" badge representing its current generation usage, with seven levels:
Dormant
Quiet
Underground Hit
Getting Hype
Taking Off
Crushing It
Buzzing!
Models currently in demand are allocated more GPU resources.
Less frequently used models are still available but will be allocated fewer GPUs to conserve resources.
Dynamic Pricing: Balancing Demand and Availability
To ensure fair access across all Checkpoints, we’re introducing dynamic pricing tied to Checkpoint popularity.
Dormant Checkpoints (+40% cost): These models see very little use, meaning they require extra resources to load onto GPUs that could be handling higher-demand tasks. Since these GPUs are "tied up" during generation, an additional fee offsets the inefficiency.
Buzzing! Checkpoints (-20% cost): These are high-demand models, preloaded across multiple GPUs, allowing them to generate images quickly and efficiently. Thanks to this optimized allocation, we’re lowering the cost of generation on these models.
Everything in between: Checkpoints on the popularity scale will have pricing adjustments on a gradient between these two extremes.
🚀 The more a Checkpoint is used, the more efficient it becomes - and the lower its generation cost!
This system lets us fairly allocate resources, prioritizing the models people use most while still keeping every Checkpoint accessible, even niche ones.
What’s Next?
Auctions! To make the old "Featured" model system more accessible and community-driven, we’ve replaced it with a new Auction System, allowing users to bid on which models get "Boosted".
How It Works
Every day, 40 "Featured" slots are available for Checkpoints, along with dedicated slots for LoRAs.
You can bid Buzz to push your favorite models into a Boosted slot.
Bidding lasts 24 hours, and at the end of the period, the top bids determine the next day's Boosted Models.
The top 3 bid upon models earn Gold, Silver, and Bronze status, receiving extra high-visibility placement.
All Boosted Checkpoints offer a 20% Discount on Generation! That's 40 popular Checkpoints which when used will instantly confer a 20% Discount to generation.
Find Boosted models in the new "Boosted" tab of the Resource Picker, and check out the new Auction system here.
This is a huge step forward for Civitai and our community. Full Checkpoint coverage means more creative freedom, smarter resource management, and better support for the models you love.
While changes always come with an adjustment period, we believe these updates will make the platform more dynamic, fair, and sustainable.
You can read more about Checkpoint Coverage and the new Auction System in our full Guide.