After testing over 3000 different PDXL models, I started testing ILXL (Illustrious-XL) models as well (including NoobAI-XL which is also based on ILXL). The general idea is the same: I only want to give a comparison of their default styles. ILXL includes many different styles that can be triggered by using artist tags so keep in mind that the default style (without artist tag) is not the only one the models are capable of. I slightly adjusted the prompts compared to PDXL but I'm using the same prompts and seed for all ILXL models.
As much as I loved PDXL at it's release, I have to admit that ILXL is the superior base model. With its Danbooru2023 dataset (which NoobAI, RouWei, Janku, and Chenkin even extended), it knows way more characters than PDXL. It also has a better prompt adherence and seems to be better with hands.
Just like with PDXL I will only use SFW prompts for my test images. But keep in mind that ILXL is perfectly capable of producing NSFW images as well.
This comparison is not completely fair for every model, but adjusting the prompts and looking for a good seed for every model would not provide a good comparison. I download almost every new model and post the test images to their respective model pages with my test image upload account Lizardon1025.
All the prompts and settings are listed below. For some models a large amount of positive and negative quality prompts are recommended while others seems to require none at all. So I simply use two positive and negative quality prompts for all models. You can also find the ComfyUI workflow attached to this article.
I'm listing my personal favorite models with my favorite settings here, roughly ordered by degree of realism. This choice of models is entirely subjective. I will update the list from time to time.
Changelog:
Minor Change 20.10.2025: From now on the bottom right image has slightly adjusted tags:
removed "hug"
added "holding cat"
Latest update of favorite list:
03.02.2026
Tested ILXL models so far: ~ 8000
arsplante_v10 (CFG ~ 4, VAE xlVAEC_f231 / xlVAEC_f22) (deleted model)
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kiradepth_v12 (v-pred, CFG ~ 4)
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redMix_v14 (CFG ~ 2, VAE xlVAEC_f231)
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chrismixModerntoon_v10 (CFG ~ 6)
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vanimix_v15 (CFG ~ 3)
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ponystyleSemirealILL_v10 (CFG ~ 4.5, VAE xlVAEC_f231) (deleted model)
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partumExitium_partumExitiumV1 (CFG ~ 4)
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silenceMix_v34 (CFG ~ 2, VAE xlVAEC_f231)
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novaAsianXL_illustriousV60 (CFG ~ 4)
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realium_alphaV10B55 (CFG ~ 7)
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illustrious_v5F37 (CFG ~ 5)
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BSSRealluxuraIL_v10Beta (CFG ~ 6)
The current prompts are the following:
Zelda kiss:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, 1boy, princess zelda, the legend of zelda: breath of the wild, standing, kiss, hug, closed eyes, outdoors
Portrait:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, face, portrait, looking at viewer, closed mouth
Forest Angel:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, solo, blonde hair, wavy hair, angel, angel wings, halo, smile, sitting, forest, white dress
Library Catgirl:
masterpiece, best quality, 1girl, solo, long hair, black hair, blunt bangs, straight hair, round eyewear, cat girl, cat ears, cat tail, standing, holding cat, cat, looking at viewer, library, dark, dim lighting
Negative prompts:
worst quality, bad quality
All images were created with their recommended sampler, scheduler, CFG value and steps. If there are no recommended settings on the model page, I'm using the settings of its showcase images. If the showcase images don't display their settings, I'm using these default settings:
Sampler: Euler a
Scheduler: Normal
CFG Scale: 6
Steps: 50
Width: 896
Height: 1152
Seed: fixed (same for all test images)