Fooocus is a free, open-source image generator built on Stable Diffusion XL. It strips the usual wall of sliders down to a prompt box, a few style choices and an Advanced tab, and handles the sampler and step settings for you. Run it on your own PC and it costs nothing beyond your electricity and a few gigabytes of disk space.
The web service at fooocus.one is a different matter. Its Terms of Service describe paid subscriptions billed monthly or annually that renew automatically, with fees that are non-refundable except where the law requires otherwise. Its Spanish homepage says "Get started For Free", but the terms do not list what the free part includes.
So the short answer is: the software is free, the hosted service is partly paid, and the hardware is the real cost. If you have an Nvidia card with at least 4GB of VRAM, Fooocus is worth an afternoon. If you are on a Mac, a laptop with integrated graphics or a Chromebook, there are better routes, including the Colab notebook fooocus.one links and browser generators such as Deep Dream Generator, which offers 30+ selectable models without an install.
Every way to run Fooocus, side by side
The right route depends on the machine in front of you. Here is what each option asks of you.
| Route | What it costs | What you need | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local install on Windows | Free software | Nvidia GPU, 4GB VRAM minimum, 8GB RAM | Regular users with a gaming PC |
| Local on AMD GPU | Free software | AMD card via DirectML or ROCm; slower | AMD owners willing to wait |
| Local on CPU only | Free software | 32GB RAM; up to 17x slower than an RTX 3000 card | Patient testing only |
| Google Colab notebook | Linked from fooocus.one; cost not stated on its pages | A Google account and a browser | Mac and Chromebook users who want real Fooocus |
| fooocus.one web service | Monthly or annual subscription; prices not stated in its terms | An account; terms say it is for professional entities | Businesses that accept its terms |
| Deep Dream Generator in the browser | Free tier at $0; paid plans from $9/month | Any browser | No-GPU users who want generation, inpainting and upscaling in one place |
Prices checked November 2026.
The hardware figures come from ThinkDiffusion's Fooocus explainer. The billing details come from fooocus.one's own terms, which were last modified on March 2, 2024.
What Fooocus actually does differently
Fooocus takes the core of SDXL and hides the decisions that trip beginners up. You type a prompt, pick a style preset or two, choose an aspect ratio and press Generate. Sampler and step settings are handled for you rather than exposed as sliders.
The feature list is longer than the interface suggests:
- Inpainting and outpainting to repaint part of an image or extend the canvas
- Image prompts, where a reference picture steers composition or style
- Upscaling at 1.5x or 2x
- Custom aspect ratios chosen from a preset list
- Style presets you can stack
- Model and LoRA selection across a wide range of SDXL checkpoints
- Face swap using InsightFace
- Prompt reweighting using the same algorithm as Automatic1111, so
(red scarf:1.3)behaves the way A1111 users expect
That last point matters if you already write SDXL prompts. Syntax you learned elsewhere carries over, and so do negative prompts. If you want copy-ready negative blocks and a method for checking whether each term actually helps, our negative prompt examples guide works for Fooocus as written.
What it does not do: extensions. Fooocus has no plugin system, so ControlNet variants, custom schedulers and community add-ons that A1111 or ComfyUI users install are not available.
Is Fooocus free? What fooocus.one's terms say
The open-source program is free to download and run. Nobody bills you for generating images on your own GPU.
The fooocus.one web service runs on subscription terms. As of November 2026, its Terms of Service say:
- Parts of the Service are billed by subscription, on a monthly or annual cycle.
- Subscriptions renew automatically at the end of each cycle unless you cancel.
- Paid fees are non-refundable except when required by law.
- You cancel through your Account or by emailing fooocus.contact@gmail.com.
- Payment is by credit or debit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
- Billing asks for a business legal entity name and VAT number, and the Service is described as "dedicated to professional entities" to help them conduct their business.
- The licence you get is limited, non-transferable, revocable and non-exclusive.
- You may not build an API on top of it, proxy access to it or use it in an automated way.
The terms do not state plan prices, how many images a plan includes or what the free tier covers. Before you enter card details, find fooocus.one's plan page and note the price, the renewal date and the cancellation route. The professional-entity wording is worth reading twice if you are a hobbyist paying personally.
Installing Fooocus on Windows
Fooocus is distributed through its GitHub repository, which fooocus.one links from its homepage. Start there rather than at a mirror or a repackaged download.
- Check your hardware. You need an Nvidia GPU with at least 4GB of VRAM and 8GB of system RAM. More VRAM means faster images and fewer out-of-memory errors.
- Open the GitHub repository from the link on fooocus.one, so you know you are on the official project.
- Follow the repository's readme for the current Windows download, file names and launch steps. Those details change between versions, so this guide does not repeat them.
- Leave room on your drive. SDXL checkpoints are several gigabytes each, and you will want more than one.
- Generate a test image with a short prompt and the default style to confirm everything works before adding LoRAs or other checkpoints.
Follow the readme over any third-party tutorial, including this one. It is the version-matched source, and anything a tutorial tells you about file names or first-run behaviour may already be out of date.
AMD owners can run Fooocus through DirectML or ROCm, though more slowly than on an equivalent Nvidia card. CPU-only mode exists but needs 32GB of RAM and runs up to 17 times slower than an RTX 3000 series GPU, which turns a short wait into a long one.
Fooocus on a Mac: the honest answer
Neither fooocus.one's pages nor ThinkDiffusion's hardware notes mention Mac or Apple Silicon. The hardware guidance covers Nvidia, AMD and CPU only. Fooocus does not publish Mac support, so treat any local Mac setup as unofficial.
If you own a MacBook, you have two practical options. The first is the Google Colab notebook, which fooocus.one links as "Try Fooocus on Google Colab". It lets Mac and Chromebook users run Fooocus in a browser without installing anything locally.
The second is to skip Fooocus and use a browser generator that already does the same jobs. That is also the answer for Chromebooks, work laptops you cannot install software on, and phones. Be careful with app-store apps carrying the Fooocus name: the fooocus.one pages read for this article do not link to any of them.
Doing the same jobs without a GPU
Most people who search for Fooocus want three things: text-to-image from a plain prompt, a way to fix part of an image, and a bigger file at the end. Deep Dream Generator puts all three in a browser.
- Text-to-image. The AI Image Generator offers 30+ selectable models. You can browse the model catalogue before spending energy on one.
- Inpainting. The AI tools page includes an image editor with inpainting, background removal, an Image to Text tool that turns a picture into a starting prompt, and an AI Art Assistant that suggests prompt improvements.
- Upscaling. The AI Upscaler has a Precise mode up to 4K and a Creative mode up to 120MP, against Fooocus's 1.5x or 2x. The free tier gives about 3 to 5 upscales a day as of November 2026.
A prompt written for Fooocus transfers with little change. Here is one to try in both:
portrait of an elderly fisherman mending a net on a wooden pier, overcast morning light, 85mm lens, shallow depth of field, muted blues and greys
In Fooocus, pick a portrait ratio from the preset list, then add a negative block such as blurry, extra fingers, watermark, oversaturated. Compare the results side by side and keep whichever wording works for you.
The trade-off is plain. Local Fooocus costs nothing per image once your hardware is paid for. A hosted generator costs energy per image beyond the free allowance, but works on any machine and offers 30+ selectable models. Paid plans run $9, $19, $39 and $99 a month, from 150 to 3,750 standard images, and are listed on the plans page.
Fooocus, Automatic1111 or ComfyUI
All three run Stable Diffusion models locally. They differ in how much control they hand you and how much they ask you to learn.
Fooocus is for people who want good SDXL images with the fewest decisions. It hides samplers and step counts, gives you presets and keeps the screen tidy. The cost is flexibility: no extensions, and it is built around SDXL checkpoints.
Automatic1111 (and its fork Forge) exposes almost every setting as a slider or dropdown and has a large extension library. It suits people who want to tune each image and add tools such as ControlNet. Expect a steeper first week.
ComfyUI builds images from a graph of connected nodes. It is the most flexible of the three and the most demanding to learn, and it is usually where newer model families appear first.
A sensible path: start with Fooocus to learn what prompts and styles do, move to A1111 or Forge when you want a specific control Fooocus lacks, and try ComfyUI when you want to build repeatable multi-step workflows.
Is Fooocus still being developed?
The most recent version cited by ThinkDiffusion is v2.5.5, which added an "Enhance" feature. Neither that page nor fooocus.one gives a release date or says whether development continues. Fooocus does not publish a maintenance status on the pages read for this article.
You can judge for yourself in two minutes. Open the GitHub repository, look at the date of the latest release and the latest commit, and scan the open issues for unanswered bug reports. If the last release is old and newer model families are not supported, that is your answer for long-term use. For SDXL work, an older but stable Fooocus still does the job it was built for.
Who owns what you make
On the fooocus.one web service, the terms say you retain all rights to Content you submit and are responsible for its legality. The terms also note that fooocus.one uses Google Analytics and Mixpanel, which is worth knowing if you work with client material.
Running Fooocus on your own PC involves no fooocus.one terms at all. What governs use is the licence of the model checkpoint and any LoRA you load. Read the licence on each model's download page before you sell prints or deliver client work, because community checkpoints vary.
On Deep Dream Generator, images made on a paid plan or with energy-pack energy can be used commercially, as of November 2026. Images made on free energy do not carry that right, which matters for Etsy and print-on-demand sellers. Fees already paid are non-refundable except where required by law, the same principle as fooocus.one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fooocus completely free?
The open-source software is free to download and run on your own computer. The fooocus.one web service bills parts of its Service by monthly or annual subscription that auto-renews. Its terms do not list prices, so check its plan page before subscribing.
Can I run Fooocus on a MacBook?
Fooocus does not publish Mac or Apple Silicon support; its hardware guidance covers Nvidia, AMD and CPU. The practical routes for Mac owners are the Google Colab notebook linked from fooocus.one, or a browser generator that needs no install.
How much VRAM does Fooocus need?
The minimum is an Nvidia GPU with 4GB of VRAM and 8GB of system RAM. CPU-only mode works with 32GB of RAM but runs up to 17 times slower than an RTX 3000 series card.
Does Fooocus work with AMD graphics cards?
Yes, through DirectML or ROCm, though more slowly than a comparable Nvidia card. Check the repository's readme for the launch option that matches your setup.
Can I cancel a fooocus.one subscription and get a refund?
You can cancel through your Account or by emailing fooocus.contact@gmail.com. The terms say paid fees are non-refundable except when required by law, so cancel before the renewal date.
Can I add extensions to Fooocus like in Automatic1111?
No. Fooocus lacks extension support. If you need ControlNet variants or other add-ons, A1111, Forge or ComfyUI are the tools built for that.
Do my Automatic1111 prompts work in Fooocus?
Mostly, yes. Fooocus uses the A1111 prompt reweighting algorithm, so weighted terms like (golden hour:1.2) behave as you expect, and negative prompts carry over too.
Can I sell images I make with Fooocus?
On fooocus.one, the terms say you keep rights to your content and are responsible for its legality. Locally, the licence of the checkpoint you use decides commercial use, so read it for each model.
Final Thoughts
Fooocus is a simplified SDXL interface that hides sampler and step settings: free, tidy and forgiving for a first-time prompt writer. Its limits are just as clear. It wants an Nvidia card, offers no official Mac route, has no extensions, and gives no word on whether development continues past v2.5.5.
If your PC has the GPU, install it and enjoy it. If it does not, the Colab notebook linked from fooocus.one gets you the real interface in a browser, and a free Deep Dream Generator account puts text-to-image, an inpainting editor and upscaling in one place on any machine, with your prompt syntax carrying straight over.
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