Kling Image 4.0 Preview Ranks Sixth on the Artificial Analysis Image Leaderboards
Kling Image 4.0 (preview) is sixth on both the Artificial Analysis text-to-image and image editing leaderboards. The scores, the reported specs, and what is still unconfirmed.
Kling Image 4.0 is in preview, and it has already landed on the Artificial Analysis image leaderboards. It is the only Chinese image model in the top ten of the text-to-image board as of this writing. It is not generally available yet, and there is no public API or price. This post covers what the leaderboards show and what is still unconfirmed.
The leaderboard results
On the AA-Image-T2I v2.1 text-to-image leaderboard, Kling Image 4.0 (preview) is sixth overall:
| Rank | Model | Elo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT Image 2.6 Sunburst (max) | 1261 |
| 2 | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (max) | 1229 |
| 3 | GPT Image 2.6 Flare (max) | 1227 |
| 4 | GPT Image 2.5 Flare (max) | 1210 |
| 5 | GPT Image 2 (high) | 1192 |
| 6 | Kling Image 4.0 (preview) | 1180 |
| 7 | Nano Banana 2.1 | 1176 |
| 8 | MAI-Image-2.6 | 1168 |
Its score is 1180 with a 95% interval of 1167 to 1193, from 5,550 votes, and Artificial Analysis gives it a rank range of 5 to 8. The gap to Nano Banana 2.1 is only four Elo points, well inside that margin, so read it as level with the best non-GPT models rather than ahead of them.
On the image editing leaderboard it is also sixth, with an Elo of 1182.
What has been reported about the model
Third-party listings describe:
- Output size: 2K or 4K stills, with 2K as the default.
- References: up to 10 reference images, cited in a prompt as
@Image1through@Image10. - Aspect ratios: nine options, from 21:9 to 9:16, plus auto.
- Use with video: making first and last frames that are then animated with Kling 4.0.
These come from product pages, not from a Kling specification, so treat them as provisional.
What is not confirmed
- Release date. The leaderboard lists November 2026 and marks the model as a preview. Kling has not published an exact date.
- API access. We could not find a public API for Kling Image 4.0 from Kling or from the usual API platforms. The Kling 4.0 endpoints that exist today are video endpoints.
- Pricing. Artificial Analysis lists pricing as “coming soon”.
We will publish a hands-on comparison once there is an API we can test.
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