What is Step1X-Edit?
Step1X-Edit is an advanced, open-source image editing model designed to bring sophisticated, instruction-based editing capabilities into the open domain. If you're working with image generation or manipulation, you'll appreciate its ability to interpret complex natural language instructions and deliver results that approach the quality of leading closed-source systems like GPT-4o and Gemini Flash. Built on a robust foundation and evaluated rigorously, Step1X-Edit empowers you to push the boundaries of creative and practical image editing.
Core Capabilities
Step1X-Edit leverages a powerful 19B parameter architecture, combining a 7B Multimodal Large Language Model (MLLM) for instruction understanding and a 12B Diffusion Image Transformer (DiT) for image generation. This structure enables several key functionalities:
🗣️ Execute Complex Semantic Instructions: Process nuanced, multi-step natural language prompts without needing predefined templates. This allows for flexible, iterative editing workflows and supports tasks like recognizing, replacing, and reconstructing text within images.
👤 Maintain Subject Identity Consistently: Preserve crucial identity features like faces and poses during edits. This is particularly valuable for applications involving virtual personas, e-commerce model imagery, or consistent character portrayal across multiple images.
🎯 Apply High-Precision Regional Edits: Modify specific areas within an image—adjusting text, materials, or colors—while maintaining the overall coherence and style of the original image. This allows for targeted, realistic adjustments.
Technical Foundation and Performance
To ensure high-quality output, Step1X-Edit was trained using a carefully constructed data generation pipeline. Its performance isn't just theoretical; we developed GEdit-Bench, a novel benchmark based on real-world user instructions, to provide authentic evaluation.
Benchmark Proven: Experimental results on GEdit-Bench show Step1X-Edit significantly outperforms existing open-source alternatives.
Competitive Edge: The model demonstrates capabilities that closely rival those of top-tier proprietary models, making advanced editing more accessible.
Practical Use Cases
Here’s how Step1X-Edit can be applied in real-world scenarios:
Complex Scene Transformation: Imagine needing to change the style of a room's decor and replace a specific object within it, all described in one natural language instruction. Step1X-Edit can parse and execute such multi-part requests accurately.
Consistent Character Retouching: For projects requiring virtual influencers or consistent e-commerce model appearances, you can use Step1X-Edit to modify clothing or background elements while ensuring the person's facial features and pose remain unchanged and consistent across images.
Targeted Branding Updates: Need to update a logo or text on product packaging within a marketing image? Step1X-Edit allows you to make these precise regional changes seamlessly, preserving the surrounding image details and textures.
Getting Started: Usage & Requirements
Step1X-Edit is designed for environments with capable hardware. Here's a quick look at resource needs:
GPU Memory: Requirements vary based on configuration (e.g., 512px output, 28 steps w/ flash-attn):
Standard: ~42.5 GB
FP8 Quantized: ~31 GB
Standard + CPU Offload: ~25.9 GB
FP8 + CPU Offload: ~18 GB
(Note: Larger resolutions increase memory needs. Tested on NVIDIA H800; 80GB GPUs recommended for optimal performance.)
Software: Python >= 3.10, PyTorch >= 2.2 (tested with 2.3.1/2.5.1 on CUDA 12.1), and specific dependencies like
flash-attn.Installation: Detailed instructions are available, including
pip install -r requirements.txtand installing the appropriateflash-attnwheel.Inference: Example scripts (
run_examples.sh) are provided to get you started quickly, with flags for using FP8 weights (--quantized) or CPU offloading (--offload) to manage resource usage.
Conclusion
Step1X-Edit represents a significant step forward for open-source image editing. It offers a potent combination of nuanced instruction understanding, high-fidelity output, and precise control, backed by strong benchmark performance. For developers and researchers looking for a powerful, accessible, and versatile image editing model, Step1X-Edit provides a compelling solution ready for integration and further exploration.
More information on Step1X-Edit
Launched
Pricing Model
Free
Starting Price
Global Rank
Follow
Month Visit
<5k
Tech used
Step1X-Edit was manually vetted by our editorial team and was first featured on 2025-04-30.
Step1X-Edit Alternatives
Load more Alternatives-
LightX offers AI photo Editor & AI Image Generator where AI meets creativity to generate art. Create aesthetic design in seconds with free editable templates.
-
Step-1V: A highly capable multimodal model developed by Jieyue Xingchen, showcasing exceptional performance in image understanding, multi-turn instruction following, mathematical ability, logical reasoning, and text creation.
-
X-Design, an AI photo editor for e-commerce. Remove bg, use AI models, enhance images, access templates. Save time & cost, boost brand visuals!
-
Discover Show-1, an advanced AI system that generates high-quality videos from text description. Open-source code and model weights available!
-
Synthesys X analyzes objects and patterns in any picture you come across and generate new images bas