Frequently asked questions

Yes, completely. Illustrate Words is a static website that runs entirely in your browser - there are no subscriptions, no usage limits, no premium features hidden behind a paywall. The entire tool is free forever. We don't even ask for your email.

No account is required. Illustrate Words saves your selections locally in your browser using localStorage. Nothing is stored on a server, no login is needed, and no personal data is collected.

Any AI tool that accepts text prompts and produces visual or text output will work. We've tested with Google Gemini, ChatGPT (especially GPT-4 with image generation), Claude (for diagram code), and Midjourney. For image-style outputs, Midjourney and DALL-E work best. For diagram code (SVG, Mermaid, etc.), Claude and Gemini work best.

Napkin AI is a complete generative tool that creates visualizations directly. Illustrate Words is a prompt generator - it produces detailed prompts you take to any AI tool of your choice. This means you're never locked into one platform, you can use cutting-edge models as they release, and the tool is free forever. You trade a small extra step (paste the prompt into another AI) for unlimited flexibility.

Absolutely. Use Illustrate Words for client work, business presentations, marketing materials, or anything else. The prompts are yours to use however you like. Note that any output you generate from external AI tools (Gemini, ChatGPT, etc.) is subject to those tools' own terms of service.

First, provide rich, specific content in the 'Your content' field - the more concrete your data, the better the visualization. Second, try multiple AI tools - different models produce different aesthetic results. Third, iterate - if the first generation isn't perfect, add follow-up prompts like 'make it more minimalist' or 'use a darker color scheme'. Fourth, consider using Claude or Gemini to generate SVG/Mermaid code that you can then edit precisely.

Yes, the source code is freely available on GitHub. You can fork it, modify it, host your own version, or contribute improvements back to the main project.

The 13 categories cover the complete taxonomy of visualizations offered by Napkin AI, which represents the most comprehensive commercial set we found. Within each category, we've included the most useful and commonly-needed sub-types - 76 in total. If a visualization type you need is missing, let us know and we'll add it.