HeliosGen is a self-hosted generative AI desktop app for building image and video pipelines visually. It has about 3,180 stars on GitHub and was most recently active in 2026. Positioned as a free alternative to services like Higgsfield, OpenArt, and Freepik’s AI tools, it runs entirely on your own machine: no account, no server, and no cloud setup required.
The heart of HeliosGen is an infinite canvas where you chain prompts, models, reference images, and automations into reusable generation pipelines, instead of repeating one-off generations in a web form. Everything stays local: your generations, uploads, folders, workflows, and settings live in a local database on your computer. To start generating you add your own kie.ai API key in the settings, which keeps the app itself free while you pay only for the generation credits you actually use. Downloads are published through the GitHub releases page; a macOS build for Apple Silicon is available today, while Windows and Linux builds are being prepared with community contributors, since the Tauri framework cannot cross-compile. The app is not yet code-signed, so first launch needs the standard right-click open step on macOS.
HeliosGen is free to download and use. Generation runs through your own kie.ai API key, so you pay that provider directly for the credits you consume.
HeliosGen is for creators and small teams who generate images and video regularly and want repeatable visual pipelines and local control, without another subscription platform.