placehold.co is the best-known placeholder image service: put a size in the URL and get a solid box with text. placeholdr.dev puts a description in the URL and returns an AI-generated image that matches it. Both are free for everyday use, need no account or API key, and work in a plain <img> tag.
placehold.co/600x400?text=White+sneakerplaceholdr.dev/600x400/white%20sneaker?seed=2Side by side
| placehold.co | placeholdr.dev | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A solid-color box with text, by default its size | A photo or illustration generated from your description |
| URL | placehold.co/600x400?text=Hello | placeholdr.dev/600x400/white%20sneaker |
| Sizes | 10–4000 px, plus @2x and @3x for retina screens | 64–2048 px, any aspect ratio |
| Formats | SVG by default; PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, AVIF | JPEG |
| Options | Background and text colors, text, 12 fonts | Description up to 120 characters, 3 styles (photographic, digital art, anime), 3 seeds |
| Speed | Instant | 5–30 seconds the first time a URL is requested, with a temporary SVG meanwhile; instant from the CDN after that |
| Free use | No limits stated | 30 new images a day per IP address and per live domain; saved images load without limit |
| Paid plan | None | Pro, $9 a month: 500 new images a day for your domains |
| Account or key | No | No |
When placehold.co is the better choice
- Wireframes and layout work, where a box that shows its size is clearer than a picture.
- Exact colors, labels and fonts, for example an ad slot or a button.
- Instant images at any size up to 4000 px, in SVG or modern formats such as AVIF.
- Unlimited use, since nothing has to be generated.
When placeholdr.dev is the better choice
- Demos, client previews and design reviews, where real-looking images make the page read right: product grids, team pages, property listings, blog covers.
- Pages built by AI coding tools. The model already knows what each section is about, so it can describe the image, and the image matches.
- A consistent look across a page, in a photographic, digital art or anime style.
Switching from placehold.co
Keep the size and turn the label into a short description:
https://placehold.co/600x400?text=Sneaker
https://placeholdr.dev/600x400/white%20sneaker- Drop the color, font and format parts of the URL. placeholdr.dev images are JPEG.
- Describe what the image shows, not what the box says:
bright%20living%20roomrather thanLiving+room. - The first request for a new URL returns a temporary SVG while the image is generated. Reload after a few seconds. From then on the image loads from the CDN like any other.
- Add
?seed=2or?seed=3for another version of the same description.
Many projects use both: boxes while the layout changes, then images for the first demo. Both services put the size first in the URL, so switching is a find-and-replace.
More comparisons
- All placeholder image services
- Lorem Picsum vs placeholdr.dev
- Pollinations vs placeholdr.dev
- Unsplash Source replacement
Try placeholdr.dev in the demo, or read the full API reference. Spotted something out of date? Write to hello@placeholdr.dev.