GenLayers is a web-based AI thumbnail studio for YouTubers. Most AI image generators struggle with text, and on a YouTube thumbnail the text is often the whole hook. GenLayers was built around that problem. Type your video title and a rough idea the way you’d normally describe it, and the tool expands it into a structured prompt and generates a 16:9 thumbnail with bold hook text. Creators don’t need to write long, detailed prompts or learn prompt engineering.

There’s no subscription. Credits are bought once and used whenever you want. New users get 200 free credits on signup, and every credit pack includes a commercial usage license. GenLayers is built and maintained by an independent developer.

Features

Title-to-thumbnail generation with no prompt engineering
Clean, readable text on thumbnails, one of the main reasons the project exists
Sketch editor: draw your layout and the AI follows the spatial structure instead of relying only on a text prompt
Reference image or previous thumbnail upload
Add your own face from a quick selfie, with a pipeline designed to keep the face consistent across swaps and edits
Background swapping
Plain-English fine-tune edits for any detail, so small changes don’t mean starting over
Pay-once credit packs with a commercial usage license

Usage

Sign up and get 200 free credits.
Type your video title, or describe the thumbnail you have in mind, in plain words.
Optionally add a sketch for the layout, a reference image, or a selfie for your face.
Generate your thumbnail. A studio generation costs 20 credits.
Fine-tune details with plain-English edits (10 credits each), or swap the background. Credits are shared across generations and edits.
When your credits run out, buy a credit pack once: Starter ($4.90, 600 credits, valid 2 months), Creator ($7.90, 1,000 credits, valid 4 months) or Pro ($14.90, 2,000 credits, valid 6 months). Creator and Pro also include private generations.