SDXL and FLUX models with LoRAs can and do vastly outperform at tons of things singular big models can't or won't do now. Various subreddits and civitAI blogs describe comfyui workflows and details on how to maximize LoRA effectiveness and are probably all you need for a guided tour of that space.

This is not my special interest though but the DIY space is much more interesting than the SaaS offerings; this is something about generative AI more generally that also holds, the DIY scene is going to be more interesting.