Twenty‐element near‐resonant AlGaAs/GaAs arrays of antiguides have been optimized for maximum intermodal discrimination and large Strehl ratio. It is found that 1000‐&mgr;m‐long devices with two intracavity Talbot‐type spatial filters, and a 3 to 1 ratio between element core and interelement spacing provide the best results. The intermodal discrimination is discussed for both Talbot and uniform devices. For devices with two Talbot‐type spatial filters, diffraction‐limited‐beam operation is obtained to 1 W pulsed power, and operation in a beam with lobewidth 1.5× diffraction limit is obtained to 2 W and 19× threshold. cw diffraction‐limited‐beam operation is obtained to 0.5 W, limited by thermal considerations. Uniform devices operate in beams with lobewidth ≊3× diffraction limit to 5 W and 45× threshold. At 5 W total output the coherent uniphase power is 1.6 W, and the coherent power in the main lobe is 0.94 W.