Midjourney

What is Midjourney?

Subscription image generation service widely regarded as producing the most artistically striking output. Originally Discord-only, now with a full web interface, and expanded into video generation. Self-funded, 60-person research lab with no advertising and no free tier.

Main features

• Text-to-image with distinctive aesthetic quality
• image-to-image and style references (--sref)
• character references (--cref)
• Vary, Zoom, Pan and inpainting editors
• personalisation trained on your own ratings
• Moodboards
• video generation (SD and HD depending on tier)
• Stealth Mode for private generation on Pro and Mega
• permutation and batch jobs.

Practical use cases

• Concept art and mood boards
• editorial and marketing illustration
• product visualisation
• storyboard frames
• style exploration before a commissioned shoot
• book and album cover concepts.

Who is it for?

• Concept artists, illustrators, designers, marketers, art directors and creative professionals.

Pricing, free access & limits

Subscription only - GPU-time based, no free tier

Plans described in the source

Basic $10/mo or $96/yr ($8/mo) - 3.3 Fast GPU hours (200 minutes), no Relax mode, SD video only, 3 concurrent Fast jobs. Standard $30/mo or $288/yr ($24/mo) - 15 Fast GPU hours plus unlimited Relax mode images. Pro $60/mo or $576/yr ($48/mo) - 30 Fast hours, unlimited Relax images and SD video, Stealth Mode, 12 concurrent Fast jobs. Mega $120/mo or $1,152/yr ($96/mo) - 60 Fast hours, same unlimited Relax, Stealth Mode. Additional Fast GPU time $4/hour on all plans. Annual billing saves 20%.

Usage limits to consider

You buy GPU time, not images. Fast mode generates in ~15-60 seconds and draws from your monthly hours; Relax mode queues for 1-10+ minutes but is unlimited on Standard and above. Basic has NO Relax mode, so every generation draws from the 200-minute cap. Basic limits video to SD and one concurrent video prompt, and caps permutation runs at 4 jobs.

Strengths & tradeoffs

These points summarize the supplied research, rather than hands-on test results.

Strengths noted in the source

• Consistently the best aesthetic output of any image generator - this is not a close contest for stylised and artistic work
• style and character reference systems give strong series consistency
• unlimited Relax generation on Standard and above makes high-volume exploration cheap
• commercial rights included on all plans.

Limitations to consider

• No free tier at all, so evaluation costs money
• no official API, which blocks programmatic integration
• text rendering inside images remains weak compared with Ideogram
• precise compositional control is harder than with tools offering layers or masks
• Discord heritage still shows in some workflows
• CEO has said prices are more likely to rise than fall.

Platforms, languages & integrations

Platforms

• Web app (midjourney.com), Discord bot

Languages

• Prompts work best in English; other languages produce less reliable results

API access

No official public API. Third-party per-request API resellers exist but are unofficial.

Integrations and exports

• Discord
• web app
• no official integrations or plugins

Evaluation notes

Basic at $10 is a false economy for anyone generating regularly - without Relax mode the 200 minutes disappear quickly. Standard at $30 is the genuine entry point. Stealth Mode on Pro matters if client prompts must stay private.

Explore similar tools

Other tools in AI Image Generators. Compare their specific features and limits for your task.

Frequently asked questions

Sources & editorial notes

Based on the directory editor’s supplied research. The source marks this row as checked on 2026-09-12. Importing a record does not independently verify every product claim.

• Official product website
• Official pricing