Midjourney generates images and short videos from its own model, run entirely through a Discord server or the midjourney.com website. There is no free plan or trial, so what decides whether it suits you is whether the subscription cost and Fast GPU hour limits fit how often you generate.
What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is a company headquartered in the United States. It builds its own image and video models rather than reselling another company's, currently on version V8.2, and runs through the midjourney.com website and Discord servers; there is no separate desktop or mobile app.
What Midjourney generates
Midjourney's own model, version V8.2, generates images up to 2048 x 2048 pixels in HD, with a 1024 x 1024 SD option. It can place words or phrases inside an image when they're written in double quotation marks in the prompt, working from version 6 onward.
A Style Reference parameter matches the look of another image, and a seed parameter lets a generation be reproduced. An Omni Reference parameter places a person or object into a new image. A negative prompt parameter excludes unwanted elements. There is no dedicated control for pose or structural input.
The Edit Model can change or combine images by description, and Pan and Zoom Out extend a generated image beyond its original frame; built-in upscaling doubles resolution as part of the generation flow. Midjourney also turns a still image into a 5-second video. There is no background removal tool, no vector output and no API.
Working with other people
Midjourney runs on the web and through Discord servers, with no separate mobile or desktop app. There is no public API for developers and no single sign-on option.
Midjourney pricing: what each plan gives
There is no free plan; every user pays from the first image, and there is no free trial either. Basic costs $10 a month ($8 a month billed yearly) and includes 3.3 hours of Fast GPU Time a month (200 minutes). Standard costs $30 a month ($24 a month billed yearly) with 15 hours of Fast GPU Time a month. Pro costs $60 a month ($48 a month billed yearly) with 30 hours, and Mega costs $120 a month ($96 a month billed yearly) with 60 hours.
Rights and privacy
Every subscriber owns the assets they create, to the fullest extent the law allows, with one exception: an image you upscale that started as someone else's original remains theirs. Commercial use is included from the first paid plan, though a company with more than $1,000,000 a year in gross revenue must be on the Pro or Mega plan to use its images commercially. Midjourney's terms require the user to indemnify Midjourney, not the other way around.
Midjourney trains its models on user prompts and interactions, and offers no opt-out. A Stealth Mode for private generations is available on the Pro and Mega plans, though anything made in a shared Discord chatroom stays visible regardless. Support runs through email and Discord.
Who Midjourney suits
Midjourney suits people who want an actively developed image and video model with deep prompt-based control, such as style reference, seed and negative prompt parameters, and who are comfortable paying from the start.
It suits less well anyone who wants to try before paying, since there is no free plan or trial; anyone who needs an API to build generation into another product; or anyone uncomfortable with their prompts training the model, since there is no opt-out.
How Midjourney compares
Midjourney scores 6.0 out of 10 among the AI image generators we rate. These three do the same job and are the closest to it, compared on what each vendor publishes.
Adobe Firefly
Midjourney keeps generations private only with Stealth Mode on its Pro and Mega plans; Firefly does not train on what you make. Firefly also takes a pose, sketch or depth map as input and does one-action background removal, both missing from Midjourney. Midjourney still holds a fixed seed you can reuse and negative prompts to leave things out, tools Firefly's own generator does not have.
Pick Adobe Firefly if you want training off by default plus pose or depth control.
Pick Midjourney if you want a reusable seed or negative prompts today.
Ideogram
A $10 a month subscription is the only way into Midjourney, since it has no free plan; Ideogram gives you a free tier before its own paid plan starts at $20 a month. Ideogram also rewrites your wording with Magic Prompt and removes backgrounds in one action, capabilities Midjourney does not have. Midjourney answers with Stealth Mode to keep generations private on its Pro and Mega plans, a feature Ideogram only unlocks past its own Free tier.
Pick Ideogram if you want a free plan, Magic Prompt or background removal.
Pick Midjourney if you're fine paying from day one for Stealth Mode privacy.
Stability AI
Midjourney keeps a character the same across images, a feature Stability AI's API reference does not have. Stability AI answers with a public API, one-action background removal and a Community license that lets you self-host, none of which Midjourney offers. Midjourney also generates a batch of images in one run, while Stability AI's API returns a single image per request.
Pick Stability AI if you want an API, background removal or self-hosting.
Pick Midjourney if you want character consistency or batch generation in one run.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Midjourney cost?
There is no free plan. Basic costs $10 a month ($8 a month billed yearly), Standard $30 a month ($24 a month billed yearly), Pro $60 a month ($48 a month billed yearly) and Mega $120 a month ($96 a month billed yearly), each metered in Fast GPU hours rather than a flat image count.
What model does Midjourney use, and how large are the images?
The current model is V8.2, producing images up to 2048 x 2048 pixels in HD, or 1024 x 1024 pixels in SD.
Can I use Midjourney outside Discord?
Yes, generation is also available through the midjourney.com website. There is no separate desktop or mobile app, and no public API for building it into another product.
Does Midjourney train on my prompts?
Yes, prompts and interactions with the model are used for training, and no opt-out is offered. Midjourney's terms also require the user to indemnify the company, not the reverse.
