In less than a year, Midjourney has emerged as a prominent AI platform that allows users to create custom images of their choice. While industry giants like Bing Image Creator and DreamStudio hold a dominant position in the market, Midjourney has carved out its niche with a dedicated and loyal user base, showcasing its remarkable growth. This article revolves around Midjourney Pricing and Plans structure and explores the value it offers to its users.
Whether you are a graphic designer or a content creator, AI image generators can dramatically improve your results, saving you significant time and effort. But where does Midjourney fit into all this?
Let’s find out what sets Midjourney apart from its competitors and evaluate whether the price it commands is justified. We will also discuss the available plans offered by the company. Additionally, we will examine the range of plans and options available for users.
What Is Midjourney?
AI image generators have skyrocketed in popularity, captivating users with their ability to produce stunning and realistic visuals. These tools use deep learning and artificial intelligence to mimic human creativity and imagination. Midjourney is a similar platform that has drawn plenty of attention in a short period.
The platform has been developed and operated by an independent research lab called Midjourney Inc and uses natural language descriptions (Prompts) to produce life-like images.
Midjourney recently introduced an update that positions it ahead of competitors across various aspects, further solidifying its position as a leading force in the industry. However, since the update, there has been a lot of buzz regarding the Midjourney pricing and free trial. But what’s the truth about it?
Is Midjourney Free?
The straight answer is No! Midjourney is not a free-to-use service by any means. During its initial days, the company was generous enough to allow users to create 25 free images as a part of a promotional offer. Anyone could sign up for a free Discord account, join the Midjourney server, and generate 25 images without spending a penny. However, after the limit was over, an upgrade was required to continue using the platform. You can also try Midjourney alternatives if you want to get a hand on a free tool.
Midjourney Free Trial Discontinued: Why?
Starting in April the company decided to scrape off the free trial service, eventually disappointing many users. However, the CEO clarified that this action was necessary to uphold the quality of service provided. The free trials burdened the 11-member company, and removing them was an inevitable step to ensure optimal performance.
Another reason behind discontinuing the free trial service is that the company has created a solid fan base driven by its high-quality images and additional features. Also, since AI has been booming in the last year, Midjourney has consistently emerged as a prominent player, frequently garnering attention and being recognized as one of the top AI platforms.
Also, the AI image generators run on very high-spec systems and GPUs, costing big money. With ongoing free trials, it became impossible for the company to fulfil the demand. Thus, the company temporarily suspended the 25-image free trial service to prevent a system breakdown.
Midjourney Pricing And Plans:
Midjourney is offering three plans – Basic, Standard, and Pro. Each plan provides a progressively higher limit, allowing users to generate a higher number of images within a single month. Furthermore, for those who are okay with some waiting time between generating images, the higher-tier plans provide the opportunity to produce unlimited images.
With each Midjourney subscription, users can access various Midjourney in-house features, including the Discord server, member gallery, usage rights, and more. Alongside these options is the Midjourney Prompts Generator, which will cost you a straight $19.04/month.
Here are the current Midjourney pricing and plans look like:
FEATURE |
BASIC $10/month |
STANDARD
$30/month |
PRO $60/month |
Stealth Mode |
✖ |
✖ |
✔ |
Annual Cost |
$96 ($8/mo) | $288 ($24/mo) |
$576 ($48/mo) |
Fast GPU Time |
3.3 hours/mo | 15 hours/mo |
30 hours/mo |
Relaxed GPU Time |
✖ |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
Extra GPU Time |
$4/hour |
$4/hour |
$4/hour |
Private Generations |
Publically Visible Images | Publically Visible Images |
Available in Stealth Mode |
Usage Rights |
CC BY-NC 4.0 | General Commercial Terms* |
General Commercial Terms* |
Rate Image for Free GPU Time |
✔ | ✔ |
✔ |
Maximum Queue | 3 Concurrent jobs, 10 in queue | 3 Concurrent jobs, 10 in queue |
12 Concurrent fast 3 Concurrent relaxed 10 in queue |
Midjourney Advantages And Disadvantages:
With the Midjourney trail out of the equation, it’s only fair to assess the benefits and drawbacks of this popular AI image tool. Although it’s amongst the leading AI image generators available, a couple of drawbacks might prove a deal breaker for you.
1. What Is Good?
Let’s look at the factors which make Midjourney a worthy AI image tool:
- Convenient image generation process facilitated through the Discord server.
- High-quality images that closely resemble natural visuals.
- Availability of four variations for each image, enabling users to select the best option.
- Swift image generation with the fast mode, typically taking approximately 1 minute.
- An Affordable basic plan that serves as a cost-effective starting point.
2. What Is Not?
Considering Midjourney pricing, here are the things that could be better:
- Lack of a free trial, which may not be ideal for beginners looking to try out the service before committing
- Exclusively depends on Discord for image generation, which can prove inconvenient for individuals unfamiliar with the platform.
- A noticeable disparity in functionality between the Basic and Pro plans, which could pose a challenge for users seeking a more balanced option
- The relatively high cost of the Pro plan makes it less suitable for newbies.
- Generated images may not match the quality of real-life visuals.
- Occasional instances where the engine fails to comprehend prompts lead to an irrelevant or unrelated output.
Is Midjourney Pricing and Plans Worth Your Money?
Now the question arises: Whether Midjourney pricing is justified?
The answer ultimately depends on your personal preferences and requirements. It’s essential to remember that AI is still evolving, so expecting flawless results from any AI tool, including Midjourney, may be unrealistic. While the platform delivers stunning images, there is room for improvement in output quality and speed. Nonetheless, Midjourney remains a fantastic platform for producing visually appealing images.
However, like many AI tools, there are instances where the platform may misinterpret the queries, resulting in entirely irrelevant or distorted images. Although the pictures generated by Midjourney are of good quality, they may lack specific details compared to real-life images. Moreover, Midjourney can’t replace editorial images, particularly those related to current events or particular motives.
If you enjoy experimenting with new technologies or require stock/abstract images, Midjourney can be an excellent tool to explore and play around with.
How To Use Midjourney?
Let’s walk through a step-by-step process to generate AI images using Midjourney:
- Open Discord’s official page in your web browser or download the Discord app on your phone.
- Register/log in using your email and password.
- Once you are on Discord, search and join the Midjourney server.
- Access the designated newbies’ channel within the server.
- Type the command /imagine followed by a thorough textual description of the desired image.
- Provide specific details to enhance the accuracy of the generated results, using commas to separate words for increased specificity.
- Patiently await the image generation process as Midjourney’s AI creates multiple versions based on your description.
- Evaluate the collection of generated images and select your preferred choice.
To achieve optimal results, using appropriate adjectives when providing image descriptions in commands is crucial. You can incorporate descriptive words such as romance, horror, stock, abstract, minimalistic, fantasy, anime, cartoon, and many others to generate more relevant images.
Additionally, you have the option to include parameters in your prompts. For detailed information on the parameters supported by Midjourney, please refer to the official documentation on the company’s website.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Midjourney comes in three plans – Basic ($10/month), Standard ($30/month), and Pro ($60/month).
Currently, there is no option to use Midjourney for free. However, you might see a free trial at some point, but nothing is definite.
While Midjourney stands out as a top AI image generator, it is important to note that there is still room for improvement in terms of achieving artist-level outputs in terms of image quality.
Conclusion:
Although it’s an excellent tool for creating AI-generated images with minimum effort, Midjourney pricing and plans, somehow, do not align with its features. Despite being relatively expensive for a half-baked technology, the platform also requires careful management of allocated hours to ensure convenient usage. The best is to pay $10 for the basic plan and play around with the tool until you’re sure you can maximize its potential
I am an engineer by education, tech writer by profession, and a motor sport fan by heart.