Midjourney
AI image generator with top-tier artistic quality.
Description
Midjourney is known for producing highly aesthetic AI images, a favorite among designers and artists, now available through both Discord and its own web app.
Pros
- Beautiful, artistic image quality
- Large community and learning resources
- Web app now available, no longer Discord-only
Cons
- No free tier — you have to pay to try it
- Fast GPU hours run out quickly on the Basic plan
- Less precise/controllable than some competitors for exact text or layouts
What it does & solves
Midjourney solves the problem of needing polished, artistic visuals — concept art, illustrations, marketing images, mood boards — without hiring an illustrator or spending hours in design software. You describe an image in words and get several high-quality options back in under a minute, then refine the one that's closest to what you want.
Use cases
- Concept art and mood boards for games, films, or products
- Marketing and social media visuals
- Book covers, album art, and illustration work
- Rapid visual exploration before commissioning a human artist
- Personal art projects and prints
Who it's for
Best for designers, marketers, and hobbyists who want strong artistic control and don't mind a short learning curve. No design background is required, but comfort writing descriptive prompts helps a lot — Midjourney now also has its own web app, which is easier for beginners than the original Discord-only workflow.
Getting started
- 1Subscribe to a plan (there's no permanent free tier) at midjourney.com.
- 2Use the web app's Imagine bar (or the Discord bot, if you prefer it) and type a description of the image you want.
- 3Review the 4 variations it generates, then Upscale your favorite or ask for more Variations of it.
- 4Use parameters like --ar for aspect ratio or --style raw for more literal, less 'Midjourney-styled' results.
- 5Use Vary (Region) to redraw just one part of an image instead of regenerating the whole thing.
Tips for using it well
- Describe subject, style, lighting, and composition in that order — 'a red fox in a snowy forest, watercolor style, soft morning light, wide shot' beats a one-word prompt.
- Fast GPU hours are the resource that actually runs out — switch to Relax mode (Standard plan and up) for non-urgent generations so you don't burn your fast hours.
- Reuse a seed number when you want to keep the same base composition while tweaking small details.
- Upscale before you spend more GPU time on variations — it's cheaper than generating from scratch again.
- --style raw plus a lower --stylize value gives more predictable, literal results when you need accuracy over 'artsy' flourishes.
Plans & pricing
Free plan: None — Midjourney has no permanent free tier; every plan is paid, though new accounts occasionally get a small number of trial images.
Basic
$10/month
3.3 fast GPU hours/month, personal use, no Stealth Mode.
Standard
$30/month
15 fast GPU hours plus unlimited Relax-mode generations.
Pro
$60/month
30 fast GPU hours and Stealth Mode, which hides your generations from the public feed.
Mega
$120/month
60 fast GPU hours, aimed at studios doing high-volume image and video work.
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