Midjourney AI image generator: How it works, what it costs and the free alternatives
Midjourney costs from $10 a month with no general free tier. This guide covers how it works, the plans, V8.2, video, ownership and five free or cheaper alternatives.
Plans, prices and features checked on the official pages on October 19, 2026.
Midjourney is a paid AI image generator that turns a text description into pictures, on its website and in Discord. Plans start at $10 a month, and according to its help center there is no general free trial. If you want to pay nothing, the closest free options are Google Gemini, Adobe Firefly, Ideogram, Leonardo.Ai and Canva, covered below.
What Midjourney is and who makes it
Midjourney, Inc. is an independent research lab based in San Francisco, founded by David Holz, who earlier co-founded Leap Motion, according to Wikipedia. Its image generator entered open beta on July 12, 2022. The company describes itself as an independent lab, and public sources name no outside owner.
The product is aimed at designers, illustrators, marketers and hobbyists who want stylized, polished images from a short prompt. You type a description, the model returns a batch of images, and you refine, vary, upscale or edit the ones you like.
How Midjourney works: The website, Discord and the current version
You can use Midjourney in two places. The website at midjourney.com has an Imagine bar and a Create page. Discord, where it started, takes commands typed to the Midjourney bot. Wikipedia notes the website launched in August 2024 with version 6.1, and our earlier report on version 6.1 covers that release.
The model has moved on a lot since. Midjourney’s version page lists these releases:
- V7: released April 3, 2025, and the default from June 17, 2025 until June 9, 2026.
- V8.1: released April 14, 2026, the default from June 10 to July 23, 2026, and described as the fastest model so far.
- V8.2: released July 24, 2026 and the current default.
V8.0 was an early alpha and is retired. Older articles that call V7 the current version are out of date. So the answer to which version is best is simple: use the default, V8.2, unless you need an older look and set it with the version parameter, for example --v 7.
Prompts are plain sentences, with optional parameters added after them. The docs list a full parameter list, and style references (--sref) copy the overall look of an image, such as colors, medium, textures and lighting, without copying its objects or people.
Editing and reference images: What replaced Omni Reference
Midjourney can work from your own images. Its V8.2 version notes say a new Edit Model replaces Omni Reference, Character Reference and the Retexture tool. In an August 27, 2026 post, Midjourney said the model is in public testing and can:
- edit an image from text instructions;
- generate from up to four image references;
- inpaint (change one area) and outpaint (extend the canvas);
- work alongside personalization, moodboards and style references, which may need extra prompt direction.
On the website you drag an image into the prompt bar or click edit in the lightbox. On Discord you type --edit followed by an image URL. Midjourney says it expects edge cases and plans quick follow-up updates, so behavior may change.
The official pages used for this guide do not describe transparent-background output, so do not assume it. Likewise, the docs describe no dedicated logo tool. Logo-style images are possible as prompts, but treat them as concepts rather than finished brand files.
Video: Animating images costs far more GPU time
Midjourney can animate images. Its video help page says all plans can make video in Fast mode, while only Pro and Mega can use Relax mode, at standard-definition resolution only. Standard, Pro and Mega can make HD video, in Fast mode only.
Video uses much more GPU time than a still image. The docs list an HD batch of four videos at roughly 26 GPU minutes, and a single HD video at about 7 minutes. Extending a clip costs the same as the first generation. Our report on HD video mode explains why that premium matters for professional users.
Midjourney plans and pricing: Basic, Standard, Pro and Mega
Midjourney sells four subscriptions. Annual billing is paid up front and gives a 20% discount. Fast GPU time is the number that limits how much you can make.
| Plan | Monthly price | Annual billing | Fast GPU time | Main limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10 | $96 a year | 3.3 hours a month | No Relax mode |
| Standard | $30 | $288 a year | 15 hours a month | Unlimited Relax images |
| Pro | $60 | $576 a year | 30 hours a month | Unlimited Relax images, Stealth mode, Relax video |
| Mega | $120 | $1,152 a year | 60 hours a month | Same as Pro, more Fast time |
Prices checked on October 19, 2026.
Extra Fast time costs $4 per hour, and purchased hours expire after 60 days. Relax mode does not allow permutation prompts, the --repeat parameter, HD video or Max Upscale.
Which plan is best? Basic suits occasional use but has no Relax fallback once Fast hours run out. Standard is the usual starting point because Relax images are unlimited. Pro and Mega matter mainly if you need Stealth mode, video in Relax, or a lot of Fast time. The docs say companies earning more than $1,000,000 USD a year in gross revenue need Pro or Mega to own their assets.
I could not find an official promo code. Treat any code on a third-party site with caution.
How to get started, step by step
- Go to midjourney.com and sign in, or join the Midjourney server on Discord.
- Subscribe to a plan. The help center says no free trial is currently offered on the website or Discord, apart from a limited trial in the niji journey mobile app.
- Type a descriptive prompt in the Imagine bar, for example the subject, setting, lighting and medium.
- Pick the best result from the batch, then vary, upscale or open it in the editor.
- To keep a look consistent, add an image as an Edit Model reference or a style reference with
--sref. - Use the animate option on a finished image to make a video, keeping the extra GPU cost in mind.
Privacy, ownership and legal questions
By default, images are visible to others. Stealth mode, available only on Pro and Mega, hides your work, but it does not cover public Discord channels. Midjourney recommends generating in direct messages with the bot, on a private server, or on your Create page on the website.
On ownership, the Terms of Service say paying users hold rights to what they generate, subject to the terms and third-party rights, and that this persists after cancellation. The terms also give Midjourney a broad, perpetual license to content users submit and generate. Upscaling someone else’s image does not transfer their ownership to you. Midjourney’s help page says it cannot give copyright advice and suggests a lawyer for your jurisdiction.
Midjourney faces several lawsuits over training data. Disney and Universal, Warner Bros. Discovery, and groups of artists have alleged copyright infringement, according to Wikipedia’s account of the filings. Those are the plaintiffs’ claims. In its documentation, Midjourney says its training data includes licensed material, copyrighted material used under fair use, and public domain data, and in court it has argued fair use as a defense. The cases have not been resolved in the sources reviewed.
Free and cheaper alternatives compared
Nothing free matches Midjourney’s look exactly, but these tools offer free tiers or lower prices. Limits change often, so check each page.
| Tool | Free tier | Paid price |
|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini (Nano Banana) | Image generation in the Gemini app with compute-based limits that refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap | AI Plus EUR 4.99, AI Pro EUR 21.99 a month |
| Adobe Firefly | Daily generations across image, video and audio | Standard EUR 10.98 a month with 2,000 credits, including VAT |
| Ideogram | 30 free credits a week with Google, Apple or Microsoft sign-in | Plus $15 a month billed annually, Pro $42 a month billed annually |
| Leonardo.Ai | 150 fast tokens per day, no carry-over | Essential from $10-12 a month, depending on billing |
| Canva | A small shared AI allowance, which Canva’s pages state inconsistently | Pro US$180 a year |
Gemini and Firefly figures come from the makers’ pages in euro prices; Google gives no numeric image count. Adobe says outputs from Firefly models can be used commercially. Our coverage of Google’s Nano Banana line explains where its image models are heading.
Common questions
Will Midjourney ever be free?
Midjourney has not announced a free plan. Its help center says no free trial is currently available on the website or Discord, with a limited trial only in the niji journey app. Check the docs before assuming a promotion exists.
When will Midjourney V8 be released?
It already has been. V8.1 arrived April 14, 2026 and V8.2 became the default on July 24, 2026, according to the official version page. The early V8.0 alpha is retired.
Are Midjourney images public and copyrighted?
Images are visible to others unless you use Stealth mode on Pro or Mega, and even then not in public Discord channels. Paying subscribers hold rights to their outputs under the Terms of Service, with exceptions. Whether AI output is copyrightable depends on your country, so ask a lawyer.
Can Midjourney make videos or animate images?
Yes. You can animate a generated or uploaded image, and all plans can do it in Fast mode. HD video needs Standard or higher, and Relax video needs Pro or Mega.
Who owns Midjourney and where is it based?
Midjourney, Inc. is based in San Francisco and was founded by David Holz. It calls itself an independent research lab, and the sources reviewed name no outside owner.
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Leo MartinsAI Tools, Prompts & Practical AI ExpertLeo Martins is the AI Tools & Practical AI Expert at Aiholics, focused on helping readers use artificial intelligence to improve productivity, creativity and everyday work.
