Is Midjourney AI Free?

Midjourney multiverse - is Midjourney AI free?
Credit: Midjourney

Midjourney multiverse - is Midjourney AI free?
Credit: Midjourney

Midjourney AI recently crossed from being in private beta, to being publicly available. Crossing this Rubicon means that anyone is now able to utilise the text-to-art image generator. But is Midjourney AI free?

The question many are asking is whether or not you have to pay for the privilege. After all, in an interview with The Verge, David Holz, the Midjourney founder, stated that training models for AI can cost around $50000 a pop, while the servers they use cost $20000, and are rented by the minute.

It would make sense then, for Midjourney to at least make some effort to recover some of that eye-watering outlay. So is Midjourney AI free, or do you have to pay for the privilege of creating your artworks? Let's find out.

Is Midjourney AI Free?

First, let's deal with the big question: Midjourney AI, like DALL.E, can be used for free. But there's a but. The number of images you can generate for free is capped (at the time of writing it's capped to 25). Once you've created 25 images, you will be unable to create any more masterpieces without paying.

And you may be surprised how quickly you can use up those 25 images. Generating an image will, obviously, reduce your free images by one. But if you decide to create a variation of one of the images it generates, that will also use one of your free images. So you might want to be a little bit discerning about what prompts you wish to use. Midjourney offers some guidance on parameters here. We also have a guide on how to use MidJourney AI.

So 25 images is a nice way to get a feel for the technology, before being obliged to commit to spending any money. But if you do decide that you want to continue enjoying access to this tool, what's it going to cost you?

Pricing Plans For Midjourney AI

There are two subscription options available for Midjourney AI: a "Basic" membership, and a "Standard" membership. The basic membership will cost you $10 a month, while the standard membership is $30 a month. Here's how the two compare.

Basic Membership

The basic membership, for $10 a month, includes the following:

  • You can create up to 200 images a month
  • After this, you can continue to generate images, and will be charged incrementally - this works out at $4 per 60 images.
  • You get free friend passes
  • Access to the member gallery

Standard Membership

The standard membership, at $30 a month, offers:

  • Free friend passes
  • Access to the member gallery
  • Unlimited personal use - in other words, create as much art as you want. This gives you 900 minutes of 'fast time' which tries to generate your image as quickly as possible. Once you've used this, you'll switch to 'relax' mode, which takes a bit longer, but costs less. Which is why you can do this without paying extra. If you want though, you can pay the incremental billing charge to have further access to 'fast' time.

Both plans also offer the option of private visibility, for an additional $20 a month. Private visibility means that private images on your gallery will be hidden from other users. These images are still bound by the PG-13 rules of content generation though.

And finally, if you are an employee working for a company that earns over $1m a year, you'll need the corporate plan, which costs $600 a year. This gives 7200 images, plus the other features of the standard membership, and private visibility.

Can You Change Your Subscription Plan?

If you commit to a specific plan and then find it isn't suitable, you do have the option of changing it with immediate effect. Corporate plans, however, cannot be downgraded.

You can also cancel your subscription at any time, and the cancellation will take effect at the end of the current billing cycle. You'll still be able to use your subscription until then.

So there you have Midjourney AI is available to sample for free. But if you want to continue enjoying it, you will eventually need to pay.

There are, of course, plenty of other AI image generators out there. So if you want to consider some alternative options, check out our guide to the best AI image generators.

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