Midjourney pricing in 2026 splits into four plans, Basic at $10/month, Standard at $30/month, Pro at $60/montha Mega at $120/month, with a 20% discount if you pay annually. There is no free trial, so the cheapest way in is the $10 Basic plan, or $8/month when billed yearly. Every tier buys you a fixed block of fast GPU time rather than a set number of images, which is the single most misunderstood part of how Midjourney charges.
This guide breaks down each plan, what you actually get for the money, and how Midjourney’s GPU-hour system turns into a real cost per image. You will see the full comparison table, the truth about the free tier, how video generation eats into your hours, and whether any cheaper alternatives make sense. Prices here are verified as of June 2026.
The Key Takeaways
- Four plans: Basic $10, Standard $30, Pro $60, Mega $120 per month.
- Annual billing saves 20%, dropping the tiers to $8 / $24 / $48 / $96 per month.
- No free trial since March 2023; the minimum spend is $10.
- You buy fast GPU hours (3.3 / 15 / 30 / 60), not a fixed image count; extra hours cost $4/hour.
- Stealth Mode (private images) is exclusive to Pro and Mega.
Midjourney Pricing Plans at a Glance
Midjourney offers four subscription tiers, and they scale on two things, the amount of fast GPU time you get and the features unlocked at higher levels. The numbers below match Midjourney’s official Comparing Midjourney Plans documentation. They show the headline monthly prices, the effective monthly cost when you commit to a year, and the fast GPU hours each plan includes. Annual plans are paid upfront for the full 12 months.
| Plan | Monthly price | Annual (per month) | Fast GPU hours | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10 | $8 ($96/yr) | 3.3 hours | Trying it out, light/hobby use |
| Standard | $30 | $24 ($288/yr) | 15 hours | Regular creators, unlimited relax images |
| Pro | $60 | $48 ($576/yr) | 30 hours | Pros needing Stealth Mode and volume |
| Mega | $120 | $96 ($1,152/yr) | 60 hours | Studios, heavy video and batch work |
The jump from Basic to Standard is the most important one for most people, because Standard is the first tier with unlimited Relax Mode image generation. That single feature changes the value equation far more than the price gap suggests, since you stop worrying about burning through your monthly hours.
Basic Plan ($10/month)
The Basic plan costs $10/month, or $8/month billed annually, and it is Midjourney’s entry point. You get roughly 3.3 hours of fast GPU time per month, which works out to around 200 image generations before your fast hours run dry. There is no Relax Mode on Basic, so once your fast time is gone you either wait for the next billing cycle or buy extra hours at $4 each.
Basic suits casual users and anyone testing whether Midjourney fits their workflow. If you generate images most days, you will likely hit the ceiling and want to move up a tier.
Standard Plan ($30/month)
The Standard plan costs $30/month, or $24/month annually, and it is the sweet spot for regular creators. You get 15 hours of fast GPU time plus unlimited images in Relax Mode, where jobs queue publicly with a wait of zero to ten minutes instead of consuming your fast budget. That unlimited relax allowance is why Standard is the most recommended tier for serious hobbyists.
For most individual artists and marketers, Standard removes the anxiety of counting generations. You save fast hours for when you need speed and let everything else run in relax.
Pro Plan ($60/month)
The Pro plan costs $60/month, or $48/month annually, and it adds 30 hours of fast GPU time, more concurrent jobs, and the headline feature, Stealth Mode. Stealth keeps your generations private and hidden from Midjourney’s public gallery, which matters for client work, commercial projects, and anyone who does not want their prompts visible to others. Pro also lets you run up to 12 fast jobs at once.
If privacy is a requirement rather than a nice-to-have, Pro is the cheapest plan that delivers it. For pure image volume without the privacy need, Standard is usually enough.
Mega Plan ($120/month)
The Mega plan costs $120/month, or $96/month annually, and it doubles Pro’s fast time to 60 hours while keeping Stealth Mode and high concurrency. This tier is aimed at studios and power users running large batch jobs or heavy video work, where 30 hours simply is not enough. Everything in Pro carries over, you just get twice the fast GPU headroom.
Mega only makes sense if you are consistently exhausting Pro’s hours. Most solo creators never need this much fast time.
Is There a Free Midjourney Plan or Trial?
No. Midjourney has had no free trial since March 2023, when it ended the program after a wave of viral misuse. The only way to generate images on the main platform is a paid subscription you start at midjourney.com, and the cheapest entry is the $10/month Basic plan (or $8/month billed annually). A limited trial still exists on the separate Niji Journey mobile app, but the core Midjourney service is paid-only.
There is a narrow refund window worth knowing. If you subscribe and use fewer than 20 GPU minutes (roughly 15 to 20 image generations), Midjourney will refund you, so you can test the waters with very light use and back out. Beyond that threshold, your payment is locked in for the month.
How Midjourney GPU Hours Work
The biggest mistake new users make is thinking they are buying a number of images. You are not. You are buying time on a GPU cluster, and each task consumes a slice of that time. A standard image prompt uses roughly one GPU minute, so Basic’s 3.3 hours equals about 200 images, while Standard’s 15 hours covers around 900 fast generations before you fall back on unlimited relax.
Speed comes from two modes. Fast Mode runs your job immediately and draws down your monthly hours. Relax Mode, available on Standard and up, queues your job behind others with a short wait but does not touch your fast budget at all. Heavy upscales, complex prompts, and especially video burn through fast minutes much faster than a simple image, which is where many subscribers get caught out.
Midjourney Cost Per Image
Translating GPU time into a per-image figure makes the value clear. On the Basic plan at $10 for about 200 images, you are paying roughly 5 cents per image if you use every fast minute. On Standard, the unlimited relax allowance effectively drives your marginal cost toward zero once you accept the short queue, which is why heavy users find the higher tiers cheaper per picture, not more expensive.
If you exhaust your hours, top-up fast time costs $4 per hour, which works out to roughly 7 cents per extra image at about one GPU minute each. Those purchased hours do not expire at the end of the month, unlike your included allocation.
How Much Does Midjourney Video Cost?
Midjourney video has no separate price tier. Video generation pulls from the same fast GPU hours your plan already includes, so there is no extra subscription to buy. The catch is that video is expensive in GPU terms, an HD video batch can cost around 26 GPU minutes, compared with roughly one minute for a still image.
That math matters when you choose a plan. If video is central to your work, Basic’s 3.3 hours vanish almost instantly, and even Standard’s 15 hours go quickly. Note that Basic is limited to SD video, while Standard and up unlock HD. Pro and Mega add unlimited SD video in Relax Mode, making them the realistic choice for anyone producing video at scale.
Annual vs Monthly: Which Is Cheaper?
Annual billing knocks 20% off every tier, so the decision comes down to commitment. Paying yearly turns Basic into $8/month ($96 upfront), Standard into $24/month ($288), Pro into $48/month ($576), and Mega into $96/month ($1,152). If you know you will use Midjourney for more than ten months of the year, annual is the obvious win.
The break-even point is about 9.6 months, so anyone subscribing long-term should commit annually. If your usage is seasonal or you are still unsure, stay monthly and switch later, since you can change billing at any time.
Midjourney Alternatives Worth Comparing
Midjourney still leads on raw aesthetic quality, but it is no longer the only strong option, and several rivals undercut it on price or flexibility. OpenAI’s GPT Image 2 is excellent at text-in-image and prompt accuracy, while Google’s Nano Banana Pro has become a favourite for photorealism and editing. Newer entrants like Reve 2.0 and xAI’s Grok Imagine add competitive quality at different price points, and many offer some free usage that Midjourney does not.
If your priority is value across many models rather than one tool, a multi-model app changes the calculation entirely. Fello AI gives you Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and DeepSeek under one $9.99/month subscription, so you can compare image and text models without paying four separate bills. For creators who want options instead of a single locked-in tool, that one-price-many-models approach is hard to beat. You can also browse our roundup of the best free AI photo generators if budget is your main concern.
| Tool | Entry price | Free option | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney | $10/mo | Ne | Aesthetic quality, style control |
| GPT Image 2 | Usage-based | Limited | Text in images, accuracy |
| Nano Banana Pro | Via Gemini | Limited | Photorealism, editing |
| Reve 2.0 | Free + paid | Yes | Speed, prompt adherence |
| Fello AI | $9.99/mo | Trial | Many models, one price |
Is Midjourney Worth It in 2026?
For pure image quality, Midjourney is still worth it, and the $30 Standard plan is the tier most people should pick thanks to unlimited Relax Mode. The $10 Basic plan works as a cheap entry to test the platform, but its 3.3 fast hours run out fast if you use it daily. Reserve Pro at $60 for when you actually need Stealth Mode privacy, and Mega at $120 only for studio-level video and batch volume.
The honest caveat is the lack of a free trial and the GPU-time learning curve. If you want to experiment freely before committing, or you value access to many AI models for the price of one, a tool like Fello AI or one of the free generators may serve you better. For more on the model itself, see our Midjourney V8.1 review, and if you are hunting for no-cost ways to start, our guide to AI tools with free trials is a good next step.
The Bottom Line
Midjourney pricing in 2026 stays simple on the surface, $10 to $120 a month across four plans, with 20% off for annual commitment and no free trial anywhere. The real decision is matching your GPU-hour needs to a tier, and for most creators that means the $30 Standard plan with its unlimited Relax Mode. If you would rather not lock into one image tool, weigh a multi-model option like Fello AI before you subscribe, then start with Basic or Standard and scale up only when your fast hours run short.
FAQ
How much does Midjourney cost per month?
Midjourney costs $10/month for Basic, $30 for Standard, $60 for Pro, and $120 for Mega. Annual billing cuts 20%, lowering those to $8, $24, $48, and $96 per month.
Is Midjourney free?
No. Midjourney has had no free trial since March 2023. The cheapest way in is the $10/month Basic plan, or $8/month billed annually.
How many images can I generate on the Basic plan?
Basic includes about 3.3 hours of fast GPU time, roughly 200 standard images, since each image uses about one GPU minute. There is no Relax Mode on Basic.
What is Stealth Mode and which plans include it?
Stealth Mode hides your generations from Midjourney’s public gallery, keeping prompts and images private. It is only available on the Pro ($60) and Mega ($120) plans.
Can I get a refund if I do not like Midjourney?
Yes, but only if you have used fewer than 20 GPU minutes, about 15 to 20 image generations. Past that point, your subscription is locked in for the billing period.
