Midjourney Pricing 2026: Every Plan, GPU Hour and Video Cost

Midjourney pricing in 2026 runs across four plans: Basic at $10 a month, Standard at $30, Pro at $60 and Mega at $120. Paying for a year upfront takes 20% off, so Basic drops to $8 a month. There is no free trial on the website or in Discord, and every plan buys a block of fast GPU time, not a fixed number of images.

That GPU-time model is where most people misjudge the cost. An image prompt takes about one minute of GPU time, a batch of four HD videos takes 26, and extra hours cost $4 each and expire after 60 days. This guide covers every plan, the real cost per image and per video clip, the refund rule, the $1 million revenue rule for companies, and the cheaper alternatives. Prices and limits were checked against Midjourney's own documentation on 13 October 2026.

The Key Takeaways

• Four plans: Basic $10, Standard $30, Pro $60 and Mega $120 a month, or $8 / $24 / $48 / $96 a month billed yearly.
• You buy GPU time: 3.3 / 15 / 30 / 60 fast hours a month. Unused fast time does not roll over.
• No free trial on midjourney.com or Discord. The only trial is a limited one in the Niji Journey app.
• Extra hours cost $4, expire after 60 days and are not refundable.
• Standard is the value pick: it is the cheapest plan with unlimited Relax Mode images.
• Pro or Mega is required for Stealth Mode and for any company earning more than $1 million a year.

Midjourney Pricing Plans in 2026: Basic $10, Standard $30, Pro $60, Mega $120

Midjourney sells four subscription tiers, and they differ in two ways: how much fast GPU time you get and which features unlock. The figures below match Midjourney's official Comparing Midjourney Plans page. Annual plans are paid upfront for the full 12 months.

The jump from Basic to Standard matters most. Standard is the first plan with unlimited Relax Mode images, so you stop counting generations and keep your fast hours for the jobs that need speed.

Basic Plan ($10/month)

The Basic plan costs $10 a month, or $8 billed yearly. It includes 200 minutes of fast GPU time, enough for about 200 image prompts at the usual one minute each. There is no Relax Mode, so when the fast time runs out you wait for the next billing cycle or buy extra hours. Basic runs 3 image jobs or 1 video job at a time and makes SD video only. It suits anyone testing whether Midjourney fits their work.

Standard Plan ($30/month)

The Standard plan costs $30 a month, or $24 billed yearly, and it is the right plan for most regular creators. You get 15 fast hours plus unlimited images in Relax Mode, where jobs wait in a queue instead of using your fast time. Standard adds HD video and runs 3 image or 3 video jobs at once.

Pro Plan ($60/month)

The Pro plan costs $60 a month, or $48 billed yearly. It doubles fast time to 30 hours and runs up to 12 fast image jobs and 6 fast video jobs at once. It also adds two things Standard lacks. Stealth Mode keeps your images and videos out of Midjourney's public gallery, and Pro includes unlimited SD video in Relax Mode. Pro is the cheapest plan for client work that has to stay private.

Mega Plan ($120/month)

The Mega plan costs $120 a month, or $96 billed yearly, and doubles Pro's fast time to 60 hours. It keeps Stealth Mode and Relax video and raises the video limit to 12 fast jobs at once. Mega only pays off if you keep running out of Pro's 30 hours, usually from heavy video or large batch work.

Is There a Free Midjourney Plan or Trial?

No. Midjourney's free trial page says no free trial is available in Discord or on midjourney.com, which has been the case since Midjourney closed its trial in 2023. A limited trial exists only in the separate Niji Journey app for iOS and Android. The cheapest way into Midjourney itself is the $10 Basic plan, or $8 a month billed yearly.

The refund rule is narrower than most guides say. Midjourney refunds a subscription only if you have used less than 20 GPU minutes over the lifetime of your account, counting Fast, Turbo and Relax time. If you qualify, the refund option appears when you cancel. If it does not appear, there is no refund. In practice that means about 20 image prompts, once, ever.

How Midjourney GPU Hours Work

Midjourney charges for GPU time, not for images. Each job uses a slice of your monthly fast time, and Midjourney's GPU speed guide lists what common jobs cost. Upscales, unusual aspect ratios and older model versions use more.

Fast, Relax and Turbo Mode

Fast Mode runs a job straight away and draws down your monthly hours, which reset at each renewal and do not carry over. Relax Mode, on Standard and above, queues the job without touching your fast time. Midjourney puts the wait at 0 to 30 minutes, shorter if you use Relax less than other people. Relax does not run HD video, permutation prompts or the repeat parameter. Turbo Mode renders up to four times faster than Fast but uses double the fast time, and V8.1 does not support it.

Midjourney Cost Per Image

On Basic, $10 buys 200 fast minutes, so an image prompt costs about 5 cents at one minute each, or 4 cents at the 0.8-minute SD rate. An HD prompt at 1.3 minutes costs about 6.5 cents. On Standard, unlimited Relax pushes the cost of each extra image toward zero once you accept the queue. That is why heavy users pay less per picture on higher plans, not more.

Buying Extra Fast Hours

Extra fast time costs $4 an hour on every plan, about 7 cents per image prompt at one minute each. Midjourney's extra fast time page sets three limits: purchased hours expire after 60 days, they only work while your subscription is active, and they cannot be refunded. Buy them for a deadline, not as a stockpile.

How Much Does Midjourney Video Cost?

Midjourney video has no separate price. It draws on the same fast GPU time as images, and Midjourney's video guide sets the rates. Each prompt makes 5-second clips, 4 by default, and you can ask for 1 or 2 instead to save time.

In money, a batch of four SD clips uses 8 of Basic's 200 minutes, about 40 cents, so Basic covers about 25 such batches a month. A batch of four HD clips on Standard costs about 87 cents of its 15 hours. Extending a clip adds 4 seconds and costs as much GPU time as a new generation. You can extend up to 4 times, to 21 seconds, so a full-length clip costs five generations, not one.

All plans make video in Fast Mode. Only Standard and above make HD, and HD always uses fast time. Only Pro and Mega run video in Relax Mode, at SD resolution, which makes them the realistic choice for steady video output.

Commercial Use: When You Need Pro or Mega

Every paid plan lets you use your images and videos commercially under Midjourney's general terms. The exception is size. Midjourney's plan page states that a company making more than $1,000,000 a year in gross revenue must subscribe to Pro or Mega. Freelancers and small studios can stay on Basic or Standard. Larger companies, and anyone whose client work cannot appear in a public gallery, should budget for Pro.

Annual vs Monthly: Which Is Cheaper?

Annual billing takes 20% off every tier: Basic becomes $96 a year, Standard $288, Pro $576 and Mega $1,152, all paid upfront. The break-even point is 9.6 months, so a year upfront only wins if you will use Midjourney for at least 10 months. If your use is seasonal or you are still testing, stay monthly.

Midjourney Alternatives and How Their Pricing Compares

Midjourney still leads on look and style control, but every major rival now has some free use, which Midjourney does not. OpenAI's ChatGPT Images, now on version 2.5 after Images 2.0, is strongest at text inside images and prompt accuracy. Google's Nano Banana models lead on photorealism and editing at a lower cost per image. Reve 2.0 builds an editable layout before it renders, and xAI's Grok Imagine is quick at turning images into video. If budget is the main concern, see the best free AI photo generators.

Is Midjourney Worth It in 2026?

Yes, for image quality, and the $30 Standard plan is the one most people should buy because of unlimited Relax Mode. Basic at $10 works for a test month, but 200 fast minutes run out quickly with daily use. Choose Pro at $60 when you need Stealth Mode or your company earns over $1 million a year, and Mega at $120 only for steady video or batch volume.

The current default model is V8.2, released on 24 July 2026 with a new Edit Model that replaces Omni Reference and Character Reference. Our Midjourney V8.1 review covers the speed and HD changes V8.2 builds on, and our guide to AI tools with free trials lists the no-cost ways to start. Midjourney is also reaching past image prompts: it built a full-body body scanner.

Make Images Without Another Subscription

If you need good images now and then, not daily art in one house style, a separate image subscription is hard to justify. Fello AI makes images with OpenAI's GPT Image model in the same chat where you write with Claude, research with Perplexity or ask Gemini or Grok for a second opinion. One subscription covers the chat and the images, so there is no second bill to track.

Fello AI runs on Mac, iPhone and iPad and has a free tier to try it first. Paid plans start from $11.99 a month in most countries (checked 13 October 2026), against $30 for Midjourney Standard alone. The getting started guide walks you through Fello AI. Keep Midjourney if its look is the point of your work. Otherwise, one app is usually enough.

The Bottom Line

Midjourney costs $10 to $120 a month across four plans, with 20% off for paying yearly and no free trial outside the Niji Journey app. The real decision is matching your GPU time to a plan, and for most creators that is Standard at $30 for its unlimited Relax Mode. Start monthly, watch how fast you use your hours for a month or two, and move up only when you keep running out.

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