Midjourney Pricing: Plans, GPU Hours, and What Each Image Costs

Midjourney doesn’t sell images. It sells GPU time.

Midjourney pricing runs from $10 to $120 a month across four plans: Basic, Standard, Pro and Mega. Pay for a year up front, and the same plans cost $8 to $96 a month.

But the plan price is only half the bill. Fast hours run out, Turbo burns them twice as fast, and there’s no free trial.

We read Midjourney’s own plan, billing and GPU docs, then compared six top-ranking pricing guides.

You’ll see what each plan includes, how many images it buys, and which one fits your work.

Key Points

• Midjourney costs $10 (Basic), $30 (Standard), $60 (Pro) or $120 (Mega) a month. Yearly billing cuts 20%, so the plans drop to $8, $24, $48 and $96 a month, paid up front.
• You pay for Fast GPU time, not images. Basic’s 200 Fast minutes buy about 200 image prompts, while Standard and up add unlimited Relax mode for images.
• Basic only makes sense for light use. Once you’d buy 5 extra Fast hours at $4 each, Standard costs the same and adds 10 more hours plus Relax mode.
• Pick Pro if your company earns more than $1 million a year or you need private images. Midjourney requires Pro or Mega for those companies, and only those plans include Stealth Mode.

What Does Midjourney Pricing Look Like for Each Plan?

Midjourney pricing has four tiers, and each one adds more Fast GPU time and more features. All four bill monthly or yearly, and yearly billing takes 20% off.

Prices are in USD. Every plan charges $4 an hour for extra Fast time and uses the same commercial terms.

Sources: Comparing Midjourney plans, GPU speed modes, Purchasing extra Fast time, Requesting a refund, Managing your subscription.

The plan you pick sets three things. It decides how much Fast time you get, whether you can use the free Relax queue, and whether your images stay private.

How Does Midjourney GPU Time Work?

Midjourney GPU time is the minutes its servers spend on your jobs. Each plan includes a set amount of Fast time each month, and every prompt, upscale and video uses some of it. Three speed modes decide how fast it drains.

Fast Mode Uses Your Monthly Hours

Fast mode runs your job right away and takes the time from your monthly Fast allowance. Midjourney’s docs list the rough cost per job.

• SD image prompt: about 0.8 minutes for a set of four images.
• HD image prompt: about 1.3 minutes for a set of four.
• Creative or Subtle upscale: about 2 minutes.
• Video batch: 8 minutes for four SD videos, or 26 minutes for four HD videos.

Here’s the catch. Fast time doesn’t roll over. It resets at each renewal, so a quiet month is money left on the table.

Relax Mode Queues Your Jobs for Free

Relax mode costs no Fast time at all. Your jobs wait in a queue instead, for 0 to 30 minutes, based on how much you’ve used Relax compared with other people.

Standard includes unlimited Relax images. Pro and Mega add unlimited Relax video in SD. Basic gets no Relax mode, so every job on Basic eats Fast time.

Relax has limits. It doesn’t run permutation prompts, the repeat parameter, HD video or Max upscales. For daily image work, though, it’s why most people skip Basic.

What Does the Midjourney Basic Plan Include?

Midjourney Basic is the entry plan. It includes 3.3 hours of Fast GPU time a month, which works out to 200 minutes, and no Relax mode.

That’s enough to learn the tool and test a style or two. Say you test a few prompts each evening for a side project. Basic covers it, as long as you stop when the minutes run out.

Basic runs up to 3 Fast image jobs at once and 1 video job. Repeat and permutation runs stop at 4 jobs. Video stays at SD quality, and your images show up in Midjourney’s public gallery.

If you run out mid-month, you have two choices. Wait for renewal, or buy extra Fast hours at $4 an hour.

Pricing: $10 a month on monthly billing, or $8 a month billed yearly at $96.

Best For

• Beginners testing Midjourney before they commit.
• Hobby use of fewer than 200 image prompts a month, with no need for privacy.

Pros

• Lowest price at $10 a month.
• Same commercial terms as the bigger plans, so paid client work is allowed.
• You can buy extra Fast hours if a month runs long.

Cons

• No Relax mode, so every job uses Fast time.
• Only 200 Fast minutes a month.
• SD video only, and no Stealth Mode.

What Does the Midjourney Standard Plan Include?

Midjourney Standard is the plan most solo creators land on. It includes 15 hours of Fast GPU time a month and unlimited Relax mode for images.

That Relax queue changes the math. You can spend Fast hours on urgent client work and push drafts and tests into the free queue. A freelance designer making mood boards each week rarely needs more than Standard offers.

Standard adds HD video, runs 3 image jobs at once in Fast or Relax, and allows 3 Fast video jobs. Repeat and permutation runs go up to 10 jobs. Images still stay visible to other users.

Relax jobs can wait anywhere from 0 to 30 minutes. So send drafts to the queue in the morning, and keep Fast time for deadlines.

Pricing: $30 a month on monthly billing, or $24 a month billed yearly at $288.

Best For

• Freelancers and solo designers who make images most days.
• Anyone who keeps running out of Basic’s Fast minutes.

Pros

• Unlimited Relax mode for images.
• 15 Fast hours, which is 4.5 times Basic.
• Repeat runs of up to 10 jobs.
• SD and HD video.

Cons

• No Relax mode for video.
• No Stealth Mode, so images stay public.
• Not allowed for companies above $1 million in yearly revenue.

What Does the Midjourney Pro Plan Include?

Midjourney Pro is the first plan built for business use. It includes 30 hours of Fast GPU time, unlimited Relax images and unlimited Relax SD video.

Two rules push teams here. Midjourney says a company earning more than $1,000,000 in gross revenue a year must buy Pro or Mega. And Pro is the first plan with Stealth Mode, which keeps your images out of the public gallery.

Say your agency builds ad concepts for a bank. Those drafts shouldn’t sit in a public feed before launch, and Stealth Mode keeps them out.

Pro also lifts the job limits. You can run 12 Fast image jobs at once, 6 Fast video jobs, and repeat or permutation runs of up to 40 jobs.

Pricing: $60 a month on monthly billing, or $48 a month billed yearly at $576.

Best For

• Companies above $1 million in yearly revenue.
• Agencies with client work that must stay private.

Pros

• Stealth Mode for private images and video.
• Relax mode for both images and SD video.
• 12 Fast image jobs at once.

Cons

• Twice the price of Standard, at $60 a month.
• HD video still runs on Fast time only.
• Stealth Mode is the main reason to pay, if you’re a small solo user.

What Does the Midjourney Mega Plan Include?

Midjourney Mega is the top and priciest plan. It includes 60 hours of Fast GPU time a month, plus everything in Pro.

The extra hours are the whole point. Mega doubles Pro’s 30 Fast hours and raises the video limit to 12 Fast jobs at once. Image limits match Pro: 12 Fast jobs or 3 Relax jobs at a time. A studio that turns out product shots and short clips all day can use that headroom.

For most others, Pro plus a few extra hours is cheaper. At $4 an hour, 15 extra hours on Pro cost $60, so Pro reaches Mega’s $120 price. Mega gives 30 extra hours for that money, so it wins once you’d buy more than 15.

Pricing: $120 a month on monthly billing, or $96 a month billed yearly at $1,152.

Best For

• Studios and heavy users who burn through Pro’s 30 Fast hours.
• Teams that run lots of HD video in Fast mode every week.

Pros

• 60 Fast hours, the most of any plan.
• 12 Fast video jobs at once.
• Stealth Mode and Relax video included.

Cons

• Highest price at $120 a month.
• Same features as Pro apart from Fast hours and the video job limit.
• Unused Fast time still expires at renewal.

How Many Images Can You Make on Each Midjourney Plan?

You can make about 200 image prompts a month on Basic, 900 on Standard, 1,800 on Pro and 3,600 on Mega in Fast mode. Each prompt returns a set of four images.

We worked those numbers out from Midjourney’s docs. A single image prompt takes about 1 minute of Fast time, so the prompt count matches the Fast minutes.

Example: Basic includes 3.3 Fast hours, or 200 minutes. At about 1 minute per prompt, 200 minutes ÷ 1 minute = 200 prompts, or about 800 images.

That’s the ceiling, not the floor. Upscales cost about 2 minutes each, and Turbo mode charges double. Mix in 50 upscales, and Basic drops to about 100 prompts.

Standard and up soften that limit. Once Fast time runs out, image jobs keep going in Relax mode at no cost, just slower.

What Does Midjourney Video Cost on Each Plan?

Midjourney video costs Fast time, about 8 times more than an image. A batch of four SD videos takes 8 minutes, and a batch of four HD videos takes 26 minutes.

We divided each plan’s Fast minutes by 8 for SD and by 26 for HD, then rounded down.

Video eats hours fast. On Standard, 34 HD batches use the whole month. Pro’s free Relax SD video saves Fast time for HD.

How Much Does Annual Midjourney Pricing Save Over Monthly?

Annual Midjourney pricing saves 20% over paying month to month. The catch is that you pay the full year up front.

Example: Standard costs $288 a year up front. On monthly billing, $288 ÷ $30 = 9.6 months. If you’ll use Midjourney for 10 months or more, the yearly plan wins.

Stay monthly while you test. Seasonal work rarely clears 9.6 months.

What Extra Costs Come With a Midjourney Subscription?

Midjourney’s extra costs come from Fast time. You can buy more at $4 an hour, but those hours expire 60 days after purchase and can’t be refunded.

That price sets a clear line between Basic and Standard. Basic plus 5 extra hours costs $10 + $20 = $30, the same as Standard. Standard gives you 15 hours plus unlimited Relax images for that money.

Top Tip: If you’ve bought extra Fast hours on Basic two months running, switch to Standard. You’ll pay the same and get three times the hours.

Three other costs catch people out:

• No rollover: Monthly Fast time resets at renewal, so unused minutes are lost.
• No free trial: Midjourney has run no trial on its website since 2023, according to Fello AI.
• Tight refunds: Midjourney refunds a plan only if your account has used less than 20 GPU minutes in total.

Which Midjourney Plan Fits Your Team?

The right Midjourney plan depends on your volume, privacy needs and company size. The fit labels below are our own reading of the plan limits.

Teams add one more cost. If three designers each run their own Standard plan, that’s 3 × $288 = $864 a year on yearly billing.

Midjourney won’t track who asked for which image, though. Many design teams keep briefs, drafts and approvals in project management software for designers, so prompts and outputs stay tied to the right client.

Pricing a whole creative stack? Compare Figma pricing for design seats and ChatGPT pricing for text and image chat. For avatar video, see HeyGen pricing.

What Should You Do Next With Your Midjourney Plan?

Midjourney pricing comes down to Fast minutes, not image counts. Basic suits testing, and Standard suits daily solo work because Relax mode keeps the bill flat. Pro becomes a must once your company passes $1 million a year or your images need to stay private. Mega only pays off for heavy Fast use.

This week, open your Manage Subscription page and check how many Fast minutes you used last month. If you ran out before renewal, move up a plan. If half your time went unused, step down and keep the difference.

FAQs

Is There a Free Version of Midjourney?

No. Midjourney has no free plan, and it hasn’t offered a free trial on its website since 2023. The cheapest way in is Basic at $10 a month. You can earn some free GPU time by rating images, but you need a paid plan first. That makes Basic the real starting point of Midjourney pricing.

Is Midjourney Worth It?

Midjourney is worth it if you make images most weeks and can use Relax mode. Standard at $30 a month gives unlimited Relax images, which keeps costs flat however much you create. For a few images a month, Basic works. For rare use, the lack of rollover means paid minutes often go to waste.

Can I Get a Refund From Midjourney?

Only in a narrow case. Midjourney refunds a subscription if your account has used less than 20 GPU minutes in its lifetime, counting both Fast and Relax time. The refund option shows up when you cancel. It can take up to 10 business days, and extra Fast hours you bought are never refunded.

How Do I Upgrade or Cancel a Midjourney Plan?

Sign in at midjourney.com and open the Manage Subscription page. Use the Change Plan button to move up or down a tier, or the Cancel Plan button to stop renewal. Your renewal date and price appear under Billing and Payment, so check them before you change your Midjourney pricing tier.

Can I Earn Free Midjourney GPU Time?

Yes. Every Midjourney plan, Basic included, can earn free GPU time by rating images on the Midjourney website. It’s a small top-up, not a replacement for a plan. If you need a lot more time, buying extra Fast hours at $4 an hour or moving up a tier works better.