Free access: what's left?
Midjourney has long been associated with free trial generations for beginners. However, the situation has now changed: officially, new users no longer get free access. Previously, you could create up to 25 images without paying, but now the service immediately asks you to choose a paid plan. At the same time, the former free tier had significant limitations: besides the small limit, there was no access to Relax mode, and all generated images went into the public gallery.
So what do paid subscriptions actually offer, and is it worth paying at all? Let's break it down.
Paid plans and their capabilities
Midjourney subscriptions are divided into four tiers: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Mega. The basic version costs $10 per month or $96 per year. The next tiers cost $30, $60, and $120 per month respectively (with annual billing: $288, $576, and $1152). The logic is simple: the higher the plan, the more computing resources and features you get.
The main advantage of any paid plan is Fast mode. It ensures priority processing of requests and noticeably faster generation than Relax, which is available starting from the Standard plan. Fast generation time ranges from 3.3 hours per month on Basic to 60 hours on Pro; on the most expensive Mega plan, coverage becomes unlimited.
An important point is privacy. Pro and Mega include Stealth Mode, which hides your work from the public gallery. If you create images for commercial projects or simply don't want to put them on public display, this mode will come in handy. Additionally, all premium subscriptions grant commercial rights to generated images and access to the gallery of other users' work.
What to choose: free or paid?
With free access in its current form, it's simple: there is none. So the question comes down to which paid plan suits you. To figure that out, you need to consider several factors. When choosing a Midjourney subscription, you should base your decision on usage frequency, need for speed, and privacy requirements.
If you only need to try the tool a couple of times, the minimum Basic plan gives you that opportunity: about 3.3 hours of fast generation per month is enough for getting acquainted and short experiments. For regular use, especially when you're not chasing instant results, it makes more sense to look at Standard. There you get unlimited Relax mode, and Fast time increases to 15 hours per month. For professional work, when every hour counts and you need privacy, Pro or Mega with extended limits and Stealth Mode are better suited.
The main takeaway from all this: the choice depends on your tasks, usage frequency, and budget. If image generation is a one-off pleasure, you can stick with the cheapest plan. But if you plan to make the tool part of your workflow, don't skimp on speed and privacy — they directly affect the result.
