Ideogram vs Midjourney
We give Ideogram a 2.8 GPA and Midjourney a 2.0, out of 4.0. Ideogram grades higher on the free plan, ease of use and platforms. Midjourney grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Ideogram
Image generator for designs with text, plus editing and video apps
Midjourney
Image and short-video generator run on monthly GPU time
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAIdeogramGood | 2.0GPAMidjourneyFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPlus is $15 a month on yearly billing ($20 monthly) for 2,400 credits and private images, just past this category's dearer quarter of $14.50. When credits run out, Ideogram's own models keep going in a slower queue, which softens it. | BBasic is $8 a month on yearly billing ($10 monthly), inside this category's cheaper quarter of $9.99. It buys about 200 minutes of fast GPU time and no slower Relax mode. The price is from a third-party summary, as Midjourney's own pages turned our reader away. |
| Free plan and trial | C30 credits a week, but only if you sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft, and everything you make is public. The Video app needs a paid plan or bought credits. | FNo free plan and no trial on record, so the cheapest way in is $8 a month. And Basic's fast minutes don't roll over if you have a quiet month. |
| Features | BSeveral in-house models, masking and inpainting, transparent backgrounds for stickers and icons, custom style models trained on 15 to 100 of your images, a video app and an API. The whole job's covered, with text in images as its thing. | BV8 text-to-image, an edit model that fills, swaps and extends with up to four reference images, image-to-video with loops and end frames, and style profiles and moodboards. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in making images. |
| Ease of use | A4.8 from about 2,700 App Store ratings, the top band. Type the prompt with the words you want on the poster, and go. | CNo app-store rating on record. It runs on the website or as a Discord bot, and it's sold in GPU hours rather than images, so it takes a while to know what a month buys. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb and iPhone, with one API for the image and video models and an MCP server for Claude. No Android or desktop app, and credits can't be bought in the iPhone app. | CThe midjourney.com website and a Discord bot, and that's it. No phone or desktop app of its own, and no API in the listing. |
| Best for | images with readable words in them | stylised images with a distinctive look |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Ideogram and Midjourney. How we grade
Price against what you get
Ideogram starts at $15 a month and scores 3.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Midjourney starts at $8 a month and scores 2.3.
Ideogram scores higher, and starts $7 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI image and video generators on the chart, 1 scores higher than Ideogram for less, and 1 scores higher than Midjourney for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Ideogram starts at $15 per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly). Midjourney starts at $8 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly).
- Ideogram has a free plan. Midjourney does not.
- Only Ideogram lists an iOS app.
At a glance
| Ideogram | Midjourney | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Paid |
| Starts at | $15 per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly) | $8 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | 30 credits a week for accounts that sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft. Everything made on the free plan is public, and the Video app needs a paid plan or bought credits. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Ideogram AI Inc | Midjourney |
| Price read from | docs.ideogram.ai | eesel.ai (not the vendor's own page) |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Ideogram
- Logos, posters and ads where the words in the image must be readable
- Trying an image generator free with a weekly allowance
- Small teams that want separate credits and central billing
Midjourney
- Artists and designers who want a distinctive, stylized look
- Heavy users who can wait for jobs in the unlimited Relax mode
- Turning still images into short animated clips
Worth knowing
Ideogram
- Free credits go only to accounts signed in with Google, Apple or Microsoft, and free-plan images are always public.
- Monthly plan credits do not roll over. Extra credits cost one US cent each and expire 365 days after purchase.
- Partner models, reference images, edits, upscales and video always cost credits, even on plans with a slower unlimited queue.
- Credits cannot be bought inside the iOS app, and custom model training works on desktop only.
Midjourney
- Midjourney's own pricing and help pages turned away our reader, so plan details come from a third-party summary edited June 5, 2026.
- Basic has no Relax mode, so every job draws on its monthly fast time, and unused fast hours do not roll over.
- Private generation (Stealth Mode) starts at Pro; on Basic and Standard, images appear in the public gallery.
- Companies with more than $1 million in yearly gross revenue must be on Pro or Mega to use images commercially.
Key features
Ideogram
- Several image models
- Ideogram 4.5 edits and combines up to five reference images, 4.0 handles very wide formats, and 3.0 keeps style presets, palettes and negative prompts.
- Editing and inpainting
- Mask an area to change it, extend a scene, remove objects or backgrounds, and upscale results.
- Transparent backgrounds
- Dedicated models produce images with no background for stickers, print-on-demand designs, icons and clip art.
- Custom models
- Train a style model on 15 to 100 of your own images. Training needs Pro or Team and a standard run costs 4,000 credits.
- Video app
- Makes short clips from a prompt, from start and end frames, or from uploaded images, video and audio, using models such as Seedance.
- API and MCP server
- One API covers the image and video models, and an MCP server lets AI assistants such as Claude use Ideogram.
Midjourney
- Text-to-image with V8 models
- V8.1 became the default model in June 2026 and V8.2 followed in July, with an HD setting that renders at a higher resolution.
- Image editing
- The V8.2 edit model changes images from written instructions, fills or replaces chosen areas, extends the canvas and takes up to four reference images.
- Image-to-video
- Any image, including an uploaded one, can be animated into short clips that can be extended, looped or given a set end frame.
- Personalization and moodboards
- Rating images builds a personal style profile, and moodboards or style references steer new images toward a chosen look.
- Conversational mode
- A text and voice mode on the website takes requests in plain language and can use the reference images and settings already in place.
- Organize page
- Past jobs can be searched, filtered and sorted into folders on the website.
Plans
Ideogram
Free$0
30 credits a week, all Ideogram image models, and public images only.
Plus$15
per month for 2,400 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Private generation and quality export; after credits run out, Ideogram models keep working in a slower queue.
Pro$42
per month for 7,500 credits, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
Adds batch generation, a larger queue and custom model training.
Team$20
per user / month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
3,600 credits per member each month, with central billing and admin. Minimum 2 users.
EnterpriseCustom
Terms, credits and features set by agreement, including a prepaid shared credit balance for organizations.
Midjourney
Basic$8
per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly)
About 3.3 hours (200 minutes) of fast GPU time a month and no Relax mode; SD video only.
Standard$24
per month, billed annually ($30 billed monthly)
15 fast GPU hours a month plus unlimited image jobs in the slower Relax mode.
Pro$48
per month, billed annually ($60 billed monthly)
30 fast GPU hours, Stealth Mode for private images, unlimited SD video in Relax mode and 12 fast jobs at once.
Mega$96
per month, billed annually ($120 billed monthly)
60 fast GPU hours a month, with everything in Pro and more video jobs at once.
Ways to pay less
Ideogram
- Annual discount
Pay less with yearly billing
Yearly billing brings Plus from $20 to $15 a month, Pro from $60 to $42 and Team from $30 to $20 per user.
Midjourney
No public discounts listed.
