Midjourney vs Recraft
We give Midjourney a 2.0 GPA and Recraft a 2.6, out of 4.0. Recraft grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Midjourney
Image and short-video generator run on monthly GPU time
Recraft
Image and vector generator built for designers and brand work
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAMidjourneyFair | 2.6GPARecraftGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | BBasic is $10 a month on yearly billing ($12 monthly) for 1,000 credits, level with this category's cheaper quarter of $9.99. That's about 500 Recraft V4.1 images, plus partner models, private images and commercial rights. Video needs Pro at $16. |
| Free plan and trial | 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. | CDaily credits on Recraft's own models, vectors included, but only 3 uploads a day and 2 images per prompt. Free images are public, belong to Recraft and can't be used commercially. |
| Features | 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. | BEditable SVG icons, logos and illustrations, raster-to-vector, custom styles and brand palettes, editing, mockups, an assistant mode, and video on Pro. It covers the job, with vectors as its edge. |
| Ease of use | 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. | CNo App Store rating on record. Styles, palettes, mockups and a canvas give a designer plenty to set up before it pays off. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | BWeb, iPhone, Android and a Chrome extension, with plugins for Figma, Framer, Google Docs and Google Slides and a separate API. No desktop app, which an A needs. |
| Best for | stylised images with a distinctive look | icons and logos as editable vectors |
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: Midjourney and Recraft. How we grade
Price against what you get
Midjourney starts at $8 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Recraft starts at $10 a month and scores 2.7.
Recraft scores higher, and starts $2 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 Midjourney for less, and 2 score higher than Recraft 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
- Midjourney starts at $8 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly). Recraft starts at $10 per month for 1,000 credits, billed annually ($12 billed monthly).
- Recraft has a free plan. Midjourney does not.
- Only Recraft lists iOS and Android apps.
- Only Recraft lists a browser extension.
At a glance
| Midjourney | Recraft | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | $8 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) | $10 per month for 1,000 credits, billed annually ($12 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | None | Limited daily credits, 3 image uploads a day and up to 2 images per prompt, Recraft models only. Free images are public, owned by Recraft and not licensed for commercial use. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Midjourney | Recraft, Inc. |
| Price read from | eesel.ai (not the vendor's own page) | recraft.ai |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
Recraft
- Designers who need icons, logos and illustrations as editable vectors
- Brand teams keeping a set of images on one style and palette
- Figma and Framer users who want generation inside their design tool
Worth knowing
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.
Recraft
- Free-plan images are public, belong to Recraft and cannot be used commercially.
- Video generation needs Pro or Teams; Basic covers images only.
- Monthly credits do not roll over. Top-ups cost $2 per 200 credits, never expire and are sold only on paid plans.
- Teams credits are assigned per seat and cannot be shared between members.
Key features
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.
Recraft
- Vector generation
- Generates editable SVG icons, logos and illustrations, and converts raster images to vectors. Vector tools are on every plan, including Free.
- Custom styles and palettes
- Pick from a style library or create your own style from reference images, and set brand color palettes to keep a set of images consistent.
- Editing tools
- Edit with plain-language instructions, erase or modify areas, extend images, remove or replace backgrounds and upscale.
- Mockups
- Generate a product mockup and apply your own design to it inside Recraft Studio, at 2 credits per mockup.
- Agentic and manual modes
- Chat with an assistant that sets up generations over several turns, or control model, style, aspect ratio and artistic level by hand.
- Plugins and API
- Plugins for Figma, Framer, Google Docs, Google Slides and Chrome use your plan's credits; a separate API is billed in prepaid units.
Plans
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.
Recraft
Free$0
Daily credits for Recraft's own models, vector generation and basic editing; personal use only.
Basic$10
per month for 1,000 credits, billed annually ($12 billed monthly)
Partner image models, private images with commercial rights, credit top-ups. About 500 Recraft V4.1 images a month.
Pro$16
per month for 2,000 credits, billed annually ($20 billed monthly)
Adds video models such as Kling and Veo and priority generation. Price rises with credits: $128 a month yearly at 16,000.
Teams$18
per seat / month for 2,000 credits, billed annually ($22 monthly)
Shared workspace and custom styles, central billing, SSO and 24/7 support. Credits are per seat. Minimum 2 seats.
Ways to pay less
Midjourney
No public discounts listed.
Recraft
- Annual discount
Save up to 20% with annual billing
Annual billing brings Basic from $12 to $10 a month, Pro from $20 to $16 and Teams from $22 to $18 per seat.
