Midjourney Free Plan: What You Actually Get Before Paying
Midjourney has no free plan and no free trial on its website or in Discord. Here is what a free account can do and what each paid plan costs.
By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-11T19:21:15+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-11T19:21:15+00:00
Midjourney has no free plan. There is no free trial on the Midjourney website or in Discord. A free account can browse other people's images, but it cannot generate any. The only official free trial sits in a separate mobile app called niji journey. The cheapest way to generate images is the Basic plan at $10 a month, or $8 a month billed yearly. This is a research-based assessment, not hands-on testing. Prices and trial terms come from Midjourney's own help pages, checked in November 2026.
Midjourney free plan: the short answer
Midjourney is paid-only. Its help page on free trials says it plainly. A limited trial is available on the niji journey app for iOS and Android. No free trial is currently available in Discord or on the midjourney.com website. That wording has been stable since the help page was last updated in December 2025.
You can create a Midjourney account without paying. That account lets you look around. You can browse the Explore feed and view community images. You cannot generate images. The prompt box tells you to subscribe before you can create. Old guides still describe a free trial of about 25 images. That trial ended in 2023. Do not plan around it.
Discord Nitro does not change this. A Nitro subscription gives you no Midjourney access. Midjourney's own help pages confirm that point too. Any site promising free Midjourney generations on the web is describing the old trial or a different product.
What a free Midjourney account can do
A free account is a viewing account. You can browse the Explore gallery. You can open surveys and community showcases. You can read the help pages and plan pages. You cannot run a prompt, upscale an image, or download a generation. Generation unlocks only after you subscribe.
This is worth knowing before you sign up. Some people create an account expecting a few free images. They get none. The value of a free account is research. You can study prompts, styles, and parameters in the public gallery. You can learn what the tool produces before you pay. That is useful, but it is not a free plan.
The one official free trial: niji journey
The niji journey app is the only free route Midjourney itself lists. It is a separate app for iOS and Android. It uses the niji model, which focuses on anime and illustration styles. It is not the main Midjourney model. The app's store listing describes 20 free generations for new users. Midjourney's own help page does not publish the trial size. It calls the trial limited.
The trial has conditions. It is only for new users. You must download the app from the official App Store or Google Play. Emulator users cannot access it. The trial also does not include commercial rights. It is a taste of the style, not a free image generator for ongoing work.
Meta announced a partnership with Midjourney in August 2025 to license its technology. That partnership does not give you free Midjourney access. Meta's own image tools do not mention Midjourney. Treat any claim of free Midjourney through another app with care. Check the official help page first.
Midjourney free plan vs paid plans
Midjourney lists four subscriptions. All are auto-renewing. Annual billing costs about 20 percent less than monthly billing. Prices are in US dollars.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual (per month) | Fast GPU time | Key extras |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10 | $8 ($96 a year) | 3.3 hours a month | About 200 image jobs a month; SD video |
| Standard | $30 | $24 ($288 a year) | 15 hours a month | Unlimited Relax images; HD video |
| Pro | $60 | $48 ($576 a year) | 30 hours a month | Stealth mode; unlimited Relax images and SD video |
| Mega | $120 | $96 ($1,152 a year) | 60 hours a month | 12 Fast video jobs at once |
One image job produces four images. So Basic covers about 200 jobs, or roughly 800 images a month. Fast GPU time is the metered resource. Relax mode is unmetered but slower. It is available from Standard upward. Basic has no Relax mode. That makes Basic a poor fit for heavy users.
All paid plans include commercial use rights. The free trial in niji journey does not. Subscribers also receive free generation time on some plans, but that is a subscriber benefit, not a free plan. Check the current plan comparison page before you buy. Prices and GPU allowances change.
How to try Midjourney for the least money
Start with the niji journey trial if anime style suits your work. It costs nothing and shows you how prompting feels. Then browse the Explore gallery on a free account. Study the prompts behind images you like. That teaches you the tool before you spend anything.
When you are ready to generate, buy one month of Basic. It costs $10. That month tells you whether Midjourney fits your workflow. Cancel if it does not. If you generate regularly, switch to annual billing. Basic drops to $8 a month. Standard drops to $24 a month. The saving is real over a year.
Standard is the sensible default for regular users. Basic caps you at 3.3 Fast hours a month. Once those hours run out, you cannot generate until the next month. Standard gives 15 Fast hours plus unlimited Relax images. That removes the monthly ceiling for most casual creators. Pro suits commercial users who need Stealth mode. Mega suits teams with heavy volume.
Free alternatives if you need images now
If you need free images today, Midjourney is the wrong tool. Several image generators offer free tiers. They use different models and produce different styles. Compare them on a real brief, not on a feature list. Generate the same image in two tools and judge the result. Free tiers change often, so read the live pricing page of any alternative on the day you sign up.
Also consider stock photo libraries for finished images. They cost nothing for many uses. They do not replace generated art, but they cover common needs like blog headers and social posts. For custom art, a paid Midjourney month is still cheap compared with hiring an illustrator for one image.
Bottom line
There is no Midjourney free plan. There is no free trial on the website or in Discord. The only official free trial is the limited one in the niji journey mobile app. A free account can browse but cannot generate. The cheapest entry is Basic at $10 a month, or $8 a month billed yearly. If you generate images regularly, Standard at $30 a month is the better buy. Try the niji app first, study the public gallery, then pay for one month and decide.