Midjourney Cost per Image: How Many Images per Plan (2023)

If you're considering signing up for Midjourney, you might have noticed that their pricing plans are not the most straightforward.

The most common question that people have is; how many images can I get for each plan? How much does Midjourney charge per image?

In this article, you learn exactly how much creating images with Midjourney will cost you in 2023.

This way, you can make a better-educated decision on which Midjourney pricing plan fits your needs.

Quick Answer: How much does Midjourney cost per image

Based on the current Midjourney pricing, the cost per image grid (4 images) in 2023 is 3 to 5 cents.

In the current version, if you want to upscale one of the images of the image grid, it only breaks the image out of the grid — and costs you nothing.

For Relax Mode, if you’re a Standard Plan user, you can create around 20.241 image grids per month with Relax Mode, and as a Pro or Mega Plan user, you can create around 60.723 image grids per month — if you’re creating images 24/7.

Let’s go more in-depth now!

How much does Midjourney cost per image: What to know

Let's begin with the current price per image grid calculations. Here’s how we calculated it:

1. First of all, we need to know how many images you can create per GPU hour since that’s what Midjourney uses in all of their pricing plans.
2. After that, we can use that number to calculate the average cost per image grid for each of the pricing plans — since the higher the plan, the less it will cost per image generated.

There’s one caveat: Relax Mode.

If you’re using Relax Mode, you can create unlimited images per month but at a slower speed.

The calculations are based on the fast GPU hours (Fast Mode) that are included in each pricing plan.

We will go over a bit more below on how many images you can possibly create with Relax Mode per month, but let’s go over the basics first!

How many images per hour with Midjourney?

Let’s begin with the first one; let’s calculate how many images you can create per GPU hour:

According to Midjourney, the current average is 1 image per GPU minute, so 60 images per hour.

This, of course, is an average, so it can change.

Here's one example, I created these 6 images with Midjourney via their default Fast Mode:

• I started with Fast Time Remaining: 13.19/15.0 hours (Around 13 hours and 11.4 minutes left)
• And ended with Fast Time Remaining: 13.14/15.0 hours (Around 13 hours and 8.4 minutes left)

So, those 6 image grids took around 3 GPU minutes. (With the default aspect ratio)

Meaning if it holds on like that, you can create twice as many images!

For those that are curious, here's the prompt:

a dog holding a [object], colorful, surrealism

How many images can you make a month on Midjourney? (+ The cost)

Here’s an overview for you with the average of one image per GPU minute:

Keep in mind that the total number of images that you can create can change based on the other commands that you use.

Since those commands use GPU time as well. (More about that below)

And, as you can see from the example above, sometimes one GPU minute doesn't equal one image, but you can create way more!

How many images can you make a month with Relax Mode on Midjourney?

Here’s a fun question; how many images can you possibly create per month if you’re only using Relax Mode?

The short answer: If you’re a Standard Plan user, you can create around 20.241 image grids per month with Relax Mode, and as a Pro or Mega Plan user, you can create around 60.723 image grids per month — if you’re creating images 24/7.

Just that we’re on one page, Relax Mode is the free unlimited image generation option from Midjourney that is included in the Standard Plan and higher.

First of all, we used Midjourney Stats to calculate the average waiting time for the Relax Mode (v5), which is 129,92 seconds (rounded up).

Keep in mind that this average was created over a period of 24 hours, so the waiting time can fluctuate during the day:

Next up, we know that there are 86.400 seconds in a day, so if we create one image grid with Relax Mode every time one is finished, we can create around 665 image grids per 24 hours.

Note: Keep in mind that you can only create image grids with Relax Mode. If you want to upscale, you will have to switch to Fast Mode.

The average number of days per month is 30,437, but you can adjust this formula based on the number of days that are in the current month.

This means that we can create around 20.241 image grids per month with Relax Mode — if we’re creating images 24/7.

However, that’s not all; Midjourney also has a feature called ‘Maximum Concurrent Jobs’, meaning you can create multiple images at the same image, and you can set images in the queue!

Luckily, the formula won’t become that complicated since only the Pro and Mega Plan can have multiple Relax Jobs at the same time. (They can have 3 at the same time)

Yes, you can 10 jobs in the queue, but this won’t create the images any faster; it will simply help you achieve 24/7 image creation better (since you don’t need to look every 129.92 seconds if a job is finished or not.

So, here’s what we have then:

• The average waiting time for Relax Mode is 129,92 seconds.
• There are 86.400 seconds in a day.
• The average number of days per month is 30,437.
• If you’re on the Pro or Mega Plan, you can create 3 image grids at the same time.

Meaning:

• If you’re a Standard Plan user, you can create around 20.241 image grids per month with Relax Mode — if you’re creating images 24/7.
• If you’re a Pro or Mega Plan user, you can create around 60.723 image grids per month with Relax Mode — if you’re creating images 24/7, and you manage to keep your job queue of 3 full every single moment.

Amazing, right?

Of course, 24/7 is hard for a lot of people, so here’s how many you can create per hour:

• If you’re a Standard Plan user, you can create around 28 image grids per hour with Relax Mode.
• If you’re a Pro or Mega Plan user, you can create around 83 image grids per hour with Relax Mode — if you can keep your job queue of 3 full.

How much does Midjourney cost per image with Relax Mode?

To go a bit further with the above formula, how much does one image grid cost if you’re only using Relax Mode?

We will give you an example of using it for 1 hour per day and using it for 3 hours per day — per month. (The cost per image grid numbers are rounded up to 3 decimal places)

For a Standard Plan user, here’s what you’re looking at:

For a Pro Plan user, here’s what you’re looking at:

For a Mega Plan user, here’s what you’re looking at:

As you can see, picking the Pro Plan will be the best option for you if you want the cheapest per image grid price for Relax Mode!

Tip: As mentioned above, the Upscaling of images is currently free in 2023.

GPU time usage for different Midjourney Commands: An overview

As I shared above, the Midjourney Commands that you can use cost GPU time as well.

Here's an overview:

Can you use Midjourney for free?

I know there are a lot of articles and videos out there that state that you can use Midjourney for free, but that's unfortunately not true anymore.

Currently, Midjourney does not offer any free trials or free pricing plans.

Here's the message that you will get from the Midjourney Bot if you do decide to try the imagine command:

At first, Midjourney offered a free trial with a 25-minute (0.4 hr) Fast GPU time limit for new users. (Which is around 25 images)

After using up all the GPU time, you were required to subscribe to one of the paid plans, in order to continue creating images with the tool.

Don't worry, though!

Keep an eye out on their Twitter account; sometimes, they turn their free trials back on:

For more information, check out this article here!

How to save GPU hours when using Midjourney

Before closing this article, let’s go over our tips for saving GPU hours when using Midjourney in 2023:

1. Using the envelope emoji ✉️ to upscale for free
2. Ranking pairs to earn free GPU hours
3. Check the public Midjourney channels for surveys
4. Using Relax Mode
5. Decrease the quality to save hours
6. Using the Stop command
7. Double-check your prompt before pressing enter

For more information about these money-saving tips, check out our other article here!

Conclusion

So, there you have it: All the information you need to know about how much Midjourney charges per image created.

The extra calculations for Relax Mode were fun to make! Just remember to double-check the current stats to see how the waiting time looks.

I hope that the other tips, like if you can use Midjourney for free, also helped you further.

If you have any other questions, don't forget to leave them in the comments below!

Want to learn more about Midjourney?

Ready to move your Midjourney skills to the next level? Check out the articles below:

• How to Find All Your Created Midjourney Images (4 Ways)
• Midjourney Gallery: Everything You Need to Know in 2023
• How to Use Midjourney Privately (Top 4 Stealth Tips in 2023)