Midjourney: How to Create AI Images in 2026

Midjourney is one of the most recognized AI image generators for the aesthetic quality of its output. Published by Midjourney Inc., an independent research laboratory based in San Francisco, the tool has established itself as a reference for advertising visuals, editorial illustration, and concept art.

## How It Works

1. Write a prompt — e.g., "a serene mountain lake at sunrise, photorealistic, soft mist, golden hour, 8k"
2. Midjourney generates 4 grid variants
3. Choose to **upscale** a variant or generate **variations**

## Essential Parameters

- `--ar 16:9`: aspect ratio
- `--v 7`: model version
- `--style raw`: less artistic interpretation
- `--no `: element exclusion
- `--seed `: reproducibility

## Subscriptions

- **Basic**: a few fast GPU hours per month
- **Standard**: for regular use
- **Pro**: private mode (your generations aren't public) + unlimited GPU in relax mode
- **Mega**: for intensive use

**Private mode (Stealth) is important for professional use** — by default, generated images are publicly visible on the Midjourney feed.

## Commercial Rights

Paying users generally have commercial rights on images they generate. Large companies may need Pro tier. Always verify the current ToS before large-scale commercial deployment.

## Midjourney vs DALL-E 3 vs FLUX

- **Midjourney**: aesthetic quality, artistic control, community
- **[DALL-E 3](/en/blog/dalle-3-generation-images-openai)**: narrative precision, complex prompt interpretation, text in images
- **[FLUX / Stable Diffusion](/en/blog/stable-diffusion-flux-guide)**: open source, on-premise, full control

For the full image generation tool comparison, see our [Image Generation category](/en/categories/image-generation).