Midjourney Review (2026): Plans, Fast Hours, Stealth, and the V8 Limit

Midjourney is a paid image-and-video generator with no free plan. Basic is $10/month. Standard at $30/month is the first plan with unlimited Relax image generation. Pro at $60/month is the first plan with Stealth Mode, and it is the plan a company with more than $1 million in annual gross revenue has to buy. Mega at $120/month buys more Fast GPU time, not a private license that Pro lacks.

Figures are from Midjourney’s plan comparison, checked October 16, 2026. Annual billing saves 20%. We did not score image taste. “Best looking” is not a fact this review measured.

The plan, in one table

	Basic	Standard	Pro	Mega
Monthly	$10	$30	$60	$120
Annual	$96 ($8/month)	$288 ($24/month)	$576 ($48/month)	$1,152 ($96/month)
Fast GPU time	3.3 hours (200 minutes)	15 hours	30 hours	60 hours
Relax	None	Unlimited images	Unlimited images and unlimited Relax SD video	Unlimited images and unlimited Relax SD video
Video	SD	SD and HD	SD and HD	SD and HD
Stealth (private images)	No	No	Yes	Yes
Concurrent image jobs	3 Fast	3 Fast or Relax	12 Fast or 3 Relax	12 Fast or 3 Relax

Extra Fast GPU time is $4/hour on every plan. Rating images can earn free GPU time. That is a published perk, not a wage.

Figure (plan diagram, not a product screenshot). Alt: Basic is a small Fast-time bucket and public images. Standard adds unlimited Relax images. Pro adds Stealth and is the minimum for companies over $1 million in gross revenue. Mega adds Fast hours. A side note marks V8 alpha: some heavier settings run slower, and Relax is not available on that alpha yet.

How to spend the first month is Midjourney for beginners. If the picture needs readable words, an Adobe file, or no subscription, leave via Midjourney alternatives. The wider start-here guide is AI image generators for beginners.

What the dollars are for

Midjourney sells GPU time, not a seat count. Fast mode spends the monthly hours. Relax mode queues work at lower priority and, from Standard up, does not draw those hours down for images. That is why Standard is the practical plan for someone who will explore. Basic’s 3.3 Fast hours are a learning bucket. They are a bad bucket for a week of client concepts unless you enjoy buying $4 hours.

Pro and Mega add concurrency and, on Pro, Stealth. Stealth is privacy. Images are public on Basic and Standard. If a client logo cannot sit on a public gallery, Basic is the wrong savings.

The commercial rule is separate from Stealth. Subscribers may use images and videos broadly under Midjourney’s terms, and companies with more than $1,000,000 in gross annual revenue must be on Pro or Mega. A small studio on Standard can be inside the terms. A large company on Standard is not, even if the pictures look the same.

V8 alpha is not the plan you budget

Midjourney opened V8 alpha in March 2026, with a native 2K --hd mode and --q 4, and with compatibility for V7 personalization, moodboards, and style references. The help center notes that in that alpha, some of those heavier settings run slower (described as 4× versus regular jobs) and that Relax mode is not available for V8 yet.

Do not buy Standard “for unlimited Relax” and then spend the month only in V8 alpha. Those are different meters. Beginners should learn on the current default and treat V8 flags as optional cost, not as the first prompt. The alpha announcement is the source for what V8 is. The plan article is the source for what Relax does not cover yet.

Who each plan is for

• Basic ($10, or $8 annual): you will generate a small number of Fast images a month and you can accept a public gallery. It is the plan to learn on, and the plan to outgrow if you explore all week.
• Standard ($30, or $24 annual): exploration, moodboards, and HD video, without Stealth. This is the default for a working freelancer under the revenue line.
• Pro ($60, or $48 annual): private images, more concurrency, Relax video, or a company over the $1 million line.
• Mega ($120, or $96 annual): the same privacy and Relax story as Pro, with 60 Fast hours. Buy it when 30 Fast hours are the thing that ran out, not because the name sounds safer.

Video generation is included, at SD on Basic and SD plus HD from Standard. If the job is a finished marketing clip rather than a short motion study, compare dedicated video tools in best AI video generators before you treat Midjourney as the studio.

Fit, scored from the plan sheet

	Basic	Standard	Pro	Mega
Learn prompting	Strong	Strong	More than you need	More than you need
Explore without watching a 3-hour clock	Weak	Strong (Relax images)	Strong	Strong
Keep client work private	No	No	Yes	Yes
A company over $1M gross revenue	Not allowed	Not allowed	Fits	Fits
Unlimited Relax on V8 alpha	No	No. Relax is not on that alpha yet	No	No
Readable text in the image as the main job	Weak reason to pick Midjourney	Weak	Weak	Weak. Use Ideogram

FAQ

Is Midjourney free?

No. Every plan is a subscription. Basic is $10/month, or $96/year.

Can I use Midjourney images commercially?

Subscribers can use images and videos under Midjourney’s terms. Companies with more than $1,000,000 in gross annual revenue must subscribe to Pro or Mega. Stealth, which keeps images private, is also only on Pro and Mega. Commercial rights and privacy are different switches.

What is the difference between Fast and Relax?

Fast spends monthly GPU time: 3.3, 15, 30, or 60 hours. Relax queues jobs and is unlimited for images on Standard, Pro, and Mega, and for SD video on Pro and Mega. Extra Fast time is $4/hour. V8 alpha does not offer Relax yet.

Last verified

October 16, 2026.

Sources: Comparing Midjourney plans, V8 alpha.

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