{ "title": "Midjourney Alternatives 2027: 15 Paid, Free & Open-Source", "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/midjourney/", "summary": "The best Midjourney alternatives in 2027 are Adobe Firefly (best overall, $9.99/mo), Ideogram (best free plan: Weekly slow credits for eligible signed-in accounts) and ComfyUI (best open source, GPL-3.0). Midjourney itself starts at $10/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 13 Nov 2026; 12 more are compared below, including 4 with a free plan and 7 open source.", "tool": { "name": "Midjourney", "starting_price": "$10/mo", "free_plan": "No", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.midjourney.com/pricing" }, "task": "AI image generator", "prices_checked": "2026-11-13", "date_modified": "2026-11-13", "alternatives": [ { "name": "Adobe Firefly", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$9.99/mo", "free_plan_limit": "Free daily generations; no numeric limit listed", "best_for": "Image, video and audio generation in Adobe's ecosystem", "difference": "Firefly bundles image, video and audio generation in one plan family, sold as monthly generative credits (2,000 on Standard), and offers team licences per seat for Pro tiers and above.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly/plans.html", "website": "https://firefly.adobe.com", "zekai_score": 8.9, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/adobe-firefly/" }, { "name": "Ideogram", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$15/mo", "free_plan_limit": "Weekly slow credits for eligible signed-in accounts", "best_for": "Typography-led images with a cheap entry plan", "difference": "Ideogram's Plus plan lists 1,000 priority credits a month and its free tier gives weekly slow credits; the Pro plan adds private generation and unlimited character consistency.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://ideogram.ai/pricing", "website": "https://ideogram.ai", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/ideogram/" }, { "name": "ChatGPT (image generation)", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$20/mo", "free_plan_limit": "Image creation marked Limited", "best_for": "Images made inside a general chat assistant", "difference": "Image creation runs inside ChatGPT's chat, so prompts can be refined conversationally; Free is marked Limited and Pro describes unlimited image creation subject to abuse guardrails.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://openai.com/chatgpt/pricing/", "website": "https://chatgpt.com/", "zekai_score": 9.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/chatgpt/" }, { "name": "Krea AI", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$9/mo", "free_plan_limit": "100 compute units a day", "best_for": "Cheapest paid plan with a daily free tier", "difference": "Krea's free plan refreshes 100 compute units each day, while Basic gives 5,000 units a month; some models carry daily caps, such as about five images a day for Krea 3 on Free.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://www.krea.ai/pricing", "website": "https://www.krea.ai", "zekai_score": 8.7, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/krea-ai/" }, { "name": "Playground", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$15/mo", "free_plan_limit": "5 images every 3 hours, 2 downloads a day", "best_for": "Design-style image editing with a free tier", "difference": "Playground's free plan allows up to five images every three hours and two downloads a day, and Pro Plus is priced at $45 a month before the annual discount.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://playgroundai.com/design/pricing", "website": "https://playground.com", "zekai_score": 7.9, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/playground/" }, { "name": "Black Forest Labs (FLUX)", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "from $0.014 per megapixel (API)", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Developers calling image models by API", "difference": "FLUX is sold as a pay-as-you-go API, priced per image or per megapixel with no subscriptions or seat fees, and failed or moderated generations are not charged.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://bfl.ai/pricing", "website": "https://bfl.ai", "zekai_score": 9.1, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/black-forest-labs-flux/" }, { "name": "Recraft", "type": "Free", "starting_price": "Free plan; paid price not published", "free_plan_limit": "Free plan images not licensed for commercial use", "best_for": "Vector graphics and reusable custom styles", "difference": "Recraft generates editable vector graphics and turns uploaded images into reusable styles; its free plan's images belong to Recraft, while paid plans grant commercial rights.", "price_checked": "2026-11-11", "pricing_url": "https://www.recraft.ai/pricing", "website": "https://www.recraft.ai", "zekai_score": 9.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/recraft/" }, { "name": "ComfyUI", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "GPL-3.0", "best_for": "Node-graph pipelines for any open model", "difference": "ComfyUI lets you wire samplers, checkpoints and add-ons together as a node graph on your own machine, with no credits or per-image limits.", "website": "https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI", "repository": "https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/comfyui/", "commercial_use": "Yes; GPL-3.0 means sharing source if you distribute modified versions.", "runs_on": "Runs large models on as little as 4 GB VRAM plus 8 GB RAM.", "setup": "easy: Desktop app installs it; you still pick and download models.", "github_stars": 147000, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-13", "last_release": "2026-11-10", "zekai_score": 8.1, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/comfyui/" }, { "name": "InvokeAI", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Apache-2.0", "best_for": "Self-hosted image studio under Apache-2.0", "difference": "InvokeAI is Apache-2.0 and publishes per-model minimums, from 4 GB VRAM for SD1.5 up to 24 GB for the largest FLUX.2 and Krea-2 models.", "website": "https://invoke.ai", "repository": "https://github.com/invoke-ai/InvokeAI", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/invokeai/", "commercial_use": "Yes (Apache-2.0).", "runs_on": "SDXL needs 8 GB VRAM and 16 GB RAM; runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.", "setup": "easy: Download the Invoke launcher; model files are fetched separately and can be large.", "github_stars": 29100, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-12", "last_release": "2026-11-09", "zekai_score": 8.4, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/invokeai/" }, { "name": "SD.Next", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Apache-2.0", "best_for": "Many GPU types and dozens of models", "difference": "SD.Next runs on Nvidia, AMD, Intel Arc, Apple Silicon and CPU-only machines and supports dozens of image and video models from one web interface.", "website": "https://github.com/vladmandic/sdnext", "repository": "https://github.com/vladmandic/sdnext", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/sd-next/", "commercial_use": "Yes (Apache-2.0); each model you load has its own licence.", "runs_on": "Nvidia, AMD, Intel Arc, Apple Silicon or CPU-only; the README gives no VRAM minimum.", "setup": "moderate: Clone the repo and run webui.sh or webui.bat; its installer manages dependencies.", "github_stars": 7400, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-10-29", "zekai_score": 7.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/sd-next/" }, { "name": "SwarmUI", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "Web UI for Stable Diffusion, Flux and video models", "difference": "SwarmUI is MIT-licensed and covers image, video and some audio models in one modular web interface; its README labels the current release v0.9.8 Beta.", "website": "https://github.com/mcmonkeyprojects/SwarmUI", "repository": "https://github.com/mcmonkeyprojects/SwarmUI", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/swarmui/", "commercial_use": "Yes for SwarmUI (MIT); each model you load has its own licence.", "runs_on": "Windows, Linux or Apple-silicon Mac with .NET and Python 3.11/3.12; no VRAM figure given.", "setup": "easy: Run install-windows.bat or install-linux.sh; models download separately.", "github_stars": 4800, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2026-11-12", "last_release": "2026-02-06", "zekai_score": 7.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/swarmui/" }, { "name": "Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "AGPL-3.0", "best_for": "Familiar Stable Diffusion WebUI layout with leaner memory use", "difference": "Forge is a platform built on the Stable Diffusion WebUI that aims to speed up inference and optimise resource use, and says it syncs with the original every 90 days.", "website": "https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forge", "repository": "https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forge", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/stable-diffusion-webui-forge/", "commercial_use": "Yes; AGPL-3.0 means sharing changes if you run it as a service.", "runs_on": "Windows one-click package with CUDA builds; the README lists no VRAM minimum.", "setup": "easy: Download the one-click package, extract it, run update.bat then run.bat.", "github_stars": 13100, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2025-06-26", "last_release": "2024-07-22", "zekai_score": 6.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/stable-diffusion-webui-forge/" }, { "name": "Fooocus", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "GPL-3.0", "best_for": "Prompt-first SDXL generation, Midjourney-style", "difference": "Fooocus is built only on Stable Diffusion XL and its README says it is in limited long-term support: bug fixes only, with no newer model architectures planned.", "website": "https://github.com/lllyasviel/Fooocus", "repository": "https://github.com/lllyasviel/Fooocus", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/fooocus/", "commercial_use": "Yes for the code (GPL-3.0); check each downloaded model's own licence.", "runs_on": "4 GB Nvidia VRAM and 8 GB RAM minimum; CPU-only needs 32 GB RAM.", "setup": "easy: Windows: unzip and run run.bat; first run downloads the SDXL models.", "github_stars": 53900, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2025-09-02", "last_release": "2024-08-12", "zekai_score": 7.1, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/fooocus/" }, { "name": "FLUX.1 open weights", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Apache-2.0", "best_for": "Open FLUX.1 weights from the model's makers", "difference": "FLUX.1 [schnell] weights are Apache-2.0, but [dev], Fill, Canny, Depth, Redux, Kontext and Krea [dev] weights carry a non-commercial licence unless you buy one from Black Forest Labs.", "website": "https://bfl.ai", "repository": "https://github.com/black-forest-labs/flux", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/flux-1-open-weights/", "commercial_use": "Code and [schnell] weights: yes. [dev] weights: non-commercial unless you license them.", "runs_on": "Python 3.10 environment; the README gives no VRAM figure; TensorRT setup is optional.", "setup": "hard: Clone, build a Python 3.10 venv, pip install, then fetch weights from Hugging Face.", "github_stars": 26100, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2025-07-31", "zekai_score": 5.7, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/flux-1-open-weights/" }, { "name": "HiDream-I1", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "MIT-licensed image model with three speed tiers", "difference": "HiDream-I1 releases code and model weights under MIT in Full (50 steps), Dev (28) and Fast (16) variants, but needs a separately licensed Llama 3.1 text encoder.", "website": "https://github.com/HiDream-ai/HiDream-I1", "repository": "https://github.com/HiDream-ai/HiDream-I1", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/hidream-i1/", "commercial_use": "Yes (MIT); the Llama 3.1 text encoder it downloads has its own licence.", "runs_on": "CUDA 12.4 and Flash Attention recommended; the README gives no VRAM figure.", "setup": "hard: Manual install, Flash Attention, and a gated Llama 3.1 download from Hugging Face.", "github_stars": 2500, "stars_checked": "2026-11-13", "last_commit": "2025-07-16", "zekai_score": 5, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/hidream-i1/" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "What is the best alternative to Midjourney in 2027?", "a": "Adobe Firefly is the best overall Midjourney alternative on this page ($9.99/mo). For no cost, Ideogram has a free plan (Weekly slow credits for eligible signed-in accounts). To self-host, ComfyUI is open source (GPL-3.0)." }, { "q": "Is there a free version of Midjourney?", "a": "No. Midjourney has no free plan; paid plans start at $10/mo, checked on 13 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to Midjourney?", "a": "Yes. ComfyUI, InvokeAI, SD.Next, SwarmUI, Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge, Fooocus, FLUX.1 open weights, HiDream-I1 are open source and free to self-host. Adobe Firefly, Ideogram, ChatGPT (image generation), Krea AI, Playground, Recraft have a free plan with limits, shown in the table." }, { "q": "What is cheaper than Midjourney?", "a": "Krea AI starts at $9/mo, against $10/mo for Midjourney, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 11 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "How much do Midjourney alternatives cost for a team of 5?", "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 13 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Krea AI $45/mo, Adobe Firefly $49.95/mo, Ideogram $75/mo, against Midjourney $50/mo for Midjourney. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size." }, { "q": "Which is better, Adobe Firefly or Midjourney?", "a": "Firefly bundles image, video and audio generation in one plan family, sold as monthly generative credits (2,000 on Standard), and offers team licences per seat for Pro tiers and above. Choose Adobe Firefly if you want credit-based plans with team licences and generation that sits next to other Adobe apps. Stay with Midjourney if you prefer Midjourney's own image style and community-driven workflow over a credit allowance shared across media types." }, { "q": "What is better than Midjourney?", "a": "It depends on the job. Ideogram and Recraft are aimed at typography and vector work, Adobe Firefly at Adobe workflows, and ComfyUI at local control. Midjourney remains the pick for its own image style." } ], "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.", "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/midjourney/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted." }