# Midjourney Alternatives 2027: 15 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/midjourney/
Prices checked: 2026-11-13 (Zekai Price Ledger)

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 | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney (the tool being replaced) | — | $10/mo | No | — | — | 2026-11-13 | [pricing](https://www.midjourney.com/pricing) |
| Adobe Firefly | Free plan + paid | $9.99/mo | Free daily generations; no numeric limit listed | — | Image, video and audio generation in Adobe's ecosystem | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://firefly.adobe.com) [pricing](https://www.adobe.com/products/firefly/plans.html) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/adobe-firefly/) |
| Ideogram | Free plan + paid | $15/mo | Weekly slow credits for eligible signed-in accounts | — | Typography-led images with a cheap entry plan | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://ideogram.ai) [pricing](https://ideogram.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/ideogram/) |
| ChatGPT (image generation) | Free plan + paid | $20/mo | Image creation marked Limited | — | Images made inside a general chat assistant | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://chatgpt.com/) [pricing](https://openai.com/chatgpt/pricing/) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/chatgpt/) |
| Krea AI | Free plan + paid | $9/mo | 100 compute units a day | — | Cheapest paid plan with a daily free tier | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.krea.ai) [pricing](https://www.krea.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/krea-ai/) |
| Playground | Free plan + paid | $15/mo | 5 images every 3 hours, 2 downloads a day | — | Design-style image editing with a free tier | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://playground.com) [pricing](https://playgroundai.com/design/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/playground/) |
| Black Forest Labs (FLUX) | Paid | from $0.014 per megapixel (API) | No free plan | — | Developers calling image models by API | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://bfl.ai) [pricing](https://bfl.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/black-forest-labs-flux/) |
| Recraft | Free | Free plan; paid price not published | Free plan images not licensed for commercial use | — | Vector graphics and reusable custom styles | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.recraft.ai) [pricing](https://www.recraft.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/recraft/) |
| ComfyUI | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-3.0 | Node-graph pipelines for any open model |  | [site](https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI) [code](https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/comfyui/) |
| InvokeAI | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Self-hosted image studio under Apache-2.0 |  | [site](https://invoke.ai) [code](https://github.com/invoke-ai/InvokeAI) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/invokeai/) |
| SD.Next | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Many GPU types and dozens of models |  | [site](https://github.com/vladmandic/sdnext) [code](https://github.com/vladmandic/sdnext) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/sd-next/) |
| SwarmUI | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Web UI for Stable Diffusion, Flux and video models |  | [site](https://github.com/mcmonkeyprojects/SwarmUI) [code](https://github.com/mcmonkeyprojects/SwarmUI) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/swarmui/) |
| Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | AGPL-3.0 | Familiar Stable Diffusion WebUI layout with leaner memory use |  | [site](https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forge) [code](https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forge) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/stable-diffusion-webui-forge/) |
| Fooocus | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | GPL-3.0 | Prompt-first SDXL generation, Midjourney-style |  | [site](https://github.com/lllyasviel/Fooocus) [code](https://github.com/lllyasviel/Fooocus) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/fooocus/) |
| FLUX.1 open weights | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Open FLUX.1 weights from the model's makers |  | [site](https://bfl.ai) [code](https://github.com/black-forest-labs/flux) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/flux-1-open-weights/) |
| HiDream-I1 | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | MIT-licensed image model with three speed tiers |  | [site](https://github.com/HiDream-ai/HiDream-I1) [code](https://github.com/HiDream-ai/HiDream-I1) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/hidream-i1/) |

## How each alternative compares with Midjourney

- **Adobe Firefly** (Free plan + paid, $9.99/mo, checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch 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.
- **Ideogram** (Free plan + paid, $15/mo, checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch if you want private generation and character consistency in a plan that starts at a lower monthly price. Stay with Midjourney if you need Midjourney's established workflow and do not want a slow-credit queue on the free tier.
- **ChatGPT (image generation)** (Free plan + paid, $20/mo, checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch if you already pay for ChatGPT and want to iterate on images by conversation rather than prompt parameters. Stay with Midjourney if you want a dedicated image workspace instead of a chat assistant whose image allowance depends on your plan tier.
- **Krea AI** (Free plan + paid, $9/mo, checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch if you want a daily-refreshing free allowance and the lowest-priced paid tier among hosted generators. Stay with Midjourney if you would rather buy one subscription for image work than manage per-model compute-unit costs and daily caps.
- **Playground** (Free plan + paid, $15/mo, checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch if you want a free tier that refreshes every few hours and a design-editor layout around the images. Stay with Midjourney if you generate heavily and cannot work within a download cap or waits after hitting the free limits.
- **Black Forest Labs (FLUX)** (Paid, from $0.014 per megapixel (API), checked 2026-11-11): 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. Switch if you build image generation into your own product and want to pay per output instead of a monthly plan. Stay with Midjourney if you want a ready-made web interface and flat monthly pricing rather than metering each generation through an API.
- **Recraft** (Free, Free plan; paid price not published): 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. Switch if you need vector output or a reusable brand style built from your own uploaded images. Stay with Midjourney if you want photographic or painterly output rather than vector graphics and style tooling aimed at design work.
- **ComfyUI** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want full control of the pipeline and models on your own hardware, with no per-image subscription. Stay with Midjourney if you want finished-looking images from a short prompt without building node graphs or managing models and a GPU.
- **InvokeAI** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want a permissively licensed local studio and need to know the VRAM each model requires first. Stay with Midjourney if you cannot spare a GPU with 8 GB or more of VRAM, or the disk space for large model files.
- **SD.Next** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you have a non-Nvidia GPU or a Mac and want one interface covering many model families. Stay with Midjourney if you do not want to pick backends, offload settings and model families yourself.
- **SwarmUI** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want an MIT-licensed web interface for Stable Diffusion and Flux with a script installer. Stay with Midjourney if you do not want to run a beta-stage local app or choose models yourself.
- **Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you already know the Stable Diffusion WebUI layout and want a one-click Windows package. Stay with Midjourney if you want a tool updated every week rather than one whose latest commit dates from mid-2025.
- **Fooocus** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want a prompt-first interface on SDXL and accept a bug-fix-only project. Stay with Midjourney if you want new model families and features rather than a frozen SDXL-only tool.
- **FLUX.1 open weights** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want the original FLUX.1 weights to run yourself and can work with schnell under Apache-2.0. Stay with Midjourney if you need the [dev] models for paid work and do not want to buy a separate commercial licence.
- **HiDream-I1** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): 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. Switch if you want MIT-licensed image weights and can accept the Llama 3.1 licence for the text encoder. Stay with Midjourney if you do not want to log in to Hugging Face, accept extra licences and run command-line scripts.

## Open-source options in detail

- **ComfyUI** (https://github.com/comfyanonymous/ComfyUI): Licence: GPL-3.0; 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.; Last commit: 2026-11-13; Last release: 2026-11-10; GitHub stars: 147,000 (2026-11-13)
- **InvokeAI** (https://github.com/invoke-ai/InvokeAI): Licence: Apache-2.0; 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.; Last commit: 2026-11-12; Last release: 2026-11-09; GitHub stars: 29,100 (2026-11-13)
- **SD.Next** (https://github.com/vladmandic/sdnext): Licence: Apache-2.0; 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.; Last commit: 2026-10-29; GitHub stars: 7,400 (2026-11-13)
- **SwarmUI** (https://github.com/mcmonkeyprojects/SwarmUI): Licence: MIT; 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.; Last commit: 2026-11-12; Last release: 2026-02-06; GitHub stars: 4,800 (2026-11-13)
- **Stable Diffusion WebUI Forge** (https://github.com/lllyasviel/stable-diffusion-webui-forge): Licence: AGPL-3.0; 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.; Last commit: 2025-06-26; Last release: 2024-07-22; GitHub stars: 13,100 (2026-11-13)
- **Fooocus** (https://github.com/lllyasviel/Fooocus): Licence: GPL-3.0; 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.; Last commit: 2025-09-02; Last release: 2024-08-12; GitHub stars: 53,900 (2026-11-13)
- **FLUX.1 open weights** (https://github.com/black-forest-labs/flux): Licence: Apache-2.0; 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.; Last commit: 2025-07-31; GitHub stars: 26,100 (2026-11-13)
- **HiDream-I1** (https://github.com/HiDream-ai/HiDream-I1): Licence: MIT; 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.; Last commit: 2025-07-16; GitHub stars: 2,500 (2026-11-13)

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Midjourney in 2027?
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).

### Is there a free version of Midjourney?
No. Midjourney has no free plan; paid plans start at $10/mo, checked on 13 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Midjourney?
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.

### What is cheaper than Midjourney?
Krea AI starts at $9/mo, against $10/mo for Midjourney, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 11 Nov 2026.

### How much do Midjourney alternatives cost for a team of 5?
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.

### Which is better, Adobe Firefly or Midjourney?
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.

### What is better than Midjourney?
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.

## Related on Zekai

- [Adobe Firefly alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/adobe-firefly/)
- [Ideogram alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/ideogram/)
- [ChatGPT (image generation) alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/chatgpt/)
- [Krea AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/krea-ai/)
- [FLUX (Black Forest Labs) alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/flux-ai/)
- [Leonardo.ai alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/leonardo-ai/)
- [NightCafe alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/nightcafe/)
- [Stable Diffusion alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/stable-diffusion/)
- [Generative AI for Graphic Designers & Creative Arts](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-graphic-design-creative-tools/)

---
Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/midjourney/