1.3 – Choosing a Subscription Lesson

Lesson Overview

Midjourney offers a set of subscription plans to access its AI-powered image creation tools, each targeted toward a different level of usage. While a small free trial is sometimes available, full usage always requires a paid plan. This lesson walks you through each of the four options: Basic, Standard, Pro, and Mega—focusing on practical differences in how many images you can generate, how quickly you can process requests, and what special features are included for higher-tier users.

Understanding these differences helps you avoid running out of image credits mid-project or paying for capacity you don’t need. Whether you’re an aspiring digital artist, a marketer making visuals for campaigns, or a content creator experimenting with Midjourney, matching the right subscription to your expected workflow is key. Many users start with the Basic plan to get a feel for the service and upgrade as their needs grow. Others may jump to Standard for unlimited relaxed mode or Pro for bigger, more frequent projects. By the end, you’ll know how to select and activate the right plan so you can focus on creative work, not account limits.

Who This Is For

If you’re deciding which Midjourney plan to start with or need to adjust as your projects grow, this lesson is for you.

• New users curious about AI art generation
• Freelancers and solo creators testing Midjourney for design work
• Small business owners or marketers seeking reliable visual content tools
• Artists or educators needing more than the free trial can provide
• Anyone wanting to compare plans before committing to a subscription

Where This Fits in a Workflow

Selecting a subscription is one of the first decisions you’ll face after creating your Midjourney account. Before you begin generating images for a creative campaign, a branding refresh, or an educational project, you need to ensure your plan won’t interrupt your progress. For example, if a teacher plans to make multiple visuals for a lesson series, they might outgrow the Basic plan quickly and need Standard for unlimited relaxed mode. If you’re regularly producing batches of images for social media or client work, comparing concurrent job limits and processing hours upfront saves you from later roadblocks. Setting up your subscription is the step that moves you from experimenting to productive use.

Technical & Workflow Benefits

Choosing the right subscription replaces guesswork and avoids workflow disruptions that come from running out of fast generation time or being forced to purchase extra hours unexpectedly. In earlier versions, users depended on a very limited free trial, leading to frequent interruptions. Now, knowing the difference between “fast” mode (quick turnaround, limited hours) and “relaxed” mode (slower, unlimited with Standard and higher) lets you pace your creative process for speed or volume as needed. For instance, a marketing agency that handles multiple client accounts receives smoother output with higher-tier plans that support more concurrent jobs and fast image generation, while occasional users save by sticking with Basic. This tailored approach increases productivity and predictability in all sorts of creative workflows.

Practice Exercise

Try applying this lesson by imagining you want to use Midjourney to create images for a small upcoming project, such as a month’s worth of social media posts or custom artwork for a presentation.

1. Write down how many unique images you’d likely need in a month, and whether a fast turnaround (minutes) is needed for any of them.
2. Using the features described above, match your project needs to one of the four subscription plans: Basic, Standard, Pro, or Mega.
3. If you needed to change your plan later, which features or limits would push you to upgrade?

Reflect on what matters most for your workflow: cost, speed, or unlimited generation. Is there a plan that stands out as “just right” for now and the near term?

Course Context Recap

This lesson is part of the early setup phase of the Midjourney Mastery course, helping you choose the plan that will support your creative learning and output goals. Previously, you learned how to create your Midjourney account. Next, you’ll move on to the core creative process: learning basic and advanced prompting to generate your first images. Continue through the course to build both confidence and skill in image creation with Midjourney.