Midjourney V8.2
Paid image tool for a distinctive look; no blind leaderboard ranks it, and images are public below the $60 Pro plan.
Should you use it?
Pick it if
Artists and designers who care most about a distinctive look and will pay a subscription.
Best for: Artists and designers who want a distinctive look and will pay for it (AI apps Top 20)
Skip it if
You need an API, private images on a budget, or exact prompt following.
You give up: No API; your images are public unless you pay at least $60 a month
The short version
- What this is
- Midjourney's current default image model, used through its website and Discord on a monthly subscription.
- Why it matters
- Midjourney is one of the best known image tools; this tells you what you get for the money and the privacy trade-off.
- Default Midjourney model since 24 July 2026; plans from $10 a month, no free plan.
- Not on any blind leaderboard, so we can't score it against GPT Image or Nano Banana.
- Images are public unless you pay for Pro or Mega.
Good at
Our take
Midjourney is the one big image tool that never shows up in the blind arenas, because it has no public API s4 s5. That means we can't say how V8.2 compares with GPT Image 2.5 or Nano Banana 2.1, and we won't guess.
What we can say: it costs at least $10 a month with no free plan, and anything you make is public and remixable unless you pay $60 a month or more for Stealth mode s2 s3. If you want a specific look and are happy with that trade, it's worth a month. If you want to compare first, Nano Banana 2.1 is free to try in the Gemini app.
Not scored yet
This is a First look: the call above comes from the maker's own pages, so there is no score yet. Once arena.ai or Artificial Analysis lists it in a blind image arena. Midjourney has no public API, so that may not happen.
Images
New to this? What the scores and labels mean
- 0 to 100
- Our score for one job, like writing or coding, compared with everything else out today. 100 is the best available today. For AI models we build it from public data, such as Arena's blind votes and Epoch AI's independent tests; apps and tools are scored on our own checklist. The same tool can score differently for different jobs, and where two likely ranges overlap, we call it a tie.
- Our verdict
- Use it: a top choice for most people. Worth trying: good, and worth a go. Depends: good for some people or one kind of job. Wait: too early to tell, or not out for everyone yet. Skip: something else does the job better.
- First look
- Just released. We say what it is and whether to bother, and give it a score once public results exist.
- No score yet
- None of the public sources we use covers it yet, or the only evidence is from a source whose numbers we can't use, so we describe it in words instead.
- Best buy
- Nothing cheaper scores as well for that job.
- Best free
- The best score for that job that costs nothing, through a free plan or by running on your own computer.
- Pay as you go
- No monthly plan: you pay for each use, usually through a developer account.
- Checked
- The day we last confirmed the score and the price against the sources. Prices change often, so check the date.
- AI model
- The engine underneath, like GPT or Claude. You use it through an app or, if you code, directly.
- Open source
- Free to download and run on your own computer, so nothing leaves your machine.
Alternatives
Better or cheaper for images, from our scores, then the ones we'd also look at. The same kind of product comes first.
- GPT Image 2.5 SunburstTop scoredImage model100Pay as you goScores 100 in images, first in our ranking; price not checked. The top scorer on blind image arenas, with an API. Side by side
- Nano Banana 2.1CheaperImage model73FreeScores 73 in images for free, against $10 a month here. Top 6 on blind image arenas and free to try in the Gemini app. Side by side
Evidence
Everything behind the call and the scores, folded so the page stays short. Spotted a wrong price, score or link? Report a mistake.
How we scored this
Reviews are drafted with help from AI models, including Anthropic's Claude. Model scores come only from outside leaderboards and independent evaluations, by a written rule.
No one paid for this review or gave us free access, and we earn nothing if you sign up. How we score
Sources 5
- s1Midjourney docs: Version (models)
- s2Midjourney docs: Comparing Midjourney Plans
- s3Midjourney Terms of Service
- s4arena.ai Text to Image leaderboard
- s5Artificial Analysis text-to-image leaderboard
Something here out of date or wrong? Report a mistake and we will check it against the source.
History 3 changes
Every change to a rating, the price or our call, with the reason. Scores are against what exists on the day, so they drift down as better things ship. Older entries come from before we moved to scores.
- First look. Not on any independent image leaderboard, so no rating.
- Audit: verdict line reworded to drop a subjective claim and name the Pro price.
- Re-checked Artificial Analysis text-to-image (168 models): V8, V8.1 and V8.2 are not listed, only v7 Alpha (rank 115) and v6 versions, so still not rated.
Use it well 3 guides on this site
Pages on this site that help with the jobs above.