Midjourney remains the gold standard for AI imagery 4 years after launch. v7 (April 2026) brought dramatic coherence improvements and the best text rendering of any image model. The community is the deepest, the aesthetic is unmatched, and the web app finally works without Discord.
What is Midjourney?
Midjourney is an independent AI image generation service. You prompt with text, optionally add reference images, and get back 4 variants in ~60 seconds. v7 added Draft Mode for fast iteration, improved text rendering, and character consistency across generations.
Why we recommend it
- Best-in-class image quality ? leads on every public benchmark
- v7 coherence: hands, text, reflections all dramatically better than v6
- Web app fully launched ? no Discord requirement anymore
- Style reference + character reference for consistency
- 25% per sale with 60-day cookie ? strong second-tier program
The good & the bad
What works great
- Aesthetic quality: still leads SDXL and DALL-E in pure visual taste
- v7 text rendering: finally legible on signs, logos, posters
- Character consistency: --cref works for storyboards and branding
- Web app: no more Discord, inpainting and pan/zoom built-in
- Community: largest AI art community, daily inspiration
Where it struggles
- No free tier: must subscribe to test (Basic $10/mo minimum)
- GPU hours during peak: faster at off-hours
- Style drift: aesthetic "Midjourney look" is recognizable, harder to escape
- No API parity: web-only, no programmatic access yet
Final verdict
Should you Midjourney?
If you generate any imagery for work, Midjourney v7 is the default. The 60-day cookie is generous, and 25% per sale compounds well ? most users stay subscribed for 6+ months. The biggest barrier is the lack of free trial.