Pick Midjourney if…
the image is the finished piece — art, illustration, moodboards — and photoreal or painterly quality matters most.
These two overlap less than their categories suggest. Midjourney makes stylised raster images for concept art and moodboards. Recraft is built for designers who need editable vector graphics, icons and brand-consistent assets — though its photorealistic output trails Midjourney's.
Pick Midjourney ($10/mo) for illustration, concept art and mood imagery. Pick Recraft AI ($12/mo) for logos, icons and brand graphics you'll keep editing as vectors — it also keeps generations private and grants full commercial rights from its cheapest plan.
| App | Free tier | Paid from | Top plan | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney | No | $10/mo | $120/mo | Concept art, illustration, moodboards, stylized brand imagery |
| Recraft AI | Yes | $12/mo | $22/mo | Designers and brand teams who need editable vector graphics, icons, and illustrations, not just raster art |
Monthly prices in US dollars before tax, from each vendor's official pricing (US list price; weekly-billed plans converted to a monthly figure). Updated November 2, 2026
| Midjourney | Recraft AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Output | Raster images and short video clips | Editable vectors, icons and raster images |
| Free tier | None | 50 credits/day (~1,500/mo), public, no commercial use |
| Entry plan | ~200 image generations/mo, general commercial terms | 1,000 credits/mo, full commercial rights |
| Private generations | From Pro (stealth mode) | From Basic |
| Teams | Mega, aimed at teams | Per-seat Teams plan with shared workspace |
the image is the finished piece — art, illustration, moodboards — and photoreal or painterly quality matters most.
you produce icons, logos or illustration sets that need to stay editable and on-brand across a design system.
For vector and brand work, yes — that's what it's built for, and Recraft V3 topped the Artificial Analysis text-to-image leaderboard in October 2024. For photorealism and pure aesthetics, Midjourney is ahead.
Recraft: private generations start on Basic ($12/mo). Midjourney images stay public until Pro ($60/mo).
Yes, 50 credits a day, but generations are public and can't be used commercially. Midjourney has no free tier.
How we choose: prices come from each vendor's official pricing page and are re-checked every week. We take no affiliate fees, so rankings aren't for sale.