DALL·E 3 and Midjourney are two of the biggest AI art generators you can use right now. Both can take a text prompt and generate a series of matching images, no matter how weird or wild your request. While DALL·E 3 is the successor to DALL·E 2, the AI image model that kickstarted the generative AI boom, Midjourney offers far more powerful features.
I've been testing both of these image generators, both professionally and personally, since they were released, and there's a lot to unpack. So let's dive in.
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How do DALL·E 3 and Midjourney work?
Both DALL·E 3 and Midjourney were trained on millions or billions of text-image pairs, which allows them to comprehend concepts like dogs, deerstalker hats, and dark moody lighting. This is how they can parse what a prompt like "an impressionist oil painting of a Canadian man riding a moose through a forest of maple trees" is asking them to create.
When it comes to actually generating images, they use a process called diffusion. They start with a random field of noise and then, over a number of steps, edit it to better match their interpretation of your prompt. This is why you can get different results every time, even if you try the same prompt a second time: the randomness of the starting seed can totally change the end result. In a previous article comparing DALL·E 3 and Stable Diffusion, I described the process as kind of like looking up at a cloudy sky, finding a cloud that looks kind of like a dog, and then being able to snap your fingers to keep making it more and more dog-like. While there's more to it than that, it's not a bad way to think of things.
Of course, just because both models use the same technique to generate images, doesn't mean you're going to get similar results from both DALL·E and Midjourney. How each model interprets your prompt, the weight it puts on the various parameters, the data it was trained on, what kind of images it tries to recreate, and the philosophies of the companies responsible for developing it all massively affect what the output will look like.
Here's DALL·E 3's take on "an impressionist oil painting of a Canadian man riding a moose through a forest of maple trees."
And here's Midjourney's.
While there's a lot to unpack, by default, DALL·E 3 has only given me a single option while Midjourney has given me four to choose from. Of those four, I think all look more like an actual impressionist painting, and three of them are a better interpretation of the prompt.
I'll dive much deeper into these kinds of differences as we go, but if you're serious about generating AI images, Midjourney is probably the app for you.
DALL·E 3 vs. Midjourney at a glance
DALL·E 3 and Midjourney both do similar things, but there are some big differences. Here's a short summary of the major distinctions, but read on for a more detailed breakdown.
DALL·E 3 | Midjourney | |
|---|---|---|
Quality | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional AI-generated images, but defaults to a slightly unrealistic look | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional AI-generated images, but may occasionally miss key bits of a prompt |
Ease of use | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Collaborate with a chatbot | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Surprisingly easy-to-use web app |
Power and control | ⭐⭐ More limited editing options | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best-in-class prompting and editing options |
Both apps are easy to use
DALL·E 3 is available through ChatGPT, the Bing Image Creator, Microsoft Paint, and other services using its API. All offer a broadly similar experience, though there are some differences. ChatGPT includes an editor that allows you to adjust your image, while the Bing Image Creator generates four images by default and allows you to export them to Microsoft Designer.
ChatGPT is the most official option, the nicest to use, and has the most AI-focused feature set, so it's what I'll mostly focus on for this comparison. You need to be a ChatGPT Plus subscriber to access it in any meaningful way, though, so if you're not, check out one of the other free options.
Even though there are multiple ways to access DALL·E 3, the basics work much the same, and they're all incredibly simple: you just ask DALL·E 3 to create an image for you. If you have no idea what you want, there are a few suggestions for different styles to try—though they just add the keyword to your prompt.
It's also worth noting that DALL·E 3 enhances your prompts unless you explicitly tell it not to. In most situations, this will get you stronger images, but if you're looking for something specific, it can throw things off.
Midjourney works much the same way, though it still has a few quirks. Originally, the only way you could use it was through Discord, a team chat app, but you can now also log in with a Google account. Midjourney occasionally offers free trials but, for the most part, you need to sign up for a paid plan to use it. (We'll look at pricing properly a little later on.)
Once you're in, you just enter what you want Midjourney to create in the Imagine bar, and it will generate four options. Simple—at least until you start diving deeper into Midjourney's options.
Midjourney is a lot more powerful
Of all the image generators out there, Midjourney brings the most to the table—at least if you aren't prepared to train your own custom model.
This is an abbreviated list of some of the things you can do in Midjourney that you can't do in DALL·E 3:
Control how strongly Midjourney applies its default style, how weird it's allowed to be, and how much variety there is among your images.
Select from different versions of the Midjourney model, including one tailored for Anime style art.
Use images as the basis of a prompt, as a style reference, and as a character reference.
Take any generated image and create iterative variations with or without tweaking the prompt.
Expand any generated image in any direction, change its aspect ratio, or zoom out.
Create a personalized style by ranking images so Midjourney knows what you like.
And honestly, this is barely scratching the surface. Dig into Midjourney's help docs, and you'll find loads more ways you can prompt, tweak, combine, and otherwise get creative.
DALL·E 3 doesn't come close to matching this feature set, though its editing options have improved significantly since it first launched. Your first option is to ask ChatGPT to rerun a slightly different prompt with the changes you want made—which can be hit or miss.
Alternatively, you can use a select tool to edit specific areas of an image with a new prompt. (Though this is also something Midjourney can do—and does better.)
Neither option really gives you the level of control that Midjourney gives you, though they're nice to have and easy to use—especially if you don't have a super specific end result in mind.
Even the Bing tools that use DALL·E 3 don't give you many more options. The only ones of note are that Image Creator allows you to import your image directly into Microsoft Designer, and Paint allows you to generate images in the app, so you can edit them (or at least paint over the top).
Both make great AI-generated images
For all that, both DALL·E 3 and Midjourney are capable of creating incredible images. DALL·E 3 is quicker and simpler to use, but you have a lot less control over the results. Midjourney can get complicated quickly, but you have a lot more control over what things look like.
Still, there are a handful of differences worth noting. DALL·E 3, since it integrates with ChatGPT, does a really great job at interpreting prompts. It feels better able to handle both shorter prompts and longer, more complicated prompts.
It's not that Midjourney messes up very often, but it takes a lot more steering. I found that instead of writing long descriptions, it was more effective to give it a series of keywords.
Also, because it has such good editing options, I was much more willing to accept a less-than-ideal first image and then use remixing, variations, and the other tools to create a final image I was happy with.
Pricing depends on your needs
DALL·E 3's pricing is super simple: it costs $20/month as part of ChatGPT Plus, or it's available for free as part of different Microsoft tools, though some of them will watermark your images. As of now, it seems that there are no longer any limits to how many times you use DALL·E 3—though too many requests in quick succession will still probably get you cut off.
Midjourney has no free option, but the Basic Plan starts at $10/month and entitles you to 200 minutes of GPU time. Which, of course, is where things get complicated. Midjourney says that's good for roughly 200 generations a month, but it totally depends on what you're getting it to do. If you create lots of variations and upscale them all to the maximum amount, you'll burn through those GPU hours faster than if you create lots of low-res images.
And to make things more complicated, starting with the $30/month Standard plan, you get more fast GPU hours, but you can generate unlimited images in Relax mode—which only runs when there's free GPU power.
Given all the extra features both apps bring, I'm incredibly reluctant to make any judgments between DALL·E 3 and Midjourney based on price. If it meets your needs, the $10/month Midjourney plan is probably the best balance of features and price, but you can use DALL·E 3 for free through the Bing Image Creator, or for $20/month as part of ChatGPT Plus—which also has all of ChatGPT's language generation features.
Commercial use is complicated
If you're planning to use DALL·E 3 or Midjourney for commercial use, things get a bit complicated. Both models allow commercial use (although not if you use DALL·E 3 through Microsoft), but the full legal implications haven't really been explored.
In a ruling in February 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office decided that images created by Midjourney, and by extension, other generative AIs, can't be copyrighted. This means you have limited protections if someone takes your images and uses them in ways you don't want them to. Technically, using someone else's image goes against Midjourney's terms of service, but that's not exactly a very strong legal shield if you're trying to build a brand or create character designs using the app. The worst that Midjourney is likely to be able to do is ban whoever takes your images.
From a technical standpoint, I'd probably recommend Midjourney if you want to somehow monetize your AI creations, simply because its model gives you more freedom and you can use things like character references and style references to generate images that look consistent. DALL·E 3 will flat-out block you from creating a huge amount of content, including images of public figures.
Midjourney is still a bit weird
Midjourney used to be super transparent about how weird it was—you had to sign up through Discord, after all. Now that it's got a more sensible seeming website, it feels a bit more mainstream, though there is still an undercurrent of oddities.
For example, Midjourney is also a community. The Discord still exists, and you can see a reskinned version through the Chat section of the web app. And, unless you're on the $60/month Pro plan and activate Stealth Mode, all your images are automatically published to Midjourney's member gallery, where anyone can see them, download them, and copy your prompts. (This is where all the cool images you see as soon as you log into Midjourney come from.)
You can automate DALL·E
DALL·E connects to Zapier, which means you can use DALL·E directly from the apps you spend the most time in. For example, you can create images based on chat messages, database records, form responses, spreadsheet entries, or anything else—and send the image through to any other app you want. Learn more about how to automate AI image generation with Zapier, or get started with one of these pre-made workflows.
Create images with DALL.E based on Slack messages and send as a channel message
Generate images based on Google Form responses and save them in Google Sheets
Generate OpenAI (DALL.E) images from new Airtable records and send as an email
Zapier is a no-code automation tool that lets you connect your apps into automated workflows, so that every person and every business can move forward at growth speed. Learn more about how it works.
DALL·E vs. Midjourney: Which should you use?
The choice between DALL·E 3 and Midjourney should be relatively straightforward for most people:
If you want the best AI image generator currently available, want to be able to tweak and edit your images, and are happy to figure out how to get the most from it, Midjourney is a great choice.
If you want the easy option that reliably produces solid results, or you want to incorporate image generation into your existing workflows, DALL·E 3 is what you need.
Alternatively, you could also check out some of the other art generators—there are plenty to choose from.
Related reading:
This article was originally published in December 2023. The most recent update was in October 2024.
