Independent verdicts on paid AI plans. Prices re-checked every day. We may earn a commission from "Visit" links. How we make money
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Comparison · prices checked every day

Midjourney vs Leonardo.Ai: which is worth paying for?

The current plans and our verdict on each tool, side by side. Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page and are checked every day.

The short answer

Choose Midjourney if…

  • you need the highest quality spectacle and don't mind paying $10/month for Midjourney's Basic Plan to access it.
  • you want unlimited Relax mode images and Stealth mode for $30/month with Midjourney's Standard Plan.

Choose Leonardo.Ai if…

  • you want to start for free with Leonardo.Ai's Free plan, which gives you 150 Fast Tokens per day.
  • you need high volume generation at $30/month with Leonardo.Ai's Premium Plan, which provides 25,000 Fast Tokens.

Bottom line: Choose Midjourney for top-tier artistic quality, or Leonardo.Ai for a free tier and flexible token limits.

Key differences

  • Midjourney has no free plan, while Leonardo.Ai offers a Free plan with 150 Fast Tokens per day. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (leonardo.ai), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓
  • Midjourney's Basic Plan costs $10/month for 3.3 hours of Fast GPU time. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (docs.midjourney.com), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓
  • Leonardo.Ai's Essential Plan costs $12/month for 8,500 Fast Tokens. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (leonardo.ai), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓
  • Midjourney's Standard Plan costs $30/month for 15 hours of Fast GPU time and unlimited Relax mode images. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (docs.midjourney.com), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓
  • Leonardo.Ai's Premium Plan costs $30/month for 25,000 Fast Tokens. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (leonardo.ai), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓
  • Midjourney's Pro Plan costs $60/month for 30 hours of Fast GPU time, unlimited Relax mode, SD video, and Stealth mode. plan list checked by handSource · owner-checked plan listPlan list checked by hand (docs.midjourney.com), checked Sep 28, 2026.Go to sources ↓

Plans and limits side by side

PlansMidjourneyLeonardo.Ai
Free planNo free planFree $0Fast Tokens 150 / day
Paid plansBasic Plan $10/mo or $96/yrFast GPU time 3.3 hr/month, Relax mode Not includedStandard Plan $30/mo or $288/yrFast GPU time 15 hr/month, Relax mode Unlimited imagesPro Plan $60/mo or $576/yrFast GPU time 30 hr/month, Relax mode Unlimited images and SD video, Stealth mode IncludedMega Plan $120/mo or $1,152/yrFast GPU time 60 hr/month, Relax mode Unlimited images and SD video, Stealth mode IncludedEssential $12/moFast Tokens 8,500 / monthPremium $30/moFast Tokens 25,000 / monthUltimate $60/moFast Tokens 60,000 / month

From each vendor's own pricing page · Midjourney checked Sep 28, 2026 · Leonardo.Ai checked Sep 28, 2026.

Our tests

We have tested Leonardo.Ai (the free tier, hands-on in the app) but not Midjourney yet, so there is no head-to-head score. Leonardo.Ai's results are on its own page.

What users say

Midjourney

Reddit users often praise Midjourney for its superior quality, with one reviewer calling it the "King at Creating Spectacle" RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/midjourney, posted Jan 14, 2026See the report ↓. Another user called the results mind-blowing, with sharp clarity and coherent lines RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/midjourney, posted Jan 19, 2026See the report ↓. Some users find it valuable for art direction and visual vocabulary RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/midjourney, posted May 12, 2026See the report ↓. However, others note that getting specific results can take hours of iterating over prompts HNUser report · negative · Hacker NewsPosted Jun 28, 2026See the report ↓.

Reports cited (4)
  1. Positive · Reddit · r/midjourney · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Midjourney is still King at Creating Spectacle
  2. Positive · Reddit · r/midjourney · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Eldritch ruins... Midjourney really is something else, huh. I specifically requested no meaningless or decorative details, no clutter. Sharp clarity and unified coherent lines only. So the result... it's fucking mind-blowing. I zoomed in and was genuinely shocked. Awesome tools..
  3. Positive · Reddit · r/midjourney · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Midjourney made me realize I had ideas, just not visual vocabulary I thought I was “bad at visual ideas,” Midjourney made me realize it wasn’t really the problem. Problem was that I had feelings, references, and vague images in my head, but almost no vocabulary . …
  4. Negative · Hacker News · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    … I've used to create abstract art/(or "images that look like abstract art" if you prefer - let's not get distracted by this branch of the discourse) using midjourney: getting the AI to output something worthwhile would usually take me hours of iterating over a prompt - entering a feedback loop …

Leonardo.Ai

Users appreciate Leonardo.Ai for specific tasks like creating indie game assets and merch mock-ups RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Jun 30, 2026See the report ↓ RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Mar 14, 2026See the report ↓. Some find the motion features useful for short movies RedditUser report · positive · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Apr 22, 2026See the report ↓. However, there are complaints about billing and limits; one user reported losing a large token balance after their account expired because unused tokens were wiped RedditUser report · negative · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Apr 30, 2026See the report ↓. Another user noted that retroactive content moderation deleted images from their collection without refunding tokens RedditUser report · negative · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Feb 28, 2026See the report ↓. UI changes and subscription issues via the Android app were also mentioned RedditUser report · negative · Redditr/leonardoai, posted Feb 18, 2026See the report ↓ RedditUser report · negative · Redditr/leonardoai, posted May 12, 2026See the report ↓.

Reports cited (7)
  1. Positive · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Thank you Leonardo AI! My indie game just reached 3,500+ players in its first month 🎉 Just wanted to say thank you to Leonardo AI. …
  2. Positive · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Merch Mock-up Images | Leonardo.Ai The first image was made using the Merch Mock up Blueprint. The others were made using the first one to create a prompt using describe with AI, and Nano Banana Pro. I love how they turned out.
  3. Positive · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    … Hope this video is something that is enjoyable :-) Credits: Short Movie: "Cyberspace dreams of a surreal future" Visuals created by: ChatGPT & Leonardo.Ai With heavy use of Leonardo's motion features. Track used: Low Entropy - Spaceflight 11:01 AM 22.04.2026
  4. Negative · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Lost $200+ in Leonardo AI tokens after account expired... seriously? I finally got back into my old account just to find out all my unused tokens are gone because my subscription ended. Apparently once it expires, they wipe everything. …
  5. Negative · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    Retroactive content moderation, no token refund Recently, multiple images that I generated that finally passed the crazy overboard content moderation and that I added to collections already have suddenly been deleted from my collection and the tokens were not refunded. The images werent even NSFW. …
  6. Negative · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    What happened to Leonardo Ai? I recently returned to Leonardo AI after two months to get some work done. And at first I thought that I entered the wrong site, but I did not. I am so taken aback by the ui changes and stuff. …
  7. Negative · Reddit · r/leonardoai · · Open thread ↗ ↩ text
    … Finally started using the Android version of Leonardo.ai and got an offer for 50% off a yearly subscription. Ok, that sounds good. However when I try to pay for it on the app it says pretty much "Your subscription is not done through the Play Store. Go to where you subscribed". Ok, no problemo. …

Questions people ask

Does Midjourney have a free plan?

No, Midjourney has no free plan.

What is the cheapest paid plan for Midjourney?

Midjourney's Basic Plan costs $10/month.

Does Leonardo.Ai have a free plan?

Yes, Leonardo.Ai has a Free plan with 150 Fast Tokens per day.

What is the cheapest paid plan for Leonardo.Ai?

Leonardo.Ai's Essential Plan costs $12/month.

Sources

Drafted with AI from these pages, our tests and the linked user reports, and checked automatically against them before publishing: every price, score and report above is tied to the tool it is about.

Midjourney

Leonardo.Ai

Each tool's verdict and plans

Midjourney

DEPENDS DEPENDS — worth it for some people

Midjourney has no free plan; pay for quality and volume, but cheaper alternatives exist for budget users.

Based on pricing, docs & user reports — not yet tested by us

Cheapest paid
$10/mo
What's free
None
Our test score
—

Basic Plan

$10/mo

or $96/yr

Standard Plan

$30/mo

or $288/yr

Pro Plan

$60/mo

or $576/yr

Mega Plan

$120/mo

or $1,152/yr

Leonardo.Ai

DEPENDS DEPENDS — worth it for some people Re-checking after a price change

Leonardo's free tier nails the tested image tasks, so light users don't need to pay; subscribers mainly pay for higher monthly token caps.

Tested by us on Sep 30, 2026 · with user reports

Cheapest paid
$12/mo
What's free
$0
Our test score
10.0/10

Our test (hands-on): free tier 10.0/10, as of Sep 30, 2026

Free

$0

Essential

$12/mo

Premium

$30/mo

Ultimate

$60/mo

How we make money

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