DALL-E 3 vs Midjourney
- ✦ Natural language prompts
- ✦ Photorealistic images
- ✦ Illustration styles
- ✦ Text-to-image generation
- ✦ Multiple art styles
- ✦ Image upscaling
Midjourney wins for professional creative designers seeking artistic image synthesis starting at $10/mo. DALL-E 3 wins for content teams requiring rapid, text-to-visual asset production starting at $20/mo.
When to Choose DALL-E 3 vs Midjourney
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
Shopify merchandisers batch-regenerate backgrounds and lighting across SKUs monthly at ~$0.30/image through the inpainting endpoint - no reshoot costs.
Variation generation cycles through form factors and material finishes via the V buttons - no CAD software, no prototyping delay, just /imagine and iterate.
Natural language prompts enforce color palettes and component hierarchies in AI chat integration. Safety filters block off-brand outputs before design review.
Generate 16:9, 1:1, 9:16, and 4:5 hero images from a single prompt - test 30 visual variations across platforms before client sign-off.
Feed a reference image to lock visual DNA across 50-100 social assets weekly. Commercial usage rights cover all outputs with no licensing friction.
Run /imagine inside design review channels. Reaction-based voting cuts asset approval from 3 days to 4 hours with feedback and iterations in one thread.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified May 30, 2026
DALL-E 3 Plans
Paid plans only
Free ChatGPT DALL-E 3 Access
Free- ✓Limited DALL-E 3 access
Bing Image Creator DALL-E 3 Access
Free- ✓Free DALL-E 3 access
DALL-E 3 API (Standard, 1024x1024)
$0.04/image- ✓Generate standard quality images
DALL-E 3 API (Standard, 1792x1024/1024x1792)
$0.08/image- ✓Generate standard quality images
DALL-E 3 API (HD, 1024x1024)
$0.08/image- ✓Generate HD quality images
DALL-E 3 API (HD, 1792x1024/1024x1792)
$0.12/image- ✓Generate HD quality images
ChatGPT Plus
$20/moBest for: For $20/month, individuals get DALL-E 3 image generation alongside GPT-4 and GPT-4o access
- ✓Enhanced performance
- ✓Prioritized access
- ✓Generate high-quality images
Midjourney Plans
Paid plans only
Basic Plan
$10/moBest for: ~200 images/mo, 3.3 GPU hrs/mo, General commercial terms
- ✓3.3 Fast GPU hours per month
- ✓General commercial terms
- ✓Access to the member gallery
- ✓3 concurrent fast jobs
- ✓Purchase extra GPU hours ($4/hr)
Standard Plan
$30/moBest for: Unlimited relaxed generations, 15 GPU hrs/mo, Stealth mode
- ✓15 Fast GPU hours per month
- ✓Unlimited Relaxed GPU hours
- ✓General commercial terms
- ✓Access to the member gallery
- ✓3 concurrent fast jobs
Pro Plan
$60/moBest for: 30 GPU hrs/mo, Stealth mode, Max concurrent jobs
- ✓30 Fast GPU hours per month
- ✓Unlimited Relaxed GPU hours
- ✓Stealth Mode (hide images from gallery)
- ✓12 concurrent fast jobs
- ✓General commercial terms
Mega Plan
$120/mo- ✓60 Fast GPU hours per month
- ✓Unlimited Relaxed GPU hours
- ✓Stealth Mode (hide images from gallery)
- ✓12 concurrent fast jobs
- ✓General commercial terms
Capability Breakdown
1 differences found across 20 standardized features
- •Natural language prompts
- •Photorealistic images
- •Illustration styles
- •API access
- •ChatGPT integration
- •Safety filters
- •Multiple aspect ratios
- •Inpainting editor
- •Brand consistency
- •Batch generation
- •High resolution output
- •Content policy controls
- •Text-to-image generation
- •Multiple art styles
- •Image upscaling
- •Variation generation
- •Discord integration
- •Commercial usage rights
- •4K resolution output
- •Style reference images
- •Inpainting
- •Batch generation
- •Community gallery
- •Custom model training
- •Text-to-image generation
- •Multiple art styles
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
- +Superior prompt adherence; accurately renders complex scenes
- +Natively integrated with ChatGPT for conversational image creation
- +Excels at generating legible text and typography within images
- +Refine and iterate on images through simple follow-up chats
- +Included with ChatGPT Plus, offering high value for existing users
- −Strict content filters can block innocuous or artistic prompts
- −No fine-tuning controls like negative prompts or image weights
- −Generation can be slower compared to competitors like Midjourney
- −Usage is rate-limited within the ChatGPT Plus subscription
- −Cannot replicate or maintain consistent characters across images
- +Unmatched artistic and stylistic coherence in outputs
- +Highly opinionated aesthetic produces beautiful results easily
- +Simple, powerful prompting system requires less technical jargon
- +Vibrant Discord community for inspiration and collaboration
- +Consistent, rapid model updates and feature releases
- −Requires a Discord account, no native web or mobile app
- −Steeper learning curve for precise control over image elements
- −In-painting and out-painting tools are less advanced than competitors
- −No free trial; all plans are paid after initial credits
- −Struggles with generating consistent, legible text within images
At a Glance
Recent Price History
DALL-E 3 removed the "DALL-E 3 API (HD)" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
DALL-E 3 removed the "DALL-E 3 API (Standard)" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
DALL-E 3 removed the "ChatGPT Enterprise" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
DALL-E 3 removed the "ChatGPT Team" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
DALL-E 3 added a new "Bing Image Creator DALL-E 3 Access" plan at $0/mo (Free)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Midjourney removed the "Pro" plan
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
Midjourney removed the "Standard" plan
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
Midjourney removed the "Basic" plan
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
Midjourney added a new "Mega Plan" plan at $120/mo
Plan added · May 21, 2026
Midjourney added a new "Pro Plan" plan at $60/mo
Plan added · May 21, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Sources & Data Trail · DALL-E 3
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.5/5 · 52 reviews
- 4.Capterra·Capterra verified reviews · 4.4/5
Sources & Data Trail · Midjourney
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-21)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.4/5 · 100 reviews