We recently began exploring the world of AI art with Midjourney and what we have come across is fascinating. It’s like having your personal Leonardo da Vinci or Van Gogh creating art for you on your command, but better. Midjourney is a dynamic online AI tool that can bring anything from your imagination to the screen no matter how surreal or abstract it may be. If you are new to AI art, Midjourney is undoubtedly the most popular and best-rated AI art generator for creating stunning and hyperrealistic visual art.
Unfortunately, Midjourney has put an end to its freemium model. Now users have to pay a minimum subscription fee of $10 to use their services. Even though there are very few AI art generators that come close to Midjourney’s rendering capabilities, there are some that are exceptionally good and sometimes even outperform midjourney. And the best part…..they all offer a freemium model. So you don’t have to worry about spending money to start your creative art journey. Having said that, here are the 5 best Midjourney alternatives (tried and tested) that you can actually use for free.
Playground AI
Playground AI is undoubtedly the worthy successor of Midjourney which generates AI HYPERREALISTIC images in response to textual instructions or prompts. The best part about this AI image generator is it’s free to use. This platform offers users a variety of filters to assist users in achieving the best possible image output for their prompt no matter how absurd or unthinkable it may be. Previously, Playground AI permitted users to generate 1000 images daily. However, following the latest 2024 update, users with a free account can now generate up to 500 images per day. This adjustment still offers a solid starting point if you are starting your visual art projects.
What makes playground AI the preferred choice for AI art generation is its user-friendly interface and multiple filters that make the image generated more visually stunning. Additionally, it has a large community of digital art enthusiasts where users share their artwork, follow fellow prompt artists, and creatively edit and remix images generated by others.
Features
- Powered by diverse AI models, such as DALL-E2 and Stable Diffusion 1.5 & 2.0, enabling the creation of hyperrealistic images based on text prompts
- Offers a free commercial license for each generated image, allowing commercial use without additional hassle.
- User-friendly interface with dynamic features, making it accessible for beginners in AI art to achieve impressive results using preset filters
- Allow users to generate up to 500 images per day for free
Pricing
- The paid plan, starting at $12 per month, provides access to generating up to 1,000 images daily using Stable Diffusion. This plan offers no limit on image dimensions and faster image generation speeds.
Bing Image Creator
Bing Image Creator is another popular free AI image generator that is powered by the next-generation AI model DALL-E and produces high-quality AI visual art based on textual prompts. It is free to use. All you need is a Microsoft account and you can start your AI art journey and create stunning images just by describing what you want. Users can also expand their prompt by providing additional contexts, such as location, activity, or art style, to automatically generate the best possible image.
However, there are some limitations. Bing Image Creator has a strict NSFW filter in place to prevent users from generating harmful or inappropriate images. The system doesn’t accept vulgar, harmful, or explicit prompts for generating 18+ images, and images depicting public figures, violence, or hate speech.
Even though it is a fantastic AI art generator, Image Creator has some slight drawbacks. As it is free to use, users can generate 25 images without any speed cap. This means you can create high-quality images in no time. But once you generate 25 images, you won’t get quick output results and you need to wait a while before your image is generated.
You can use this tool with a Microsoft account via Bing.com/Create, Bing Chat, or the Microsoft Edge browser.
Features
- Unlimited image creation with DALL-E AI model, offering high-quality realistic images with fine details and upscaling options
- All ai generated images can be used commercially
- Integrated with the Bing chatbot
- Create original images based on natural language descriptions
- No limits on quality
- Faster image generation
Pricing
- Bing Image Creator is free to use for all Microsoft account users.
Adobe Firefly
Adobe Firefly is going to be the most exciting AI-powered Complete toolkit in 2024 that will be widely used by content creators. This is bringing a paradigm shift in the world of content creation, be it with generative fill, AI image generation, text-to-image, and almost anything that you need for starting or enhancing your content making journey.
From rapidly conceptualizing visual ideas to quickly iterating and illustrating concepts for clients, Firefly streamlines the creative process drastically. It boasts various features, including in-painting extensions, Smart Portrait, and the ability to create and manipulate 3D images effortlessly.
Moreover, Firefly offers diverse options for creating graphics, manipulating images, and enhancing videos. Users can generate custom music, soundtracks, and sound effects based on visual content. The tool even allows for the creation of color grades using text commands, simplifying the editing process significantly.
Just like Midjourney, with simple text prompts, you can generate images, add or remove objects, transform text, and do so much more. Although some of the exciting tools are still in development, Adobe has announced that beta users will be able to try out these tools in 2024.
Features
- Create photorealistic images with text-to-image prompts using natural language.
- Use generative fill to easily edit images by using a brush to remove any objects in the image or paint in new ones
- You can create color grades using text commands and generate color variations of your vector artwork
- User-friendly interface with dynamic features all integrated with Photoshop
- Free to use for all Adobe users
Pricing
- Adobe Firefly is free to use
DALL-E 3
DALL-E is another popular free Midjourney alternative that you can use to generate AI art. It is a web-based free AI art generation tool that allows users to easily translate their ideas into exceptionally accurate images. It is the brainchild of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. With the newer model powered by its advanced machine learning algorithm trained on millions of images, DALL-E 3 has become one of the best AI image generators of 2024. OpenAI has officially integrated DALL-E with Chatgpt for premium users which makes it even more powerful.
DALL-E 3 lets users create hyperrealistic original images from descriptions written in natural language. Similar to Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, this tool creates stunning artwork solely based on textual descriptions, regardless of how unusual or peculiar they might seem. The best part is, that it takes every single word in your prompt into account and generates a very accurate and detailed image based on your suggestion.
DALL-E offers a freemium model. You need to have a ChatGPT Plus subscription to access DALL-E 3 on ChatGPT. Otherwise, you can use DALL-E 2 for free on the website.
Features
- Create AI images with simple text-to-image prompts
- Accurate and realistic image generation based on prompt
- Unlimited canvas files
- Integrated with ChatGPT Plus
- No limits on quality and details
Pricing
- DALL-E 3 is free to use with a ChatGPT Plus subscription
Leonardo.Ai
In the realm of AI-driven creativity, Leonardo AI is a notable AI image generation tool, revolutionizing the art of image and video generation. It is considered a strong competitor, potentially an alternative to Midjourney. Developed with cutting-edge technology and trained with millions of images, this AI tool has garnered attention for its remarkable ability to produce hyper-realistic visuals using its own AI model.
Although the process behind is very complex, at the heart of it Leonardo AI is just a simple user-friendly AI image generation tool. With an easy-to-use interface and powerful algorithms, users can create stunning, lifelike images simply by describing their vision in natural language.
What sets Leonardo AI apart is its recent feature which makes image generation more interactive. Beyond static images, this platform now allows users to infuse motion into their images. Through the innovative “image to motion” feature, users can seamlessly animate their AI-generated images, transforming them into dynamic videos.
This remarkable addition not only expands the creative horizons but also puts users in control, allowing them to direct and shape their visual narratives with ease.
Features
- Create realistic AI images with pre-trained AI models
- Detailed and realistic image generation
- Image-to-motion feature to animate your AI generated images
- Free credits for creating dynamic videos
Pricing
- Leonardo AI is free to use for AI image generation and it offers 125 free credits every day for the Image-to-motion feature