Midjourney
Free: No free plan · official pricing for Midjourney (opens in a new tab)
$10/mo
Basic plan (200 GPU minutes) · $0.10 per image you keep
One prompt makes 4 images: about 0.8 GPU minutes (SD) or 1.3 (HD).
Save money › Real cost of AI images
What does an AI image really cost?
AI image plans are sold in credits, GPU minutes or units, and every model uses a different amount per image. Tell us how many images you need a month and see which plan of Midjourney, Ideogram, Recraft and Krea you'd actually need, and the real price per image, from each tool's official pricing page (checked 2026-10-31).
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Pick the same model in two cards to compare like for like.
Your result by tool
Ideogram
Free: Weekly free credits for eligible accounts (amount may vary) · official pricing for Ideogram (opens in a new tab)
$12/mo
Pay as you go: 1,200 credits at $0.01 · $0.12 per image you keep
Credit costs from Ideogram's own table (3.0 is 24 credits per 4 images).
Recraft
Free: 3 generations per style a day, up to 2 images each, not for commercial use · official pricing for Recraft (opens in a new tab)
$12/mo
Basic plan (1,000 credits) · $0.12 per image you keep
Credit costs from Recraft's credits page (Recraft Studio).
Krea
Free: 100 units a day (e.g. about 50 Krea 2 Turbo images a day) · official pricing for Krea (opens in a new tab)
$9/mo
Basic plan (5,000 units) · $0.090 per image you keep
Units per image worked out from Krea's own image counts for Pro (20,000 units).
Monthly billing, before tax. The plan shown is the cheapest way to get your images: a plan, a plan plus top-ups (only where the top-up price is on the official page), or unlimited slow mode if you picked “I can wait”.
How many images each plan buys
Fast (priority) images per month, using all of a plan's monthly credits on one model. Credit costs and plan sizes copied from each official page on 2026-10-31. “$/image” is the plan price divided by the images it buys.
| Tool | Model | Uses per image | Fast images per month, by plan (monthly billing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney | Standard image (SD) | 0.2 GPU minutes | Basic $10/mo: 1,000 ($0.010 each) Standard $30/mo: 4,500 ($0.007 each) Pro $60/mo: 9,000 ($0.007 each) Mega $120/mo: 18,000 ($0.007 each) |
| Midjourney | HD image | 0.325 GPU minutes | Basic $10/mo: 615 ($0.016 each) Standard $30/mo: 2,769 ($0.011 each) Pro $60/mo: 5,538 ($0.011 each) Mega $120/mo: 11,076 ($0.011 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.0 (2K), Turbo | 3 credits | Pay as you go: $0.030/image Plus $20/mo: 800 ($0.025 each) Pro $60/mo: 2,500 ($0.024 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.0 (2K), Balanced | 6 credits | Pay as you go: $0.060/image Plus $20/mo: 400 ($0.050 each) Pro $60/mo: 1,250 ($0.048 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.0 (2K), Quality | 10 credits | Pay as you go: $0.10/image Plus $20/mo: 240 ($0.083 each) Pro $60/mo: 750 ($0.080 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.5, Low | 3 credits | Pay as you go: $0.030/image Plus $20/mo: 800 ($0.025 each) Pro $60/mo: 2,500 ($0.024 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.5, Medium | 6 credits | Pay as you go: $0.060/image Plus $20/mo: 400 ($0.050 each) Pro $60/mo: 1,250 ($0.048 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 4.5, High | 10 credits | Pay as you go: $0.10/image Plus $20/mo: 240 ($0.083 each) Pro $60/mo: 750 ($0.080 each) |
| Ideogram | Ideogram 3.0, Default | 6 credits | Pay as you go: $0.060/image Plus $20/mo: 400 ($0.050 each) Pro $60/mo: 1,250 ($0.048 each) |
| Recraft | Recraft V4.1 | 2 credits | Basic $12/mo: 500 ($0.024 each) Pro $20/mo: 1,000 ($0.020 each) |
| Recraft | Recraft V4.1 Flash | 1 credits | Basic $12/mo: 1,000 ($0.012 each) Pro $20/mo: 2,000 ($0.010 each) |
| Recraft | Recraft V4.1 Pro | 10 credits | Basic $12/mo: 100 ($0.12 each) Pro $20/mo: 200 ($0.10 each) |
| Recraft | Recraft V4.1 Vector | 4 credits | Basic $12/mo: 250 ($0.048 each) Pro $20/mo: 500 ($0.040 each) |
| Recraft | Recraft V4.1 Pro Vector | 12 credits | Basic $12/mo: 83 ($0.14 each) Pro $20/mo: 166 ($0.12 each) |
| Krea | Krea 2 Turbo | 2 units | Basic $9/mo: 2,500 ($0.004 each) Pro $35/mo: 10,000 ($0.004 each) Max $105/mo: 30,000 ($0.004 each) |
| Krea | Krea 3 | 18 units | Basic $9/mo: 277 ($0.032 each) Pro $35/mo: 1,111 ($0.032 each) Max $105/mo: 3,333 ($0.032 each) |
| Krea | Flux.1 Dev | 3.33 units | Basic $9/mo: 1,500 ($0.006 each) Pro $35/mo: 6,000 ($0.006 each) Max $105/mo: 18,000 ($0.006 each) |
| Krea | Nano Banana 2 (1K) | 44.4 units | Basic $9/mo: 112 ($0.080 each) Pro $35/mo: 450 ($0.078 each) Max $105/mo: 1,350 ($0.078 each) |
| Krea | Ideogram 4.0, Turbo (resolution not stated) | 22.2 units | Basic $9/mo: 225 ($0.040 each) Pro $35/mo: 900 ($0.039 each) Max $105/mo: 2,700 ($0.039 each) |
| Krea | Recraft V4.1 Flash | 5.19 units | Basic $9/mo: 964 ($0.009 each) Pro $35/mo: 3,857 ($0.009 each) Max $105/mo: 11,571 ($0.009 each) |
| Krea | Seedream 4.5 | 29.6 units | Basic $9/mo: 168 ($0.054 each) Pro $35/mo: 675 ($0.052 each) Max $105/mo: 2,025 ($0.052 each) |
Plans (monthly billing): Midjourney: Basic $10/mo (200 GPU minutes), Standard $30/mo (900 GPU minutes), Pro $60/mo (1,800 GPU minutes), Mega $120/mo (3,600 GPU minutes) · Ideogram: Pay as you go (1¢ per credit), Plus $20/mo (2,400 credits), Pro $60/mo (7,500 credits) · Recraft: Basic $12/mo (1,000 credits), Pro $20/mo (2,000 credits) · Krea: Basic $9/mo (5,000 units), Pro $35/mo (20,000 units), Max $105/mo (60,000 units).
If you can wait: plans with unlimited slow images
After the fast credits run out, these plans keep generating images in a slower queue at no extra cost, so a heavy month costs the same as a light one:
- Ideogram Plus, $20/mo: “Slow credits: Unlimited” on Plus and Pro (source for Ideogram (opens in a new tab)).
- Midjourney Standard, $30/mo: “Relax GPU Time: Unlimited Images” on Standard, Pro and Mega (source for Midjourney (opens in a new tab)).
- Leonardo Premium, $30/mo: “Image Generation for select models at a relaxed pace: Unlimited” (15 Leonardo and FLUX models) (source for Leonardo (opens in a new tab)).
- Krea Max, $105/mo: “Unlimited relaxed generations” with supported in-house image models (source for Krea (opens in a new tab)).
How we compare
- Same unit. Every plan is turned into images per month for the model you pick.
- Same model for “cheaper”. We only say one tool is cheaper when both run the same model (Ideogram 4.0 Turbo is on Ideogram and Krea; Recraft V4.1 Flash is on Recraft and Krea). Krea doesn't state the resolution for Ideogram 4.0; Ideogram's own rate is for 2K.
- Monthly billing only. Yearly plans are cheaper per month but paid up front; see Monthly or yearly?
- Only what the pages show. Top-ups are added only where the price is on the official page (Midjourney $4 per GPU hour, Recraft $2 per 200 credits, Ideogram pay as you go at 1¢ per credit). Otherwise we say “More than the biggest plan” instead of guessing.
- Approximate. Midjourney's GPU minutes per prompt are its own averages; Krea's counts are rounded on its page. Editing, upscaling and reference images cost extra on most tools.
Sources (checked 2026-10-31)
- Midjourney: pricing page for Midjourney (opens in a new tab) and credit costs for Midjourney (opens in a new tab). One prompt makes 4 images: about 0.8 GPU minutes (SD) or 1.3 (HD).
- Ideogram: pricing page for Ideogram (opens in a new tab). Credit costs from Ideogram's own table (3.0 is 24 credits per 4 images).
- Recraft: pricing page for Recraft (opens in a new tab) and credit costs for Recraft (opens in a new tab). Credit costs from Recraft's credits page (Recraft Studio).
- Krea: pricing page for Krea (opens in a new tab). Units per image worked out from Krea's own image counts for Pro (20,000 units).
Tools left out
- Leonardo: its pricing page doesn't say how many tokens an image uses (it depends on the model and settings), so we can't turn 8,500 tokens into images.
- Magnific: plans mix yearly credit pools and “unlimited” models that change by plan and billing period, so there's no clear monthly image count to compare.
- ChatGPT: its pricing page only says “Limited”, “More” or “Unlimited” image creation, with no number.
- Canva: its pricing page describes AI as a shared allowance (“10x more AI than Canva Free”) with no image count.
- Photoroom: it edits product photos (backgrounds, scenes) rather than selling image-generation credits.
FAQ
How much does one AI image cost?
On the entry plans we checked on 2026-10-31, from well under 1 cent (Krea 2 Turbo on Krea Basic: about 2,500 images for $9) to about 14 cents (Recraft V4.1 Pro Vector on Recraft Basic: 83 images for $12). The calculator works out your own cost from how many images you keep and how many tries each one takes.
How many images do I get with Midjourney Basic?
Midjourney Basic ($10/mo) gives 200 minutes of Fast GPU time. One standard (SD) prompt makes 4 images and uses about 0.8 minutes, so that's about 250 prompts or 1,000 images a month, or about 615 HD images. Midjourney says these are approximate.
Which AI image plans are unlimited?
Some plans let you keep generating in a slower queue after your fast credits run out: Ideogram Plus ($20/mo, unlimited slow credits), Midjourney Standard ($30/mo, unlimited Relax images), Leonardo Premium ($30/mo, unlimited relaxed images on selected models) and Krea Max ($105/mo, unlimited relaxed with supported in-house models). Choose “I can wait” in the calculator to count them.
Is pay as you go cheaper than a subscription?
For small amounts it can be. Ideogram's pay-as-you-go rate is 1¢ per credit, so 300 Ideogram 4.0 Turbo images (3 credits each) cost about $9, less than Plus at $20/mo. Above about 2,000 credits a month, Plus is cheaper, and it adds unlimited slow generation.
Why do two tools charge differently for the same model?
Krea, Recraft and others resell models like Ideogram 4.0 and Recraft V4.1 Flash. Each sets its own credit price, so we compare them only when the same model is picked in both cards. Prices checked 2026-10-31 on each official page.
Related: Best AI image tools · Free AI image tools · Real cost of AI video · Real cost of AI voice · AI budget planner · How we pick