If you want to start free, Adobe Firefly, Ideogram and Leonardo.Ai all offer free options, but Ideogram and Leonardo make free-plan images public. Midjourney has no free plan. For a paid entry plan on monthly billing, Adobe Firefly Standard costs $9.99 a month, Midjourney Basic $10, Leonardo Essential $12 and Ideogram Plus $20. On annual billing, Midjourney Basic drops to $96 a year and Ideogram Plus to $180 a year. Private generation is included on every paid Ideogram and Leonardo plan, but only on Midjourney’s Pro and Mega plans.
This is a documentary comparison based on the providers’ official pages. We have not bought any plan or generated any images, so nothing here judges image quality, prompt accuracy or speed. Feature, rights and safety statements are the providers’ own claims.
What you are actually paying for
Each provider meters usage differently. Midjourney sells hours of Fast GPU time. Adobe sells generative credits for premium features on top of unlimited standard generations. Ideogram sells credits, and Leonardo sells tokens. These units are not interchangeable, so compare what each plan lets you do when the allowance runs out, not just the headline number. Our guide to a responsible AI image generation workflow covers the review and record-keeping steps that sit around any of these tools.
Entry and mid plans side by side
Prices and plan details were checked on the providers’ official pages on 5 November 2026. Figures are in USD as displayed. Leonardo shows prices excluding tax, and Ideogram’s plans page, which says it was last verified on 15 October 2026, gives prices before tax. Prices vary by country, currency, taxes and promotions, so confirm the final amount at checkout.
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Monthly allowance | Private generations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midjourney Basic | $10/month | $96/year ($8/month) | 3.3 hours (200 min) Fast GPU time | No |
| Midjourney Standard | $30/month | $288/year ($24/month) | 15 hours Fast GPU time; unlimited Relax images | No |
| Midjourney Pro | $60/month | $576/year ($48/month) | 30 hours Fast GPU time; unlimited Relax images | Yes (Stealth mode) |
| Adobe Firefly Standard | $9.99/month | Not confirmed | 2,000 generative credits; up to 20 five-second videos | Not confirmed |
| Adobe Firefly Pro | $19.99/month | Not confirmed | 4,000 generative credits; up to 40 five-second videos | Not confirmed |
| Ideogram Plus | $20/month | $15/month, $180/year | 2,400 credits; slower queue after they run out | Yes |
| Ideogram Pro | $60/month | $42/month, $504/year | 7,500 credits; larger queue; Batch Generation | Yes |
| Leonardo Essential | $12/month | Not confirmed | 8,500 fast tokens | Yes |
| Leonardo Premium | $30/month | Not confirmed | 25,000 tokens; unlimited relaxed images on select models | Yes |
Midjourney’s annual plans are a 20% discount, paid upfront. Ideogram’s annual billing saves $60 a year on Plus ($240 on monthly billing vs $180, our arithmetic). Leonardo advertises “up to 20% off” on yearly billing, but we did not read its yearly prices. For Adobe, only the monthly prices for Standard and Pro were confirmed; on monthly billing, a year of Standard would cost $119.88 and Pro $239.88 (our arithmetic).
Higher tiers exist at each provider. Midjourney Mega is $120 a month or $1,152 a year with 60 hours of Fast GPU time, and extra GPU time costs $4 an hour. Leonardo Ultimate is $60 a month with 60,000 tokens and unlimited relaxed images and video on select models. Adobe lists Firefly Pro Plus with 10,000 credits and Premium with 50,000 credits, but their USD prices were not confirmed.
Free options
- Midjourney: no free plan is listed. Every plan is a paid subscription; check the current offer on Midjourney.
- Adobe Firefly: free daily generations across image, video and audio, with limits that reset daily. No fixed credit figure is shown. Standard and Pro also show a free trial, with the length not confirmed.
- Ideogram: 30 credits a week with Google, Apple or Microsoft sign-in. All free generations are public.
- Leonardo: 150 fast tokens a day, with public creations and no token rollover. Leonardo says there are no free trials for its consumer plans.
You can see the free and paid tiers on Leonardo.Ai or check the current offer on Ideogram.
Public vs private generations
This matters if you work on client projects or unreleased products. On Ideogram and Leonardo, free-plan images are public, and private generation (Leonardo calls it Private Mode) comes with paid plans. On Midjourney, Stealth mode, its private option, is only available on Pro and Mega, so images made on Basic or Standard are not private. Adobe’s plans page did not state a public or private setting for Firefly generations.
Unused allowances
Adobe says generative credits reset each billing cycle and do not roll over. Leonardo lets paid plans roll over unused tokens up to a cap: up to 8,500 tokens a month with a bank of 25,500 on Essential, 25,000 and 75,000 on Premium, and 60,000 and 180,000 on Ultimate. On Ideogram’s Plus, Pro and Team plans, generation continues in a slower queue after credits run out. On Midjourney’s Standard, Pro and Mega plans, Relax mode gives unlimited images once Fast time is used.
Commercial use
This is a summary of what the providers state, not legal advice. Read the terms for the plan you buy.
- Midjourney: paid plans use its General Commercial Terms. A company with more than $1,000,000 in gross revenue a year must buy Pro or Mega.
- Adobe Firefly: Adobe says outputs from Firefly’s own AI models can be used commercially. For partner models, such as those from Google, OpenAI and Flux, you are responsible for judging the output. Commercial use on the free tier specifically was not confirmed.
- Ideogram: its terms say it claims no ownership of your input or output and do not restrict commercial use, with no free or paid distinction stated.
- Leonardo: its help center says free and paid users may download generations for commercial use, subject to its terms. Paid users generating privately keep full ownership and copyright of their images.
Watermarks and content credentials
Adobe says it automatically attaches Content Credentials to Firefly output for transparency. Ideogram’s terms say you may not remove watermarks included on output, and we found no labeling or provenance commitment from Ideogram. We could not confirm watermark or labeling policies for Midjourney or Leonardo. If you publish AI images, our guide to provenance and disclosure for AI media explains how to keep records and label them yourself. You can check the current plans on Adobe Firefly.
Refunds and renewals
- Midjourney: plans renew monthly or yearly until you set them to cancel. Refund terms were not confirmed.
- Adobe Firefly: refund and cancellation terms were not shown on the plans page and were not confirmed.
- Ideogram: plans renew automatically, and you must cancel at least five days before the renewal date. Payments are non-refundable, with no credit for partly used periods.
- Leonardo: refunds are assessed manually by a human agent. Its full refund policy was not confirmed.
Team plans
Ideogram Team costs $30 per user a month on monthly billing or $20 on annual billing ($240 per user a year), with a minimum of two users and 3,600 credits per user a month. Leonardo Teams Starter costs $24 per seat a month and Growth $48, with a minimum of three seats, shown as $72 and $144 a month. Leonardo’s team trials are decided case by case. Adobe lists Firefly plans for teams, but their USD prices were not confirmed, and we did not confirm a team plan for Midjourney.
How to decide
Choose Ideogram or Leonardo if you want to start free and do not mind public images, and Adobe Firefly if you want a free daily allowance from a provider that attaches Content Credentials and states that output from its own models can be used commercially (on the free tier, this was not confirmed). Among entry plans, Adobe Firefly Standard has the lowest confirmed monthly price at $9.99, and Midjourney Basic the lowest confirmed annual price at $96. If your images must stay private, Ideogram Plus and Leonardo Essential include private generation, while on Midjourney you need Pro at $60 a month. If your company earns more than $1,000,000 a year, Midjourney requires Pro or Mega. For video as well as images, see our AI avatar video generators comparison.
- Decide whether your images may be public; if not, check which plans offer private generation.
- Check the commercial-use terms for your plan and, for Midjourney, your company’s revenue.
- Compare monthly and annual prices, and note which annual prices are not confirmed.
- Estimate your volume against GPU time, credits or tokens, and what happens when they run out.
- Plan how you will label AI images and keep provenance records.
- Note the renewal date: Ideogram needs five days’ notice.
- Confirm the final price, taxes and currency at checkout.
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