Is Midjourney the Best AI Image Generator? A Balanced Perspective

Midjourney is one of the many tools that produce AI art from uncomplicated text prompts. It is undoubtedly among the popular options for creators and graphic designers looking at how to AI upscale image files with a great level of detail.

However, there isn't one specific AI image generator we'd label the 'best' because each has a different focus, pros and cons, and ways of interpreting the words and phrases you provide as the input source.

When we consider how AI image generators are trained, the reason for these contrasts becomes clearer and can help define those art-generating platforms that may be ideally suited to your objectives.

Stable Diffusion Versus Midjourney

Stable Diffusion is another superb AI art generator and one of the multiple algorithms available through NightCafe–we also feature DALL-E 2, VQGAN+CLIP, and Neural Style Transfer, among others.

Perhaps the most significant difference between Midjourney and Stable Diffusion is that the latter is normally considered more flexible, with advanced tooling options to provide the flexibility of adding more features. The open-source nature of Stable Diffusion means creators can even run the generator offline.

Midjourney can be a good option for fine art illustrations and is particularly strong in watercolour imagery and graphics that replicate ink; it’s also easy to use and produces visually immersive results with minimal effort. The downside is that it offers little in the way of customisation. 

Both algorithms are based on comparable underlying tech. Still, Midjourney is trained primarily on cinematic and gaming content–hence the different strengths and weaknesses in certain types of artworks or graphic image production.

Creators may prefer Stable Diffusion when they're looking to participate in the AI art generation community, share their creations and ideas, contribute to improvements, and enhance the functionality of the text-to-image model.

Midjourney Versus DALL-E 2

The same caveat applies if you're choosing between Midjourney and DALL-E 2–both are fantastic AI models, but the outputs you're trying to accomplish will influence the tools you'll most enjoy using. 

It’s also worth thinking about what functions you want to use. For example, are you trying to produce specific image designs and formats over which you need a good degree of customisation? If your primary goal is simply to experiment with different style formats and overlays, one AI image generator will likely be as suitable as the next. DALL-E 2 is trained differently than Midjourney, and the model won’t generate replications of art in the same way as other tools because it treats copyrighted content conservatively. 

However, where it comes into its own as an art generator is that this model can interpret even highly complex prompts or better understand the intention of the creator. Sometimes, the AI produces less realistic graphics, but DALL-E 2 is your go-to if you have a heavily stylised or detailed image in mind–which isn't something Midjourney is designed for.

The outpainting tools in DALL-E 2 are superior to Midjourney, where you can create new aspects of the image outside of the boundaries of the initial graphic. Stable Diffusion is the ideal solution if you have sufficient editing skills to utilise all the extensive features.

Pros and Cons of Midjourney

AI art generators are a great way to explore your creativity, produce original and unique graphics, and play around with the functions to see what you can design. As we've explained, every model is different, depending on how the AI has been trained, what tools the platform provides, and the styles or imagery you'd like to create.

There are several advantages of using Midjourney:

• You don't need any artistic talent–input any phrase or string of prompts, and the AI image generator will develop a graphic.
• The editing tools are a little limited, but you can refine an image by importing a graphic from elsewhere to make tweaks.
• Creators can mimic the style of any artist they wish.

Balancing these positives out are a few pitfalls. For instance, all generated images are available publicly, so Midjourney may not be appropriate if you’re developing graphics for a project you don’t wish to be in the public domain. Because the model can mimic real-world artists' styles, there is controversy about the legitimate use of graphics, and creators can only access Midjourney through Discord, making it somewhat restricted.

We hope this overview gives you a great idea about what Midjourney has to offer (and what it doesn’t) so you can pick the ideal AI art generator for your next content creation project!