No affiliate links on this page and no paid placements, ever. Prices change often, so confirm on the official site.
Looking for something other than Midjourney (No free plan; Basic $10/mo)? These are the alternatives from my curated list. Ideogram is the one to try if you need readable text inside images, and it has free weekly credits. Midjourney has no free plan.
- Ideogram: Image generation that handles text in images well.
Free weekly credits; Plus $20/mo ($15/mo annual) 
Krea: Real-time sketching canvas, image upscaler, and multi-model studio.
Free plan; Basic $9/mo ($5.25/mo annual)
Why look past Midjourney?
Midjourney’s images look great, but there’s no free plan and on the cheaper plans your images are public. Those are the two main reasons people look around.
Ideogram has free weekly credits for eligible accounts and is much better at readable text, so it’s the one for posters, thumbnails and logos. Adobe Firefly makes sense if you already work in Photoshop or Express, and Adobe pitches it for commercial work.
Krea is a strong pick if you want to sketch layouts in real time, upscale existing images, or try multiple models in one workspace. Its free plan gives you 100 compute units a day (for non-commercial use), and Basic starts at $9/mo ($5.25/mo billed annually).
Try the same prompt in two tools and compare. Style is personal, so your own eye is the best test. There’s also a side-by-side page: Midjourney vs Ideogram.
How to choose
- Start with a free plan where one exists and test it on your own work.
- Check each tool’s official pricing and terms. Prices here were checked in Oct 2026.