AI is no longer a future concept, it is happening now. Technology has evolved a lot and is still growing rapidly. AI has fueled growth by making tasks easier and faster. Dall-E and MidJourney, both are AI-based text-to-image generators that hold the capability to generate mind-blowing digital images just by taking input from you.
Isn’t it fascinating that you’re just typing something and AI is providing you with the desired images? Actually, it’s really cool stuff to explore and learn.
Both Dall-E and MidJourney do the same thing which is to generate images from the user query, but certain factors differentiate these two. Here in this article, we will compare Dall-E and MidJourney, so read the whole article and update your knowledge with the latest technology.
Comparison Between Dall-E and Midjourney
- Development Journey
- Performance and Capabilities
- Quality of Art
- User Interface and Accessibility
- Price Comparison
- Comparison of Features
Comparison Between Dall-E and MidJourney
AI Image Generators have become the next big thing on the internet. As both are best-known and arguably the most advanced image generators, both of them have the potential to provide you with great results.
Let us look into the different aspects such as their development, pricing, art quality and others. of MidJourney and DALL-E to compare and decide which one is the best among these two.
Development Journey
Dall-E is an AI system developed by OpenAI, a research laboratory headquartered in san-Fransisco. OpenAI was started by Sam Altman and others in late 2015 to develop AI-based solutions that solve different tasks and make human life much easier. Dall-E is one of the AI solutions by OpenAI that renders services for image creation.
It is a large language model that was trained on a dataset of text and images, which can generate images from text descriptions, a process known as image generation or image synthesis. It is a 12-billion-parameter version that uses text-image data sets to generate an image from text.
On the other hand, MidJourney is also an AI-based solution developed by an independent research lab that renders the same services as Dall-E does. Since the intention behind the development of AI is the same, which is to train the AI and make them capable of solving complex real-life problems with ease.
MidJourney has emerged as a solution that creates realistic images of any input you provide. It is in the beta phase and continuously learning and upgrading with new features and capabilities. To save the interest of Artists, MidJourney also included DMCA takedown policy in their terms of service. This will empower the artists to request the removal of any art piece if they feel it is violating copyright.
Performance and Capabilities
Dall-E
A lot of training with datasets undergoes to train the system to consistently improve the performance and capabilities. Dall-E uses text descriptions in natural language to create high-resolution images and art pieces. Different attributes, concepts, and styles are mixed and matched to deliver the best results and performance.
On the 6th of April 2022, OpenAI launched the upgraded form of Dall-E with the name Dall-E 2. The concept of photorealism became more advanced and efficient with Dall-E 2 which can create realistic art using the data in the caption. The functionality of creating an image is general in Dall-E 2, but on top of that, it can also add some extra information on the existing image and also create different variations of the given images on the basis of the input you provide.
Dall-E uses a technology called Clip (Contrastive language image pre-training) for digital photosynthesis, which is developed by OpenAI. It helps to match the images with their corresponding caption in the best possible way, in simple words it works on text and image pairs. The process of text embedding and image embedding takes place to produce the best result from the given caption.
MidJourney
On the other hand, MidJourney also offers great performance and provides high-quality realistic art from natural language commands. By continuously upgrading the technology and removing the flaws in the system, MidJourney has evolved its capabilities a lot from Version 1 to Version 4.
Every week and month, it releases some updates in the system that further improves the efficiency of the AI. If you compare the results produced by the previous version with the latest version, the image details in the latest version are top-notch with more clarity.
In the previous version if you search “Alien spaceship over the futuristic city”, you’ll find the image with the spaceship but the placement of the spaceship was not well, even the futuristic city was also looking somehow messy. The latest version improved these flaws, now if you search for the same query, you’ll find a picture in which the spaceship is hovering over the city and even the city also looks much more realistic.
Hence, the performance and capabilities of both AI-based systems are pretty much similar and deliver the best result in creating high-quality images.
Quality of Art
Creating an image undoubtedly becomes easy with Dall-E and MidJourney, both deliver exceptional quality and still improving with different updates. Here we have compared the quality of Art created by Dall-E and MidJourney. We have passed the same input which is ” ships sailing in a stormy sea” and get the below result.
The left-hand image is created by MidJourney which looks clear and detailed, it recognizes the query very well and renders each keyword efficiently to provide the result. A stormy sea looks cool in the first image with every minute detail like the atmosphere is harmonized with the image providing a look of stormy weather.
On the other hand, Dall-E has also generated the image of ships in stormy weather, but the image looks simple compared to the MidJourney image. The weather is normal and there is not much effect of the storm visible. It looks like ships in the sea and nothing more.
Hence, we can say that MidJourney is more precise and accurate in creating images compared to Dall-E. But still, they are in the beta phase and continuously evolving, so it’s too early to judge the quality.
User Interface and Accessibility
Dall-E
In order to use the Dall-E you need to create an account with OpenAI by visiting their official website and clicking on the signup button. You can choose your email address and password to create an account or simply use your existing Gmail account to create an account with OpenAI. After that, you also need to verify your mobile number to continue further.
Once you complete your signup process, you will get 50 credits for free in your account in the first month and also get 15 credits every month, which you can use for creating an image in Dall-E. Now you’re ready to generate images from a description of natural language.
In the search bar, you can input your imagination via query and the algorithm automatically generates the best outcome based on your search query. Mix and match the images and try different variations to get the best result from your search. You can also upload an image and suggest any changes to it through your command to create a unique piece of art.
MidJourney
MidJourney is currently operating on the discord server only, so to use MidJourney you need an account on the discord. First of all, you need to visit the website of MidJourney and click on the join beta program. After this, you need to accept an invite to the discord server from MidJourney. Now open your discord app and click on the boat shape icon of MidJourney, you can join any newcomer room with the name “newbie”.
Use the prompt /imagine and start creating images from your imagination and get the result from MidJourney. The more precisely you give the input into the command the more accurate result you’ll get. You can also upload your image and apply different variations to it, this will change your existing image to a new modified image based on the changes you want.
Price Comparison
Dall-E
When you just signup in OpenAI, you’ll get 50 credits for free to generate images in Dall-E and also get 15 credits every month. On top of that, you can purchase additional 115 credits for $15 if you are out of credit. This credit will get utilized every time you hit a search prompt and try different variations.
Suppose you enter a search query “A girl looking at the moon at night” and hit the generate button. This will create some pictures for you, if you select any picture and try out different variations of the picture then also your credit will get utilized. In this example, one credit is used when you generated an image and one credit is used when you tried out a variation, hence you consumed two credits from your account.
MidJourney
The pricing plan for MidJourney is a little bit confusing for beginners as compared to Dall-E because it contains several plans and uses algorithms. Let’s compare each of them one by one, but before comparing the plan you need to be clear about certain terminologies like fast GPU time, relaxed GPU time, and private visibility.
Fast GPU time: Whenever you enter any prompt for an image creation it will take GPU resources to render the image, the time taken by the GPU to render the image depends on the complexity, details, quality, and more. So fast GPU mode reduces the time to render the images and gives the output as fast as possible.
Relaxed GPU time: In relaxed mode, GPU doesn’t take your work as a priority and takes its time to render the image.
Private Visibility: your created images are visible to the public unless you put them into private. Your images will be on the server but visible only to you.
- Free trial: when you sign up in MidJourney for the first time you will get 25 min/Lifetime fast GPU time. If one image generation takes around 1 minute of time then you can generate 25 images for free with this plan. Keep in mind that every time you generate an image or variation, it will take GPU, hence you’ll be charged minutes while generating a new image and also while creating a variation.
Relaxed GPU time and private visibility are not provided in the free plan.
- Basic: You’ll charge $10/month when you opt for this plan. In this plan, you will get 200 min per month of fast GPU time and a personal bot Chat. Relaxed GPU time is still not available in this plan but you can opt for a private visibility feature by paying $20/month additional.
- Standard: In this plan, you’ll get 15 hrs/month at $30/month inclusive of relaxed GPU time. But in this plan also you need to purchase the private visibility for $20/month if you want.
Also, for both the Basic and Standard plans you can purchase additional time if you are out for the given time in your plan. It will charge $4 for 60 minutes.
- Corporate: This plan is best suited for big design companies that need to generate many art pieces and images. For $600/year, you’ll get 120 hrs/year of fast GPU time and unlimited relaxed GPU time, additionally you’ll get private visibility and a personal bot at no extra cost.
Comparison of Features
Features of Dall-E
- Quick edit of the uploaded image based on the changes you want.
- Different variations to explore and choose from.
- Dedicated collection to store generated images in public or private folders.
- Full usage right to commercialize the created image.
- Already ensured safety before launching the beta version of Dall-E.
Features of MidJourney
- Anyone can join the beta program by using the discord link.
- Different variations and high-quality images.
- Diversified pricing plans.
- Availability of Fast and relaxed mode.
- Can upload an image and make changes.
Conclusion
AI has made work easier and effortless, but still, this technology is evolving and developing. Dall-E and MidJourney both of them are outstanding AI tools that help to generate realistic images through natural language. So, join their beta program and explore the new height of AI.
FAQ
Which is better DALL-E or MidJourney?
DALL-E creates more real-looking images whereas MidJourney is more on different art styles.
Can you use DALL-E images for free?
DALL-E 2 is currently free to use, but there is a catch. For the first month, you are allotted 50 free credits to use and 15 free credits after that.
What type of AI is MidJourney?
MidJourney is an independent research lab that produces a proprietary artificial intelligence program under the same name that creates images from textual descriptions, similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E and Stable Diffusion.
How does MidJourney actually work?
MidJourney is currently only accessible through a Discord bot on their official Discord, by direct messaging the bot, or by inviting the bot to a third-party server.
