Image Models Compared: Midjourney vs Flux vs DALL-E vs SDXL

The Big Four (2025)

Feature	Midjourney v6.1	Flux 1.1 Pro	DALL-E 3	SDXL 1.0
Provider	Midjourney	Black Forest Labs	OpenAI	Stability AI
Access	Discord / Web	API / Various UIs	API / ChatGPT	Open Source
Self-host	No	Yes	No	Yes
Price	$10-60/mo	Pay per image	Pay per image	Free (self-host)
Speed	~30s	~5s	~10s	Varies

Strengths & Best Use Cases

Midjourney v6.1

Best for: Artistic imagery, concept art, aesthetic photography

• Unmatched default aesthetics
• Great at atmospheric and moody scenes
• Best "vibes" with minimal prompting
• Weakness: No API, Discord-only (web beta), less photorealistic than Flux

Flux 1.1 Pro

Best for: Photorealism, text in images, product shots

• Best text rendering of any model
• Excellent photorealism
• Open weights enable fine-tuning
• Weakness: Less artistic "soul" than Midjourney

DALL-E 3

Best for: Accessible generation, accurate text, ChatGPT integration

• Best natural language understanding
• Excellent text rendering
• Easy to use via ChatGPT
• Weakness: Restrictive content policy, less stylistic range

SDXL 1.0

Best for: Custom workflows, fine-tuning, experimentation

• Massive LoRA/checkpoint ecosystem
• Full control via ComfyUI/A1111
• Free to self-host
• Weakness: Requires more prompt engineering, hardware needed

Prompt Style Comparison

The same scene across models:

Midjourney:

A lone samurai standing in a field of red spider lilies at sunset,
atmospheric fog, dramatic backlighting --ar 16:9 --style raw --s 150

Flux:

A lone samurai warrior standing in a vast field of red spider lilies
during golden hour sunset. Atmospheric fog rolls across the field.
Dramatic backlighting creating a silhouette effect. Cinematic composition.
Photorealistic. 8K resolution.

DALL-E 3:

Create a cinematic wide-angle photograph of a lone samurai standing
in a field of red spider lilies at sunset. The fog creates an atmospheric
mood, and the backlighting makes a dramatic silhouette.

SDXL:

samurai warrior, red spider lilies field, sunset, golden hour,
atmospheric fog, dramatic backlighting, silhouette, cinematic,
masterpiece, best quality, 8k uhd
Negative: blurry, low quality, deformed, watermark, text

When to Use Which

• Quick artistic imagery → Midjourney
• Product photos / text in images → Flux
• Non-technical users / ChatGPT integration → DALL-E 3
• Custom fine-tuning / full control → SDXL
• Budget-conscious / self-hosted → SDXL or Flux