Recraft vs Midjourney
A 2026 side-by-side comparison of Recraft and Midjourney — pricing, key features, platforms, API access, and the trade-offs of each, based on data collected from their official sites.
Recraft
Generate and edit vector art, icons, 3D images and illustrations in a wide range of styles
Midjourney
Text-to-image generation for stunning AI art
Tagline
Generate and edit vector art, icons, 3D images and illustrations in a wide range of styles
Text-to-image generation for stunning AI art
Pricing
Rating
Platforms
API
Open source
Description
Recraft is a versatile AI-powered design platform that allows creators and teams to generate and edit high-quality vector art, mockups, icons, 3D images, and illustrations. It features robust image conversion tools, including raster-to-vector serialization, transparent PNG generation, high-end CMYK TIFF export for print workflows, and lightweight Lottie conversion.
Midjourney generates high-quality images from natural language prompts, popular with designers and artists.
Key features
- AI image generator
- AI art and vector generator
- One-click vectorization
- Image format converter
- Mockup generator
- AI photo upscaler
- SVG recoloring
- AI background remover
- 300 DPI CMYK TIFF export
- Lottie animation export
- API integration
- 4K temporal upscaling
- Grain and color match
- Batch API
- Timeline plugins for Premiere and Resolve
Pros
- Free users can try conversions and design tools utilizing daily credits.
- Enables seamless vectorization to turn raster PNG or JPG uploads into scalable SVGs.
- Supports a wide variety of export formats including SVG, PNG, JPG, PDF, TIFF, and Lottie.
- Paid tiers grant unlimited uploads and full rights for commercial use.
- Offers professional 300 DPI CMYK TIFF output optimized for print workflows.
- Allows converting static designs into lightweight, animation-ready Lottie files.
- Provides a developer-friendly API with simple per-image pricing for production apps.
- Features powerful direct editing tasks like background removal and color adjustment.
- Best-in-class aesthetic quality
- Wide range of artistic styles
- Style references via --sref
- Character references via --cref
- Fast generation on paid plans
- Active creative community
- Regular model version updates
- Built-in upscaling and variations
Cons
- Free tier users are constrained by a daily credit limitation.
- Full commercial asset rights are restricted behind paid options.
- No custom self-hosting or open-source software license is referenced.
- No native mobile apps for iOS or Android are mentioned in the provided text.
- Price points for specific non-API plans are not detailed on the main pricing pages.
- Requires Discord or web app
- No free trial available
- Restrictive content moderation
- Commercial rights only on paid tiers
- No official public API
- Public gallery by default on cheaper plans
- Steep prompt learning curve
- Limited fine-grained composition control
Pricing plans
Which one should you pick?
- Choose Recraft if you need AI image generator and API access.
- Choose Midjourney if you need 4K temporal upscaling.
- On budget: Recraft is freemium, Midjourney is paid.