Runway vs Midjourney (2024): Which Platform Delivers Better Results?

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Verdict: Runway AI and Midjourney are leading AI generation tools renowned for their AI capabilities that revolutionize the creative industry. Both offer powerful tools for creating stunning visuals, but they approach the task in different ways. Runway AI stands out for its easy-to-use platform and robust video generation, while Midjourney excels as a versatile and highly customizable image generator.

We evaluated both art generators against key categories including core features, output quality, cost, customization, ease of use, and customer support to help you decide which better suits your creative needs. Here’s what you need to know.

Runway AI vs Midjourney at a Glance

Both platforms are industry-leading AI generation tools, excelling in image creation and video production. Here’s how they compare.

	Runway AI	Midjourney
Best For	Filmmakers and artists who need a powerful, intuitive video generator	Creators looking for a powerful text-to-image solution that generates vibrant and stunning images
Price Range (Annual)	Free to $76 per month	$10 to $120 per month
Free Version	Yes	Occasionally offered
Free Trial (for Paid Plans)	No	No
Image Quality	Excellent	Superior
Image Accuracy	High	High
Artistic Styles	High	Excellent
Ease of Use	Intuitive	Good
Customer Support	Limited	Good
	Visit Runway AI	Visit Midjourney

Key Features of Runway AI

Runway AI is a robust video generation tool that enables users of all skill levels to create and customize vibrant and high-quality multimedia assets. Core Runway AI features include:

• Video Generation: Runway AI’s video generator enables users to transform their creative visions into cinematic videos using text prompts, images, and video clips. One of the standout features of Runway AI is the ability to automatically sync your video to the beat of the music, creating a professional-looking final product.
• Video Editing and Special Effects: The platform’s image-to-video feature allows you to turn still frames from live-action footage into visual effect shots you can integrate into your main video for a smooth transition.
• 3D Capture and Texture: This feature lets you manipulate and enhance different types of video, providing unlimited camera angles you can experiment with. You can also use the footage you generated as an asset for producing a 3D model.
• User-Friendly Interface: Using a simple drag-and-drop interface, you can easily import footage, add text overlays, music, and effects, and let Runway AI generate or edit your videos.

Pros 

• Intuitive and straightforward interface
• Advanced AI tools and design features
• Robust video generation and manipulation

Cons 

• Steep initial learning curve
• Lack of depth in generated images
• Limited third-party integrations

Key Features of Midjourney

Midjourney is a cutting-edge text-to-image platform that allows individuals and businesses to turn their creative ideas into stunning visuals. Midjourney’s key offerings include the following:

• Text-to-Image Generation: Midjourney allows you to transform text prompts into stunning visuals, providing remarkable quality and capturing every nuance of your intended output.
• High-Quality Images: The platform generates images with exceptional quality that surpasses most of its competitors. It produces images showing clarity, intricate textures, vibrant colors, and depth.
• Artistic Styles: Users can choose from a wide range of artistic styles and customization options to help you tailor generated outputs according to your specific needs. You can adjust the parameters so that the images will either closely match your prompt or have a more artistic style.
• Sharing and Collaboration: Midjourney allows users to easily export images and share outputs with other creators through its website and Discord platforms. Its active user community of over 20 million users on Discord also enables you to interact with other users and find best practices for image generation, prompt writing, or even take part in daily theme challenges.

Pros

• Diverse range of image generation methods
• Highly detailed and hyper-realistic images
• Capable of high-speed renders

Cons 

• Limited video generation features
• No free forever plan or trial
• Limited user support solutions

Best for Pricing: Midjourney

Midjourney is the more cost-effective option because it offers more affordable monthly and annual plans.

Runway AI’s pricing structure uses a credit system, with each credit representing a specific amount of computational power used for various AI tools. The platform’s five subscription tiers offer different credit limits and capabilities, starting with a free basic plan that gives users 125 one-time credits equivalent to 25 image generations. Paid plans start at $15 per month or $12 per month for an annual subscription, providing progressively larger allotments that reset every month for various image, video, and audio generations.

While Runway AI’s free plan allows users to explore the platform’s tools and content creation features, its pricing structure can get a bit complex. The challenge lies in estimating how many credits your desired output or project will require, as some AI tools consume credits faster than others. Unused credits also don’t carry over to the following months, which is a disadvantage compared to Midjourney’s fixed-hour model.

Midjourney has a straightforward subscription plan with four tiers, allowing users to pay month-to-month or annually for a 20 percent discount. Unlike Runway AI, Midjourney doesn’t offer a free plan, but its paid tiers have relatively lower costs. Midjourney’s Basic plan, priced at $10 per month or $8 per month for an annual subscription, is ideal for casual users or those new to the platform who want to experiment with generating a limited number of images. Users can upgrade to higher-paid plans for longer GPU hours and additional features like faster image generation and stealth mode to keep creations private. A GPU hour refers to the computational power used to generate images. Users can also purchase additional GPU hours if their monthly allocation runs out, offering flexibility for those who want to create outputs through the platform occasionally.

All Midjourney plans include access to the platform’s member gallery, the official Discord community, and general and commercial usage terms. While Midjourney doesn’t offer free trials or a free-forever plan, the company occasionally releases a limited-time free version that allows users to generate up to 25 sets of images.

Best for Core Features: Runway AI

Runway AI and Midjourney are powerful AI generation tools, categorized according to user requirements and preferences. While each platform excels, Runway AI offers a smooth edge for users seeking to experience AI tools and different types of media.

AI Tools

Runway AI excels as a versatile platform that caters to different users’ creative needs. The platform’s extensive suite of more than 30 artificial intelligence tools empowers users to explore video and image creation, from generation to manipulation and customization. Unlike Midjourney’s focus on image generation, Runway AI provides features to produce stunning videos such as audio processing, motion tracking, 3D capture, special effects, and more. This versatility makes Runway AI a valuable asset for filmmakers, artists, and content creators seeking an all-in-one platform to transform their creative visions into high-quality videos.

Midjourney is a specialized platform that excels in text-to-image generation, utilizing advanced AI algorithms to transform textual descriptions into stunning visuals. While Runway offers more AI tools than Midjourney, the platform’s strength lies in its capability to produce high-quality images based on user prompts. Users can also create vibrant and detailed footage with Midjourney’s bot on Discord, but the one drawback is that it’s limited to four seconds. Midjourney is an ideal choice for artists and designers who prioritize visual aesthetics and want to explore AI-generated imagery more in-depth.

Prompt Fidelity

While Runway offers a wide range of AI tools, its prompt fidelity can be somewhat limited compared to Midjourney when it comes to image generation. The platform is generally easy to use, but users may find it challenging to generate the desired output through text prompts alone without additional adjustments or experimentation. However, Runway AI excels in video generation, demonstrating a high degree of accuracy in interpreting user prompts. You can also use the platform’s video editing features and image manipulation to refine and customize the generated outputs.

Midjourney excels in prompt fidelity, accurately interpreting and translating textual descriptions into visually compelling images. It captures the intended meaning and translates nuanced instructions into hyper-realistic images. While there are occasional errors that are hit-and-miss when experimenting with negative prompts, Midjourney ultimately does a great job at translating prompts. It captures even the smallest detail, no matter the complexity. This precision makes the platform an ideal choice for artists, designers, and content creators who seek to create highly specific and personalized visuals.

Output Consistency

Runway AI’s output consistency can vary depending on the specific AI tool being used. The platform is popular for its ability to generate high-quality videos showing consistent output. While some tools within the platform consistently deliver high-quality results, others may exhibit varying output quality based on prompt complexity or the underlying AI model. Users may need to experiment with different prompts and settings to achieve desired levels of consistency.

Midjourney generally demonstrates a higher level of output consistency, particularly in its text-to-image generation feature. The platform’s sophisticated AI models are designed to generate consistent outputs based on the user prompts, often surpassing the quality in other image-generation tools. For example, Midjourney produces images of characters with the same facial features and other characteristics among multiple image generations. The style of these generated images is also consistent, especially when you use the Fast and Turbo modes. However, achieving highly specific or complex visual styles may still require some experimentation and iteration.

Artistic Styles and Customization

Runway AI’s diverse tools offer a wide range of artistic styles, allowing users to explore different creative approaches. It features various presets that let you generate images and videos in more than 30 different curated styles, ranging from cinematic to isometric 3D for rendering three-dimensional scenes. For more granular control of your generated images in Runway AI, you can tweak advanced settings to adjust the size, style, medium, mood, and prompt weight to fine-tune your output.

Additionally, you can use the platform’s suite of editing tools and special effects to manipulate and enhance your outputs. Easily remove backgrounds, expand images, and replace objects in your generated images and videos. You can even blend AI-generated elements and special effects with your captured footage. However, Runway AI doesn’t always capture your desired styles based on user prompts alone and requires you to adjust settings and parameters to get your intended output.

Midjourney offers a wide range of artistic styles and customization options you can use to capture your desired images. One of the standout features of Midjourney is its ability to capture nuances and layered instructions using user prompts, and this also applies to experimenting with artistic styles. Unlike Runway AI, Midjourney lets you generate a realistic and accurate image through detailed textual prompts. You can add the parameters to your prompts and generate a customized image even without adjusting the settings.

The “stylize” parameter in Midjourney also affects how closely the generated images match your prompt; a high stylization value produces highly artistic images that are less connected to the prompts, and vice versa. You can also add the URL of an image at the end of your prompt and parameter to use the photo as a style reference. Even with short prompts, Midjourney can provide incredibly vivid and detailed visuals; however, you may create more personalized outcomes by mixing ideas like the artistic medium, historical eras, location, movement, and more.

Sharing and Collaboration

Runway AI features workspaces designed to enhance collaboration and project development among multiple users in real time. Unlike Midjourney, teams can share an account on Runway AI, allowing the primary account holder to invite collaborators. This makes it ideal for teams or individuals working together on projects because it enables real-time feedback and revisions.

While Midjourney doesn’t allow sharing accounts like Runway AI, users can easily explore other creations and share them with others through the website and Discord. The platform’s strength lies in its active user community of over 20 million users, and its Discord community allows you to share ideas, provide feedback, and learn from each other’s best practices. You also have the option to use the Discord server to create images with other subscribers or make a personal account to organize your work. Additionally, Midjourney enables you to keep your generated images private using stealth mode if you don’t want to share them on the website with other users.

Best for Image Quality: Midjourney

Midjourney emerged as the clear winner in terms of image quality, producing visuals with exceptional quality that exceed the capabilities of Runway AI.

Runway AI offers a versatile range of AI tools and customization options, but its image quality can vary depending on the specific tool and the complexity of the prompt. It sometimes struggles with accurately portraying some details in generated images. When I tested the tool, Runway produced images that were vibrant, colorful, and realistic but would sometimes generate errors, such as a cat with six paws or a kid with a distorted face. A few of Runway’s generated images, particularly those featuring landscapes, lack the realism and richness of those from Midjourney.

Midjourney’s advanced AI models consistently produce highly detailed and visually striking images that closely align with user-defined prompts. The platform generated images that are highly detailed, vibrant, consistent, and visually appealing, which can be refined further using different parameters. Images like people, landscapes, food, and sci-fi art demonstrated intricate textures, depth, and remarkable clarity. Midjourney’s level of detail, color accuracy, and overall aesthetic appeal surpass Runway AI’s outputs, making it a better choice for users seeking professional-grade results.

Best for Video Quality: Runway AI

Runway AI offers a versatile range of video generation tools and generally produces high-quality videos suitable for various purposes.

Runway AI is renowned for its ability to generate high-quality videos using advanced machine learning algorithms and special effects tools for enhancing footage. This robust platform allows you to choose between HD (720p) and QHD (2K) video options and tweak the output’s technical details. Paid subscribers can generate QHD images, export videos in 4K, and produce full 3D texture options for more dynamic videos. Runway AI’s wide range of AI tools also allows you to produce videos using prompts, images, and footage you generated from the platform or exported from another platform.

Based on my experience, I could generate the hyper-realistic video below using a detailed prompt and Runway AI could capture the desired setting, camera angle, and lighting. Runway AI was also able to show intricate details like hair strands blown by the wind, a character’s subtle expressions, and sunlight shining over the subject’s face.

Midjourney has recently introduced video generation capabilities, and while it’s still a relatively new feature, it shows promising results. The video quality Midjourney produces is generally impressive, with smooth and visually appealing animations. However, when compared to Runway AI, Midjourney still has a lot to develop and improve. Unlike Runway AI, Midjourney has limited video generation features. It doesn’t offer built-in tools for creating longer footage or manipulating live-action clips. Generated videos on Midjourney are only limited to four seconds, and you need to use another tool to generate longer videos or production-ready assets.

Best for Ease of Use: Runway AI

Both Runway AI and Midjourney require some level of knowledge depending on the user’s skill level. However, Runway AI is more straightforward and its interface is easier to navigate.

Runway AI has a clean and intuitive user interface that makes it easy to navigate and explore. Its dashboard displays over 30 AI tools that users can access, ranging from generative video to advanced editing tools. You can easily find your projects and assets in the main dashboard and navigate through your workspace and custom elements you created in the platform. Based on my experience, Runway AI’s drag-and-drop made it easier to upload images, remove objects, apply visual effects, or switch a scene in a video. You can also make changes to your projects in real time because Runway allows you to see results using the preview option.

In addition to Runway AI’s drag-and-drop interface, the platform features slide bars, toggle buttons, and drop-down menus, so it’s easier to adjust the settings of the images or videos you’re generating. While some users may find Runway AI’s interface intuitive, others may need to spend some time familiarizing themselves with advanced features, especially for editing and visual effects.

While Midjourney is relatively simple to navigate for users who are familiar with text prompts, new users might find it more complex than Runway AI. If you’re a beginner to writing prompts, you might find it challenging to learn how to get a highly customized output using Midjourney. However, once you’re familiar with the basics of AI prompts, the platform can be easier to use and explore. You can use buttons and sliders on the website to adjust your parameters and customize your desired output. If you want to use a reference image for the visuals you want to generate, you can choose an asset you previously generated on the platform, which minimizes the need to download and upload them. However, using Discord to generate images and videos requires some time to learn.

Like Runway AI, Midjourney has a clean and simple interface, but its initial learning curve can be steep. Using complex text prompts and their extensive customizations can be overwhelming, and users might need time to learn and familiarize themselves with the website and Discord app.

Best for Customer Support: Midjourney

Midjourney won this category due to its strong community-based support system.

Runway AI offers a limited range of customer support options, including email assistance and a knowledgebase. Users can reach out to Runway AI’s support team for personal guidance, but product and technical assistance can only be accessed by customers on a Standard plan or higher. Users who are qualified to access product and technical support can expect a response in under three business days. Fortunately, you can refer to Runway AI’s Help Center or Runway Academy if you need assistance with your account. You can use these resources for documentation, tutorials, and step-by-step guides to understand the platform and its tools better.

Midjourney’s customer support is primarily provided through its active Discord community. The community is active and helpful, with over 20 million users willing to assist users with their questions and concerns. Midjourney also offers documentation with detailed guides, prompt writing guidelines, and in-depth instructions on how to use tools and customize your outputs effectively. While Midjourney doesn’t have phone support, you can reach out to them via email for billing concerns.

Why Shouldn’t You Use Runway AI or Midjourney?

Runway AI and Midjourney are robust and versatile AI generation tools, but they may not be suitable for all users and scenarios. 

Who Shouldn’t Use Runway AI?

Runway AI is a powerful video generator, but it’s not for everyone, including the following use cases:

• Users on a Limited Budget: While Runway AI offers a free plan that allows you to generate up to 25 images, upgrading to paid tiers can be expensive for users on a tight budget. Runway AI’s pricing structure follows a credit system, and scaling large content creation can get more expensive with higher usage. If you’re planning to mass produce your content, choosing a platform with flat-rate subscriptions might be a better option.
• Creators with Limited Video Production Knowledge: Runway AI is easy to navigate, but advanced video creation and editing processes require a certain level of technical proficiency to use effectively. If you don’t have a video production background, exploring more sophisticated AI tools on the platform has an initial learning curve.
• Teams Needing Offline Access: Runway AI is available on the cloud but it doesn’t have an offline mode. If your team doesn’t have a stable connection or often works on the road, you might not use its features and download assets if you’re not online. Consider other AI platforms if offline access is essential for your video production process.

Who Shouldn’t Use Midjourney?

The following users might not be the best fit for Midjourney: 

• Beginners or Casual Users: Midjourney offers an intuitive interface, but beginners and casual users might find the platform overwhelming. Mastering AI prompts and customizing generated outputs requires a certain level of technical proficiency depending on your desired outcomes. Users who aren’t experts in AI generation or prompt writing might experience a steep learning curve when trying out the platform.
• Users Who Need an All-in-One Video Generator: Midjourney stands out in image generation, but it’s not ideal for complex video production or video generation. Users can only generate short clips, and this functionality is even limited to Discord. Unlike Runway AI, creators and filmmakers can’t use the platform to blend live footage with AI-generated assets to create special effects. 
• Solopreneurs Who Want a Free Forever Plan: If you’re a solopreneur looking for a free version or trial, you might want to consider a platform that offers this. Midjourney doesn’t offer a free plan or consistent free trials, limiting your opportunity to explore the platform without paying for a subscription.

3 Best Alternatives to Runway AI and Midjourney

Runway AI and Midjourney are industry leaders, but they might not be ideal for every team and business. Three alternatives to consider are Jasper AI, Dall-E, and Stable Diffusion.

How I Evaluated Runway AI vs Midjourney

To assess Runway AI and Midjourney, I determined six key criteria for individuals, teams, and businesses. From there, I divided each category into weighted subcriteria and assigned a total score out of five to identify the winner for each category.

Evaluation Criteria

In evaluating the two platforms, I put the highest weight on core features and output quality to help users find a robust AI generation tool. I also assessed the cost, ease of use, and customization, followed by the platforms’ customer support.

• Core Features (25 Percent): A powerful AI generation tool should include standard capabilities for generating high-quality visuals. I examined Runway AI and Midjourney’s image generation, video production, output quality, basic editing tools, artistic styles, and more.
  • Winner: Runway AI
• Output Quality (20 Percent): For this category, I assessed the quality of generated images and videos in Runway AI and Midjourney, as well as the length of generation time.
  • Winner: Runway AI
• Cost (15 Percent): An AI generation tool should fit your intended budget and resources, so I looked into each platform’s monthly and annual pricing plans, free versions and trials, and number of generations.
  • Winner: Midjourney
• Ease of Use (15 Percent): I tested both platforms as a beginner to understand their interface and overall usability. I assessed the simplicity of navigating through the platforms, generating images and videos, and customizing the outputs.
  • Winner: Runway AI
• Customization (15 Percent): I evaluated how flexible each platform is in terms of style, characters, custom objects, and parameters. I created various outputs using different prompts to see how much I can tailor each image and video on both platforms.
  • Winner: Midjourney
• Customer Support (10 Percent): Here, I looked into the platforms’ support solutions, onboarding and training, and active user community.
  • Winner: Midjourney

Bottom Line: Runway AI vs Midjourney

Runway AI and Midjourney are leading AI art generators that enable you to transform their creative vision into visually appealing outputs. Runway AI stands out for its user-friendly interface and powerful video generation, while Midjourney excels in creating images and customization. Ultimately, the best option will depend on your individual needs and preferences. Runway AI and Midjourney have their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s essential to consider your objectives and artistic requirements before making a decision.

Do you want to know more about companies shaping the AI industry? Read our article on the top 150 AI companies to learn more about these frontrunners.