Actual test of AI image generation tools: Midjourney, DALL-E, Stable Diffusion My choice after using it for 6 months

1. My direct conclusion after 6 months of use (lazy version)

• my real budget

  The current monthly fixed cost is $30: Midjourney Pro $30/month (unlimited fast credit). DALL-E uses ChatGPT Plus directly and does not count here. Stable Diffusion bought an RTX 4070 Ti Super at one time, ran Forge WebUI, and paid back in half a year.

• Tools I've given up on

  Bing Image Creator (strict rules, erratic quality), Leonardo AI (convoluted interface, cumbersome model decentralization management), Adobe Firefly (poor Chinese prompts, insufficient character realism). It’s not that they are bad, it’s that the above three have covered 95% of the scenarios.

• Chinese prompt Personal test gap

  Midjourney Chinese prompts must be translated into English first (I use Claude to translate). If you type directly into Chinese, the quality will drop by 40%. DALL-E 3 Chinese prompt performs surprisingly well (GPT itself will understand the intention). Stable Diffusion Look at the model. Mainstream models such as SDXL must use English prompts to be stable.

2. What is AI image generation? How far will it go in 2026?

• Text-to-Image

  Enter a text description and AI will automatically generate the corresponding image. This is the most basic and commonly used function.

• Image-to-Image

  Upload reference images, and AI will perform style conversion, modification or extension according to your instructions.

• Local modification (Inpainting)

  Select a specific area in the image and let AI modify only that area, leaving the rest unchanged

• Image extension (Outpainting)

  Expand existing images outwards, and AI automatically fills in surrounding content

3. A complete comparison of the three major AI drawing tools

4. Beginner's guide: start your first AI image in 5 minutes

• Step 1: Choose a tool and register

  The fastest way is to open ChatGPT (with DALL-E 3), or register on the Midjourney official website. There is a free quota available for trial first.

• Step 2: Write your first prompt

  Start with a simple description, such as "A Shiba Inu in a suit sitting at a desk working, cartoon style"

• Step 3: Observe the results and adjust

  It’s normal to be dissatisfied with the first generated result. Add more detailed descriptions: light, angle, style, tone.

• Step 4: Use advanced features

  Try uploading reference images, using local modifications, adjusting aspect ratio and other advanced functions

• Step 5: Download and use

  After you are satisfied, download the high-resolution image and confirm the license terms of the tool.

5. Prompt writing skills: let AI draw the picture you want

• Subject description (Who/What)

  Clearly describe the main character or subject of the image, such as "a young woman" "a modern building"

• Environmental scene (Where)

  Explain the background and environment, such as "On the streets of Tokyo in the rain" or "On the sunny beach"

• Style specification (Style)

  Specify an art style, such as "Watercolor Style", "Cyberpunk", "Studio Ghibli Style", "Photorealistic"

• Lighting/Mood

  Describe the light and atmosphere, such as "golden hour golden sunset" and "moody dark tone"

• Technical parameters (Technical)

  Add camera parameters to increase realism, such as "85mm lens, f/1.4, bokeh"

6. Commercial authorization and copyright: Can AI-generated images be sold?

• Avoid generating celebrity portraits

  Even if AI can generate it, using celebrity portraits may involve issues of portrait rights

• Avoid counterfeit brand logos

  Don’t let AI generate logos or brand elements that are already trademarked

• Keep build records

  Save prompt and build time as proof of your usage

7. How to choose free vs paid plan?

8. AI image generation trends and future prospects in 2026

• Video generation goes mainstream

  Tools such as Sora, Runway Gen-3, and Kling have allowed AI video generation to move from experimentation to practicality, significantly lowering the threshold for short video production.

• Instant interaction generation

  The new generation of tools supports real-time preview and interactive adjustment. You no longer need to wait for generation to modify.

• 3D model generation

  Generate 3D models directly from text or 2D images, a revolutionary breakthrough in the fields of games and product design

• Brand Consistency Tool

  Businesses can train AI to learn brand style and ensure brand consistency across all generated content

• Mobile AI drawing

  More and more tools are launching mobile apps, allowing you to generate high-quality images anytime and anywhere.

9. 5 pitfalls I’ve personally stepped on that you can avoid

• ❌ 1st Month BUY SUBSCRIPTION TO ALL TOOLS

  Midjourney Pro + DALL-E (ChatGPT Plus) + Leonardo + Stable Diffusion Cloud + Firefly, monthly fee is $120. As a result, you only get Midjourney. It is recommended to use the 1-month free version to test the water temperature first, and then find the one you use most often and then pay monthly.

• ❌ Use AI diagrams directly in business customer delivery

  If customers look closely, they will find AI flaws such as 6 fingers, blurred text, and asymmetric composition. Now I always use Photoshop / Affinity Photo for post-production before all commercial use, and it takes 5-10 minutes to fix the details. AI drawing is only 70% complete, not 100%.

• ❌ Regenerate the same picture over and over again to achieve perfection

  Quota wakes up after excessive use. Actual measurement: Regenerating more than 10 times usually won’t make things better, it’s just a waste of quota. If there is no result within 10 times, change the prompt or change the tool.

• ❌ Ignore negative prompt (Stable Diffusion)

  Stable Diffusion If you don’t write negative prompt, the quality will be reduced by half. I fixed the template: `low quality, blurry, deformed, extra fingers, watermark, signature, text`. Newbies often overlook this.

• ❌ Copy the prompt to AI and expect the same result

  Midjourney 5/6/7 has extremely different outputs from the same prompt; so does DALL-E 2/3. Don’t copy prompts from the Internet without thinking, understand the role of each keyword and then adjust it.