Midjourney vs Stable Diffusion

Side-by-side comparison for UK business buyers. Scores 0–5 from our evaluation rubric; ✓ = claimed or available.

Comparison at a glance

Dimension Midjourney Stable Diffusion
Implementation friction (0–5) 3 2
Integration maturity (0–5) 2 4
Pricing transparency (0–5) 4 3
Security posture (0–5) 0 3
SME fit (0–5) 3 3
GDPR/DPA
Data location (UK/EU)
Starting price (GBP)
SSO
Audit logs

— = not yet evaluated or not stated. How we evaluate.

Tool details

Midjourney

AI image generation via Discord: text-to-image with strong artistic and photorealistic output. UK SMEs in creative or marketing roles can use it for concept art and assets; access is subscription-only and requires Discord.

Visit Midjourney →

Stable Diffusion GDPR/DPA

Open-source image generation model by Stability AI; run locally or via API. UK SMEs with technical capacity can use it for in-house creative work with full control over data; API and self-hosted options suit different risk and cost profiles.

Visit Stable Diffusion →

How we evaluate

We score tools on five dimensions (0–5) from public, verifiable information: implementation friction (ease of getting started), integration maturity (APIs, SSO, export), pricing transparency, security posture (heuristic from vendor statements), and SME fit (overall fit for time-poor, budget-conscious UK SMEs). We also record flags: GDPR/DPA claimed, UK/EU data hosting, SSO, and audit logs.