Comparison of Tools: Midjourney, DALL-E 3, etc.

Reading time: approximately 8 minutes

The landscape for AI image generators is changing rapidly, but some major players have established themselves with clear strengths and weaknesses. Choosing the right tool is like choosing the right brush, an oil paint gives a different result than watercolor. In this moment, we compare some of the most popular platforms to help you find the tool that best suits your purposes and your technical comfort level.

What You Will Learn

• Strengths and weaknesses of the leading platforms.
• Which tools are best for photorealism, creativity or user-friendliness.
• Things to consider regarding cost and accessibility.

Comparison of Popular Tools

We evaluate the tools based on three criteria: User-friendliness, Image Quality/Style, and Accessibility/Cost.

1. DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot)

• User-friendliness: Very high. Because it is integrated into chat AIs, you can often describe the image you want in plain language, and the AI helps to formulate an effective prompt. This is the most beginner-friendly option.
• Image Quality/Style: The strength lies in its ability to understand and follow long, complex instructions literally. It is also exceptionally good at rendering text correctly inside images. The style can sometimes feel somewhat "polished" or "digital".
• Accessibility/Cost: Often included in subscription services like ChatGPT Plus. Can also be accessed for free (with certain limitations) via Microsoft Copilot, making it very accessible.

2. Midjourney

• User-friendliness: Medium. The interaction takes place via the chat app Discord, which can be an unfamiliar interface for many. Prompting is more technical and requires learning specific commands and parameters to get full control.
• Image Quality/Style: Considered by many to be industry-leading when it comes to aesthetic and artistic quality. Midjourney excels at creating beautiful, atmospheric and often dramatic images with a cinematic feel. It is more of an artist than an engineer compared to DALL-E 3.
• Accessibility/Cost: Requires a paid subscription. There is currently no permanent free version.

3. Adobe Firefly

• User-friendliness: High. Firefly has a clear web interface and is deeply integrated into Adobe's other software (like Photoshop and Illustrator), which is a big advantage for those who already use these tools.
• Image Quality/Style: High quality with a focus on commercial usability. Its unique selling point is ethics: Firefly is trained exclusively on images from Adobe Stock and material with open licenses. This makes it the "safest" choice from a copyright perspective for creating material.
• Accessibility/Cost: Usage is based on "generative credits" that are included in most of Adobe's subscription plans, but can also be purchased separately.

4. Stable Diffusion

• User-friendliness: Low to high. This is the option for those who want maximum control. It can be run locally on your own powerful computer (very complex) or via various web services (easier). The learning curve is steeper, but the reward is unmatched flexibility.
• Image Quality/Style: Extremely varied. Because Stable Diffusion has open source code, there are hundreds of specially trained "sub-models" for virtually any style, from technical drawings to photorealism and anime.
• Accessibility/Cost: The software itself is free. Running it locally costs nothing (beyond the hardware). Web services that use Stable Diffusion usually have payment models.

Summary and Recommendation

Recommendation for school staff: Start with DALL-E 3 via Microsoft Copilot to learn the basics at no cost. When you feel limited and want to create images with higher artistic quality, consider a subscription to Midjourney. If copyright security is the absolute highest priority for material to be widely distributed, Adobe Firefly is the safest choice.

Next Steps

Now that you have a handle on the ethics and tools, it is time to tie it all together. In the final moment, "Project: Create Visual Material for a Lesson Area", you get to apply everything you have learned in a concrete project adapted for your own teaching.