What Midjourney's terms say
We read Midjourney's Terms of Service (version effective 27 May 2026) and its plan comparison page on 20 Oct 2026. The key lines:
- You own your images. "You own all Assets You create with the Services to the fullest extent possible under applicable law."
- The $1M rule. "If you are a company or any employee of a company with more than $1,000,000 USD a year in revenue, you must be subscribed to a 'Pro' or 'Mega' plan to own Your Assets."
- Ownership survives cancelling. "Your ownership of the Assets you created persists even if in subsequent months You downgrade or cancel Your membership."
- Upscaling someone else's image doesn't make it yours. "If you upscale the images of others, these images remain owned by the original creators."
- Midjourney keeps a broad license too. You grant Midjourney a "perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive… irrevocable" license to your prompts and outputs, and images are public and remixable by default. Only Pro and Mega include Stealth Mode, which keeps new images out of the public gallery.
- No deceiving buyers. The Community Guidelines in the same document say you may not use the images "to deceive or defraud anyone" or "intentionally mislead recipients of the Assets about their nature or source."
The plans page puts it plainly: "If you have subscribed at any point, you are free to use your images/videos in just about any way you want."
Which plan you need to sell
There is no free plan to test with. All four plans carry the same "General Commercial Terms"; the differences are GPU time, privacy and the $1M company rule. Prices from the plans page, 20 Oct 2026 Verified:
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly | Fast GPU time | Stealth Mode | OK for a company over $1M revenue? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $10 | $96 ($8/mo) | 3.3 hrs/mo | No | No |
| Standard | $30 | $288 ($24/mo) | 15 hrs/mo + unlimited Relax images | No | No |
| Pro | $60 | $576 ($48/mo) | 30 hrs/mo | Yes | Yes |
| Mega | $120 | $1,152 ($96/mo) | 60 hrs/mo | Yes | Yes |
For a solo seller, Basic or Standard is enough legally. Pay for Pro if you're selling designs a competitor could copy from the public gallery before you list them, or if your business (or your employer, when it's work for them) passes $1M a year.
Our tool profile for Midjourney keeps a dated price log, and Midjourney vs Leonardo covers the cheaper, free-to-start option.
The copyright catch: you can sell it, but can you protect it?
Owning an image under Midjourney's contract is not the same as holding a copyright in it.
- US Copyright Office, January 2025. Its Part 2 report on copyrightability (29 Jan 2025) concludes that "prompts alone do not provide sufficient human control to make users of an AI system the authors of the output." Copyright can still cover what you add yourself: your own drawing or photo visible in the result, "creative selection, coordination, or arrangement," or "creative modifications of the outputs."
- The courts agree, for now. In Thaler v. Perlmutter the D.C. Circuit held on 18 Mar 2025 that copyright requires a human author, and the US Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal on 2 Mar 2026.
What that means for sellers: a raw Midjourney image you list on Etsy or a print shop has no copyright behind it in the US, so you have little recourse if someone copies it. Selling still works, but what you can protect is your own contribution: hand edits, typography, composition across a set, a collection's arrangement, your brand and listings. Other countries treat this differently, and this isn't legal advice.
The trademark and character catch
Midjourney's terms forbid using it "to try to violate the intellectual property rights of others, including copyright, patent, or trademark rights." In practice, the images that get sellers in trouble are characters, logos, celebrities and recognisable brand styles, not AI itself.
The risk is live: Disney and Universal sued Midjourney for copyright infringement on 11 Jun 2025, and Warner Bros. Discovery's suit (filed 4 Sep 2025) was consolidated with it. As of October 2026 the consolidated case is still in discovery, with no ruling on the merits (docket, C.D. Cal. 2:25-cv-05275). The lawsuit is against Midjourney, not its users, but the safe rule for sellers is simple: never sell images of characters, logos or real people you don't have rights to.
Where you can sell Midjourney images
| Where | Allowed? | Main rule | Our research |
|---|---|---|---|
| Etsy | Yes | Disclose AI use in each listing description; no prompt bundles | AI art on Etsy: rules and fees |
| Print-on-demand (e.g. Printful (paid link)) | Yes | The design must be original and not infringe; the marketplace you sell on sets its own disclosure rules | Print-on-demand with AI art |
| Stock sites | Varies | Several accept generative AI only when labeled, and some don't accept it at all | Stock images with generative AI |
| Client work | Yes | Tell clients the image is AI-made and that it may not be copyrightable; Midjourney's guidelines bar misleading recipients about the source | Commercial-rights matrix |
A quick checklist before you sell
- Generate on a paid plan. If you are, or work for, a company over $1M revenue, use Pro or Mega.
- Keep your prompts and edit files. They document your human contribution.
- Edit, combine or design around the output so there's something of yours to protect.
- No characters, logos, celebrities or "in the style of" a living artist's signature work.
- Disclose AI use where the marketplace requires it, and never tell a buyer it's hand-drawn.
- Re-read the terms before big launches. Midjourney says the agreement "may be updated" and continued use means you accept the changes.
FAQ
Can I sell Midjourney images on the free plan?
There is no free plan. Midjourney's plans start at Basic ($10/month, or $8/month billed yearly), and every plan carries the same commercial terms, checked 20 Oct 2026.
Do I still own my images if I cancel Midjourney?
Yes. The Terms of Service say ownership "persists even if in subsequent months You downgrade or cancel Your membership."
Can I copyright a Midjourney image?
Not an image made from prompts alone, in the US. The Copyright Office said so in January 2025 and the Supreme Court declined to revisit the human-authorship rule in March 2026. Your own edits, arrangement or added artwork can be protected.
Do I need the Pro plan to sell?
Only if you are a company, or an employee of a company, with more than $1,000,000 a year in gross revenue. Otherwise any paid plan works. Pro also adds Stealth Mode, which keeps your images out of the public gallery.
Can I sell Midjourney images of Disney or Marvel characters?
No. Midjourney's terms prohibit using it to violate others' copyrights or trademarks, and Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery are suing Midjourney over exactly these characters.