In the AI era, it seems that all we ever hear about is ChatGPT, and occasionally Gemini or Apple Intelligence will steal the limelight.
Beneath the headlines are hundreds of other, lesser-known AI tools that can help with all manner of tasks. Flux and Midjourney are two strong choices in the world of AI image generation, but which is best?
The tests
We curated a five-round test to compare the image-generation capabilities of these systems, showcasing what they can do well and what they’re not so suited to.
The prompts include a familiar fictional character doing an expected action; another expected action this time being performed by real humans; a slightly more obscure prompt with a standout adjective to steer the AI, an animal doing an unlikely action; and a broader prompt that gives the AI more freedom.
“Create an image of Jack Frost walking through the snow”
Nobody knows what Jack Frost looks like, yet he’s spoken about every year as the nights get shorter. We asked AI to produce an image of this fictional character befitting of the winter, and the results impress.
Although all five of the images produced fit the bill, we prefer Midjourney’s results because they include snow and wind, adding depth to an otherwise serene image.
Flux 9.21s
Midjourney 20.35s
Flux 0 – Midjourney 1
“Depict a team of footballers on the pitch”
Flux generated the most familiar image – a team of football players huddled on the pitch with an audience of spectators watching on. There’s something not quite right about this image though – wrongly positioned feet and the proximity of the players detracts from the image.
Midjourney created four slightly better images, but they’re all in a similar painted style, lacking any clear definition.
Flux 10.61s
Midjourney 20.02s
Flux 0 – Midjourney 1
“Create a chaotic illustration of a doggy day care centre”
Flux’s content seems fine on the surface, but look a little closer and you’ll spot the headless dog in the puddle or the three-legged, cross-boddied lion-like dog to its right. Other anomalies make the output disappointing, but the apparent cat to the left of the puddle would certainly add to the chaotic feeling.
Maybe Midjourney’s illustration of chaos is better – the four images show dogs everywhere, and are much closer to what we’d imagined when setting out the prompt.
Flux 10.96s
Midjourney 19.50s
Flux 0 – Midjourney 1
“Make a lifelike image of a cheetah playing hockey”
Flux’s attempt at a cheetah playing hockey, albeit ice hockey, is admirable, and the fact that it’s standing on its hind legs like a human adds to the fun.
However, the cheetahs produced by Midjourney are much more accurate, leading to better overall results. The fourth cheetah doesn’t seem to be holding the hockey stick in quite the right place, but we can overlook that for the quality of the first three outputs.
Flux 11.05s
Midjourney 20.27s
Flux 0 – Midjourney 1
“Show me what it’s like to live with the dinosaurs”
We already tried this test in another comparison between two AI image generators, but we weren’t too impressed with the results so hoped for a better show this time around.
The detail in Flux’s images is exceptional, however it missed the mark when showing us what it would be like for a human to live with the dinosaur in question.
Midjourney nailed the task, showing humans and dinosaurs interacting in a variety of settings. It didn’t take too much longer to generate the output, either. We think 20 seconds is a reasonable time to wait for such a solid effort.
Flux 13.00s
Midjourney 20.23
Flux 0 – Midjourney 1
Midjourney vs. Flux: Which is best?
Flux 0 – Midjourney 5
Unfortunately, Flux ended the head-to-head with zero points in the bag, but that doesn’t instantly rule it out as a worthy AI image generator. The truth is that Midjourney just outperformed Flux across all five rounds, but Flux was still able to product good images. Some just missed the mark and didn’t quite respond to our prompts.
On the flip side, Midjourney was consistently impressive and offered a good range of images to pick from. Generating four completely separate images adds to its appeal, but it’s strictly an image generator, whereas Flux does offer some other artificial intelligence tools too, like a video generator and more, making it a good pick for social media marketers.
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