Midjourney vs OpenAI: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Midjourney reported $300M of revenue in FY2024 and — of net income. OpenAI reported $20B of revenue in FY2025 and — of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Midjourney
- Latest revenue
- $300M (FY2024)
- Net income
- —
- Net margin
- 0.0%
- Revenue growth
- +144.9% a year, FY2022–FY2024
OpenAI
- Latest revenue
- $20B (FY2025)
- Net income
- —
- Net margin
- 0.0%
- Revenue growth
- +216.2% a year, FY2023–FY2025
Financial summary
Midjourney
Midjourney is private and does not release revenue, profit or subscriber counts. Holz said in 2022 that the company was already profitable. Third-party trackers estimate revenue of about $50 million in 2022, about $200 million in 2023 and roughly $300 million in 2024; some 2025-2026 analyses cite figures near $500 million, but none of these numbers is audited or confirmed by the company. Midjourney has raised no outside equity, so there is no priced funding round and no official valuation.
OpenAI
OpenAI reports revenue as annualized run rate rather than audited GAAP figures. The company says it reached $1 billion of revenue within a year of launching ChatGPT, was generating about $1 billion per quarter by the end of 2024, and passed $20 billion of annualized revenue by the end of 2025. Axios reported the run rate was nearing $70 billion at the end of September 2026. Funding has scaled alongside: $110 billion announced in February 2026 at a $730 billion pre-money valuation grew to $122 billion committed at $852 billion post-money by March 31, 2026, anchored by Amazon, Nvidia and SoftBank. An employee tender of about $7 billion followed in August 2026 at the same valuation. The company remains unprofitable because compute spending outpaces revenue.
Revenue and profit by year
Midjourney
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | $300M | — | 0.0% | +50.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $200M | — | 0.0% | +300.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $50M | — | 0.0% | — | Source |
OpenAI
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $20B | — | 0.0% | +400.0% | Source |
| FY2024 | $4B | — | 0.0% | +100.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $2B | — | 0.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Midjourney
- Monthly and annual subscriptions
Not disclosed (majority)
Basic, Standard, Pro and Mega plans priced $10-$120 per month.
- Extra Fast GPU hours
Not disclosed
On-demand purchases of additional Fast generation time.
- Technology licensing
Not disclosed
Licensing of image and video technology, including the deal Meta announced in August 2025.
OpenAI
- ChatGPT SubscriptionsMajor
Consumer, team, business, education, and enterprise subscriptions.
- API UsageMajor
Usage-based developer and enterprise model access through OpenAI APIs.
- Enterprise PlatformGrowing
Business deployments, governance, custom workflows, and platform services.
- Partnerships and LicensingEmerging
Strategic licensing, infrastructure partnerships, commerce, and outcome-based AI workflows.
Business model and strategy
Midjourney
How it makes money
Midjourney sells subscriptions. Plans are Basic ($10/month), Standard ($30), Pro ($60) and Mega ($120), with discounts for annual billing. Each tier buys a monthly allotment of Fast GPU time; Standard and above add unlimited Relax-mode image generation, and Pro and Mega add Stealth Mode so creations stay out of the public gallery. Extra Fast hours can be bought on demand.
Growth strategy
Growth comes from regular model releases (V7 in April 2025, Video V1 in June 2025, Niji 7 in January 2026, V8 alpha in March 2026, V8.2 in July 2026), a web app that removed the need for Discord, and licensing: in August 2025 Meta announced it would license Midjourney's image and video technology. Holz has said the long-term goal is real-time open-world simulation.
Competitive advantage
Midjourney's edge is aesthetic quality and a loyal creative user base. Its models are tuned on user ratings and personalization profiles, which helps them produce stylized, cinematic images that many illustrators and concept artists prefer. Because it carries no investor obligations, it can release models on its own schedule and keep a small, research-led team.
OpenAI
How it makes money
OpenAI earns revenue in three main ways. First, ChatGPT subscriptions: consumer tiers such as Plus and Pro, plus Business, Enterprise and Edu seats sold to organizations. Second, the API platform, where developers and companies pay per token to build OpenAI models (GPT, reasoning, image, audio and embeddings) into their own software.
Growth strategy
OpenAI is growing on four fronts: selling ChatGPT and Codex into enterprises, turning ChatGPT into a broader 'super app' with agents, shopping and apps inside the chat, building its own compute through the Stargate data center program and chip partnerships, and moving into hardware through the 2025 acquisition of Jony Ive's io.
Competitive advantage
OpenAI's advantage is distribution plus scale. ChatGPT is the most widely used AI assistant, with OpenAI citing more than 900 million weekly users in February 2026, which gives it a direct consumer channel that rivals have to buy or build.
Questions about Midjourney vs OpenAI
Which company has higher revenue — Midjourney, Inc. or OpenAI?
Midjourney, Inc. reported $300.0M (FY2024), while OpenAI reported $20.0B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, OpenAI is the larger business, with Midjourney, Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
Which is more financially efficient — Midjourney, Inc. or OpenAI?
Midjourney, Inc. generates $3.00M / employee in revenue per employee, while OpenAI generates $4.44M / employee. OpenAI shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Midjourney, Inc. and OpenAI make money?
Midjourney, Inc. and OpenAI generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Midjourney, Inc.: Midjourney sells subscriptions. OpenAI: OpenAI earns revenue in three main ways.
Is Midjourney, Inc. bigger than OpenAI?
By last reported revenue, OpenAI ($20.0B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Midjourney, Inc. ($300.0M (FY2024)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Midjourney vs OpenAI overview