Midjourney commercial use rules are set by one section of the Terms of Service, which governs the images, videos and other “Assets” a customer generates and the prompts, or “Inputs”, it enters.[1] They are unusual because the customer-size test is written into the ownership clause itself: the right to own the output depends on the customer’s yearly revenue and plan.
Editions
The relevant dividing line is between the Basic and Standard plans and the Pro and Mega plans. The plan comparison page gives every plan “General Commercial Terms” and says that anyone who has subscribed at any point is free to use images and videos in just about any way, but that a company making more than USD 1,000,000 in gross revenue a year must purchase Pro or Mega.[2] Stealth Mode is the second dividing line and is available only on Pro and Mega.[2] A table summarising the position:
| Customer | Plan needed to own and use Assets |
|---|---|
| Individual, or company at or below USD 1,000,000 a year | Any plan, subject to the Terms |
| Company or employee of a company above USD 1,000,000 a year | Pro or Mega |
| Anyone who needs outputs hidden from other users | Pro or Mega with Stealth Mode |
Metrics
The metric is the customer’s annual revenue (Annual gross revenue (Pro or Mega threshold)). The Terms say that a company, or any employee of a company, with more than USD 1,000,000 a year in revenue must be subscribed to Pro or Mega “to own Your Assets”.[1] The help article describes the same rule as applying to a business grossing more than USD 1,000,000 a year that wants to use images commercially for the company.[3] See Companies above USD 1M revenue must subscribe to Pro or Mega and Help pages: businesses above USD 1M need Pro or Mega for commercial use. The documents use “revenue” in the Terms and “gross revenue” on the help pages, and do not define either term or say whether affiliates count.
Counting / floors
Employees. The clause covers “any employee of a company”, so the question is not only whether the account holder pays with a company card. An employee using a personal Basic or Standard account for work for a large company falls inside the wording.[1] A company should therefore either buy Pro or Mega for staff who generate work assets or prohibit use of the service for company work.
Ownership exceptions. Ownership is the starting point: the customer owns all Assets it creates to the fullest extent possible under applicable law. It is subject to obligations under the Agreement and to third party rights, and an upscaled image of another user remains owned by the original creator.[1] The help page tells users that this means the original creator’s permission is needed.[3]
Cancelling. Ownership persists even if the customer later downgrades or cancels.[1] The help page repeats that images and videos created remain the customer’s after cancellation.[3]
Legal advice. Midjourney says it cannot offer guidance on copyright, which differs by country, and recommends consulting a lawyer.[3] The Terms also say users should consult their own lawyer about the state of intellectual property law in their jurisdiction.[1] Neither document warrants that outputs are free of third party rights; the service and assets are provided “as is” without warranties of title or non-infringement.[1]
Virtualization & partitioning
Not applicable.
Cloud / BYOL
Not applicable.
Programs
Stealth Mode
Stealth mode lets the customer control who can see its images and videos on the Midjourney website. It is available only to Pro and Mega members, and content made private stays private if the customer later cancels or downgrades.[4] The Terms limit the promise: for customers who bought Stealth as part of Pro or Mega, or through the previous add-on, Midjourney agrees to make “best efforts” not to publish assets made while stealth was engaged.[1] It is therefore a best efforts commitment (Stealth Mode is a best efforts commitment), not a guarantee.
There are further limits. By default all content is publicly viewable and remixable, and Midjourney describes itself as an open community.[1] Every image or video can potentially be found on the Explore page, including those made in private Discord servers or direct messages, unless Stealth mode is used.[5] Even with Stealth mode turned on, creations made in public Discord channels remain visible. For full privacy the customer should use the web Create page, Discord direct messages or a private Discord server together with Stealth mode.[4] Content must still follow the Community Guidelines.[5]
Upgrading to a plan with Stealth does not automatically hide earlier public creations; the customer must set them to private individually or in bulk on the Organize page. Trashing a creation is not the same as making it private, because trashed creations may still be found on the Explore page, in rankings or by job ID or URL.[4]
The licence the customer gives Midjourney
By using the Services, the customer grants Midjourney, its affiliates, successors and assigns a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable, royalty-free and irrevocable copyright licence to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, display, perform, sublicense and distribute the Content input to the Services and the Assets produced, and the licence survives termination.[1] A company that handles confidential or client material should read this alongside the Stealth limits: a confidential prompt or an uploaded reference image is Content under the Terms.
Contract terms
Content responsibility. The customer is responsible for all Content, including that it does not break the law or the Agreement and that it holds the necessary rights and permissions.[1] The Image Editor and Video terms repeat that the customer must hold permission from anyone depicted in uploaded or generated content and must not infringe third party intellectual property or privacy rights.[1]
Prohibited uses. The Community Guidelines in the Terms bar adult content and gore, using the service to generate images for political campaigns or to influence an election, using the service or assets to deceive or defraud anyone, and intentionally misleading recipients about the nature or source of assets.[1]
Provenance. Midjourney says every image it delivers has a hidden ID tag that can be checked at midjourney.com/verify, and that the tag is easily lost by screenshots, edits and most social media sites.[6]
Trademarks. The Midjourney Trademark Policy lets customers refer to Midjourney truthfully, but not use its marks in the name of a business, product, service, app, publication or domain name or on merchandise for sale.[7]
Audits and compliance
No audit right exists, but compliance is checkable by anyone who sees the account. A control set: identify every employee or contractor using Midjourney for company work; decide which plan each needs against the USD 1,000,000 test; record whether Stealth Mode is required for client or pre-release work; ban public Discord channels for confidential prompts; and keep a record of the licence terms in force on the date work was produced, since the Terms are updated and continued use constitutes acceptance.[1]
Out of scope
- Whether Midjourney outputs are protected by copyright in any jurisdiction, and litigation about the models’ training data.
- Data deletion and privacy rights.
- Use of outputs by a non-subscriber to whom the customer passes images, which the Terms do not address beyond the customer’s obligations.