Midjourney Fast Mode vs Relax Mode (November Update)

Using a prestigious AI platform such as Midjourney gives you the advantage of creating high-quality and eye-catching images within moments.

Here, the response time or generative time to create an image depends mainly on your subscription plan, or in other words, the number of fast hours GPU you have left on your account.

Are you having trouble understanding what I’m talking about? If so, don’t worry, I’ll explain it to you in simple terms.

Midjourney has three modes: relax mode, fast mode, and turbo mode. As the name suggests, relaxation mode produces an image in more than a minute, fast mode produces an image within a minute, while turbo mode produces an image in a second.

Each mode specifies how much it can access the GPU. MidJourney uses powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to interpret and process each of your input prompts.

When you purchase a subscription to MidJourney, you’re basically buying time on those GPUs. Different subscription plans have different amounts of monthly GPU time.

Midjourney Fast Mode

In “Fast hours” mode, images are created within a few seconds. This is the best option for anyone who wants to create images quickly in Midjourney.

Midjourney offers fast GPU time on the Basic, Standard, Pro, and Mega plans, and images are also created in fast mode by default on all subscription plans.

Depending on the subscription plan, Midjourney provides its users with a certain amount of fast GPU time, e.g. the Basic plan with 3.3 hours of GPU time per month, the Standard plan with 15 hours of GPU time per month, the Pro plan with 30 hours of GPU time per month and the Mega plan with 60 hours of GPU time per month.

If you have used up all the fast GPU time, your images are automatically generated in relax mode, i.e. with relaxed GPU time.

However, if you still want to use the fast mode even if you have used up all the GPU time before the expiration date, you only have the option of buying an additional hour of time. The cost for each additional hour of Fast GPU time is $4 for each plan.

According to Midjourney, you can produce an average of 60 images per fast hour. However, the number can vary depending on resolution, aspect ratio, upscaling, etc.

Midjourney Relax Mode

In relax mode, the images are created over a long period of time, as no costs are incurred in relax mode, and the images are placed in a queue depending on how much you have used the system.

In this mode, the images are only processed if GPU is available for you. The waiting times are therefore dynamic but are generally between 0 to 10 minutes per image.

If you use the relax mode occasionally, you have a better chance of creating the image in a short time, whereas if you use the relax mode regularly, you will need more time to create the image.

Midjourney does not offer a relaxation mode to its basic plan subscribers. Therefore, base plan subscribers will not be able to generate images from relaxation mode once they have used up all of their fast GPU hours. However, subscribers to the Standard, Pro, and Mega plans have unlimited access to relax mode. They can opt for relax mode whenever they want.

Relax mode is best suited for those who have a lot of time and only want to create a few images with precise prompts. The more you use the Relax mode, the longer it takes to create the images. So use it accurately.

Midjourney Turbo Mode

Turbo mode can produce an image at extremely high speed, or you can also say that it produces an image in one second.

According to Midjourney, the performance of the Turbo Mode generation is up to four times faster but consumes twice as many GPU minutes as a typical Fast Mode image.

This function is currently only available in versions 5, 5.1, and 5.2 of the Midjourney model.

If you want to create an image in turbo mode but no GPUs are available in turbo mode at the same time, your image will be created in fast mode instead of turbo mode.

Difference between Fast Mode and Relax Mode

The fundamental difference between fast and relax modes is the speed at which they generate an image. Fast mode creates an image within seconds, while Relax mode creates an image within minutes.

In fast mode, you have immediate access to the GPUs to create an image, while in relax mode, images are queued depending on how often you have used the system.

In all subscription plans, you have a certain number of Fast hours of GPU time, while apart from the Basic plan, all other subscription plans have unlimited access to Relax mode.

In fast mode, you can create images until the hour of GPU time expires, while in relax mode you can create an unlimited number of images within the validity period, but the time required per image creation increases.

How to Use Fast Mode

Fast mode is activated by default in all subscription plans and the images are also processed using the fast GPU time.

There are two simple ways to activate the fast mode. Firstly, you need to access the Midjourney bot on your own server. Type “/fast” into the chatbox. This will automatically enable fast mode on your account.

Another option is to type “/setting” into the box and press enter. In the settings interface, click on fast mode and it will turn green, which means it is activated.

Now all your requests are processed via fast GPUs.

How to Use Relax Mode

Standard, Pro and Mega subscriptions offer unlimited access to the relax mode. The activation process is the same as above. The only thing you need to change is to type “/relax” in the chat box and click on relax mode in the settings interface.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)