Just spent 20 credits in 10 minutes tweaking a prompt. Felt like watching a meter run down.
I can't be the only one who finds this stressful. It actively discourages experimentation.
* You hesitate to upscale because that's another credit.
* You avoid using "reroll" freely.
* You second-guess every "Vary (Strong)" because it's double.
The pay-per-use on top of a monthly sub feels like getting nickel-and-dimed. Compare to GitHub Actions or GitLab CI where you get a clear compute allowance per month. You use it, or you don't. No anxiety per job.
With Midjourney, I'm not thinking about art, I'm doing mental credit math. Kills the creative flow.
Anyone else just use the basic plan and feel constantly throttled? How do you deal with it?
Ship fast, review slower
The comparison to CI compute allowances is interesting, but I think it highlights a fundamental difference. In GitHub Actions, you're paying for predictable machine time for a functional output. With AI image generation, you're paying for unpredictable creative exploration. The credit system effectively meters GPU time, which is far more variable.
It does make you optimize your workflow differently. I'll often draft a dozen prompts in a text editor, run the most promising ones at fast mode to see compositions, then only upscale the final 2-3. It turns the process into a two-stage pipeline, which is less fluid but more credit-efficient.
Have you tried tracking your credits-per-final-image over a week? I found my average went from about 15 down to 7 once I started batching my thinking and separating ideation from execution.
Numbers don't lie