Which Midjourney version should I use?

For most work in 2026, v6 or v7 give the best photorealism, prompt understanding, and text rendering. Use niji mode for anime and illustration. Older versions (v4, v5) are mainly useful for reproducing a specific older aesthetic or matching an existing project's look.

How do I set the Midjourney version?

Append --version (or --v) followed by the number, for example --v 6. You can also set a default version with the /settings command in Discord so you do not have to type the flag each time. For niji, use --niji 6 instead.

What is niji mode in Midjourney?

Niji is a specialised model tuned for anime and illustration styles, developed with Spellbrush. It excels at clean line art, expressive characters, and dynamic poses. Invoke it with --niji 5 or --niji 6 rather than the standard --v flag.

Does Midjourney v6 support inpainting?

Yes. From v6 onward Midjourney supports region editing (often called Vary Region or inpainting), letting you select part of an image and regenerate just that area with a new prompt. Earlier versions did not have this feature.

What changed in Midjourney v6 versus v5?

v6 brought much stronger prompt comprehension, far better in-image text rendering, more coherent details, and support for region editing. It also reads longer, more natural-language prompts well, whereas v5 responded better to comma-separated keyword lists.

Midjourney Version Comparator

Each Midjourney version is a different model with its own strengths. Picking the right one — or switching deliberately to match an existing look — makes a real difference. This comparator puts the major versions side by side so you can see exactly what changes between v4 and v7.

How it works

Tick the versions you care about and the tool renders a capability matrix. Each row is a concrete capability rather than marketing copy:

Photorealism — how convincing realistic images look.
Prompt comprehension — how well it follows complex, natural-language prompts.
Text in image — legibility of rendered words and signage.
Aspect ratio support — preset-only versus arbitrary ratios.
Niji / anime mode — availability of the anime-tuned model.
Region editing (inpainting) — ability to regenerate part of an image.
Default —stylize — the baseline aesthetic strength.

The matrix makes the trade-offs obvious: newer versions win on realism and comprehension, while a specific older version may be the right call to match an existing project’s aesthetic.

Tips and notes

Set a default. Use /settings in Discord to lock your preferred version so you do not type --v on every prompt.
Niji is a separate flag. Use --niji 6, not --v 6 --niji. They select different models.
Newer is not always better. If you started a series in v5 and need consistency, keep using v5 for that series rather than mixing aesthetics mid-project.
Prompt style follows the version. v6 and v7 reward natural-language sentences; v5 and earlier respond better to comma-separated keyword lists.