Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

DALL-E 3 vs Midjourney v6.1 benchmark

Name: DALL-E 3 vs Midjourney v6.1 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Comparing verified benchmark accuracy, speed, and token pricing between DALL-E 3 and Midjourney v6.1. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Share Analysis:

Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

5 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

DALL-E 3 (2)Midjourney v6.1 (3)

DALL-E 3

2 of 5 Wins

✓Generation time✓Price per 1k images

Midjourney v6.1

3 of 5 Wins

✓Image Elo✓Prompt adherence✓Text rendering

OpenAI

Leads 2 of 5 metrics

DALL-E 3

Legacy OpenAI image model benchmark baseline. Retained for historical comparisons.

Img Elo 1,145$40/1k imgs

Midjourney

Leads 3 of 5 metrics

Midjourney v6.1

Previous standard in aesthetic digital art generation, retained as a historical compare baseline.

v6.1Img Elo 1,265$80/1k imgs

Top Rival Showdowns for DALL-E 3

All Matchups

Compare vs:vs Reve 2.1 vs Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image)vs FLUX.2 [max]vs Ideogram 4.0 (Quality)vs Recraft V4.1 Utility Pro

Image Quality LeaderMidjourney v6.1 Wins

Midjourney v6.1

Δ 120 Image Elo pts

Generation Speed LeaderDALL-E 3 Wins

DALL-E 3

6.2s per render

Value per Dollar LeaderDALL-E 3 Wins

DALL-E 3

$40/1k images

Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

DALL-E 3 (2)vsMidjourney v6.1 (3)

DALL-E 3: 2W (40%)Overall: Midjourney v6.1Midjourney v6.1: 3W (60%)

← DALL-E 3Midjourney v6.1 →

🏆Midjourney v6.1(3/3)

Visual Quality & Adherence

Arena Preference Elo, prompt fidelity & typography score

Benchmark

DALL-E 3vsMidjourney v6.1

Image Elo

1,145vs1,265+120

Prompt adherence

84%vs89%+5%

Text rendering

81%vs84%+3%

DALL-E 3: 0WMidjourney v6.1: 3W

🏆DALL-E 3(1/1)

Generation Latency

Time to render full-resolution image snapshot (seconds)

Benchmark

DALL-E 3vsMidjourney v6.1

Generation time

6.2svs7.5s+1.3s

DALL-E 3: 1WMidjourney v6.1: 0W

🏆DALL-E 3(1/1)

Cost Efficiency

API inference cost per 1,000 generated images

Benchmark

DALL-E 3vsMidjourney v6.1

Price per 1k images

$40/1kvs$80/1k+$40/1k

DALL-E 3: 1WMidjourney v6.1: 0W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Image Elo+120

DALL-E 31,145

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Midjourney v6.11,265

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Generation time+1.3s

DALL-E 36.2s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Midjourney v6.17.5s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Price per 1k images+$40/1k

DALL-E 3$40/1k

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Midjourney v6.1$80/1k

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Prompt adherence+5%

DALL-E 384%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Midjourney v6.189%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Text rendering+3%

DALL-E 381%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Midjourney v6.184%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

Benchmark	DALL-E 3	Midjourney v6.1	Advantage Delta
Image Elo	1,145 seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	1,265 seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	+120
Generation time	6.2s seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	7.5s seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	+1.3s
Price per 1k images	$40/1k seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	$80/1k seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	+$40/1k
Prompt adherence	84% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	89% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	+5%
Text rendering	81% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	84% seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026	+3%

Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 50% with DALL-E 3

Monthly Image Production Volume25k images / month (25000 imgs)

Quick Presets:

DALL-E 3$1,000.00 / mo

Rate: $40/1k

Midjourney v6.1$2,000.00 / mo

Rate: $80/1k

Estimated Cost Delta

DALL-E 3 is estimated to save $1,000.00/month ($12,000/year).

Based on 25k images generated

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatinsufficient data

Need list prices.

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGinsufficient data

Need context sizes.

Screenshots / visioninsufficient data

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	insufficient data	Need list prices.
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	insufficient data	Need context sizes.
Screenshots / vision	insufficient data	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Community Sentiment

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK

OpenAI

DALL-E 3

Elo n/a

SWE-bench—

Speed (tok/s)—

Input / 1M Tokens$40/1k

Output / 1M Tokens$40/1k

Midjourney

Midjourney v6.1

Elo n/a

SWE-bench—

Speed (tok/s)—

Input / 1M Tokens$80/1k

Output / 1M Tokens$80/1k

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: List prices are missing for at least one model.
Which is faster, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Context window is missing for at least one model.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DALL-E 3 and Midjourney v6.1 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All DALL-E 3 matchups →|All Midjourney v6.1 matchups →

DALL-E 3 vs GPT Image 1.5 (next gpt-image)Midjourney v6.1 vs Midjourney v7 (next midjourney)GPT Image 2 (High) vs Midjourney v6.1 GPT Image 2 (Low / Fast) vs Midjourney v6.1 GPT Image 1.5 vs Midjourney v6.1 Reve 2.1 vs Midjourney v6.1

Benchmark

DALL-E 3

Midjourney v6.1

Advantage Delta

Image Elo

1,145

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

1,265

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

+120

Generation time

6.2s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

7.5s

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

+1.3s

Price per 1k images

$40/1k

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

$80/1k

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

+$40/1k

Prompt adherence

84%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

89%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

+5%

Text rendering

81%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

84%

seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026

+3%

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatinsufficient data

Need list prices.

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGinsufficient data

Need context sizes.

Screenshots / visioninsufficient data

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	insufficient data	Need list prices.
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	insufficient data	Need context sizes.
Screenshots / vision	insufficient data	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

List prices are missing for at least one model.

Which is faster, DALL-E 3 or Midjourney v6.1?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Context window is missing for at least one model.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DALL-E 3 and Midjourney v6.1 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.