What does each image you keep actually cost?

List prices assume every image is a keeper. Most aren't. Pick a plan or API price, set how many images you need and how many you usually keep, and this works out the cost per kept image and what a month would run.

Quick answer

Cost per kept image is the cost per generated image divided by your keep rate. If an image costs $0.0125 and you keep 1 in 4 (25%), each keeper costs $0.05. To end up with 100 keepers at that rate you generate 400 images.

Price source

Keep rate

100% (every image) 50% (1 in 2) 33% (1 in 3) 25% (1 in 4)

Custom %

Assumes every image is kept. Lower this to your real keep rate.

Cost per generated image ($)

From the vendor's page, or worked out from the plan. See the source link below.

Images you need per month

Monthly plan price (USD)

Images the plan covers

Cost per kept image:

This is the list price. Lower the keep rate above to see what a keeper costs.

Images to generate:

Estimated monthly spend:

How it's worked out

Cost per generated image is the vendor's published per-image price, or, for plans, the plan price divided by the number of images the plan covers.
Cost per kept image is the cost per generated image divided by your keep rate. Keep 1 in 4 and each keeper costs four times the list price.
Images to generate is the images you need divided by your keep rate, rounded up.
Monthly spend for pay-per-use prices is images to generate times cost per generated image. For plans it's the plan price, as long as you stay within the allowance.

What it leaves out: taxes, input tokens on token-billed APIs, upscales, edits, failed runs, and free or slow modes. Plan figures assume every credit or minute is used on the model shown.

Worked example

Example only, using Midjourney Basic on monthly billing, checked November 9, 2026.

Cost per generated image: $10 / 800 images = $0.0125
Keep rate: 25% (1 in 4)
Cost per kept image: $0.0125 / 0.25 = $0.05
Images you need: 100, so images to generate: 100 / 0.25 = 400 (100 image jobs of 4)
Fits within Basic's about 200 jobs (800 images) a month, so monthly spend is the $10 plan price.

Spot a price that changed? Report the change. Prices are updated only when the new figure can be read on the vendor's own page.

FAQ

What keep rate should I use?

Your own. Count how many images you used out of your last batch. If you don't know, try 25% and 50% and see the range.

Why does a cheap plan sometimes cost more per keeper?

Credits and Fast time are sized for list-price use. A low keep rate burns through the allowance, and extra credits are often priced higher than the plan rate.

Are reseller prices the vendor's prices?

No. Resellers set their own rates and terms. They're grouped separately in the dropdown.

Why is Leonardo missing?

Leonardo doesn't publish tokens per image, so a cost per image can't be worked out from its page.