For your situation, I'd suggest checking these out:

- Leonardo.ai Artisan Plan: It's around $10/month, though the UI is kinda messy... super annoying to navigate sometimes.
- Tensor.art: Highkey the cheapest pay-per-image option for stylized stuff.

Honestly, I had issues with "free" tools having trash quality and tiny credit limits, but these actually work for blog backgrounds without the Midjourney price tag. How many graphics u looking to make weekly? 👍

> I’ve checked out a few free tools, but the credit limits are usually super restrictive

Just sharing my experience: I went through this last year and switched to Mage.space. Their $8 Basic Plan offers unlimited generations using Stable Diffusion XL models. This basically allows for consistent stylized graphics without the high monthly cost of Midjourney. Its highkey the most efficient way I've found to stay under budget while maintaining decent output quality. gl!

> Ideally, I’d love to find something under $10 a month or perhaps a pay-per-image model I totally agree with the others that those $30 subs are way too much for casual blog work. I've been trying to do some market research on this lately and found a couple of other options that might fit your $10 limit.

• SeaArt.ai: This one is basically a budget beast. Tbh the UI is super cluttered and kinda confusing at first, but they give you a lot of daily credits for free. Even their paid tiers are way cheaper than the industry standard.
• Ideogram: I think their basic plan is only $7 a month? Its really great for social media graphics because it handles text way better than most cheap models. The quality for stylized art is honestly pretty impressive for that price point. I'm not 100% sure on the exact math for the output-to-cost ratio on every single site, but these two seem like the best value for money right now. Maybe one of those would be easier on your wallet? I'm still learning how to prompt them properly though.

Stumbled upon this discussion and figured I would chime in. Ive tried many of these over the years and honestly most monthly subs are a total scam for casual blog work. Since you mentioned social graphics, you really should look at the Ideogram AI Basic Plan. Its only 7 bucks a month and handles text better than anything else ive used. Perfect for those stylized backgrounds where you actually want the words to be readable. If u want to dodge the monthly sub altogether, check out Civitai Buzz. You basically just buy a pack of credits for a few dollars and use them whenever. No pressure to use them before the month ends. In my experience, the pay-as-you-go model is way better for budget conscious creators who dont need a constant stream of images. Ngl, its kinda crazy how much people overpay for the big names when these options exist...

This ^