No official status page. Yeah, I know. Here's how to actually find out if Midjourney is down right now.
Midjourney is the one major AI tool that still doesn't have a proper status page. Every other comparable service — OpenAI, Anthropic, Stability AI — has a dashboard you can check in 10 seconds. Midjourney's answer to outage communication is still primarily Discord.
That sounds annoying. It is sometimes annoying. But once you know where to look, you can figure out what's happening pretty quickly.
Where to Check Midjourney's Status
Option 1: The Midjourney Discord Server (Most Reliable)
This is the primary communication channel for Midjourney outages. Go to the Midjourney Discord and look for:
- #announcements — Official announcements, including planned maintenance and incident reports
- #status (if it exists in the current server structure) — Real-time status updates during incidents
- Any pinned messages in the main channels
During an active outage, Midjourney staff post updates directly to Discord. They're usually faster about updating Discord than any other channel. The tradeoff is that Discord can itself be slow to load during peak times, which is ironic.
Option 2: Downdetector
Downdetector.com/status/midjourney aggregates user-reported outage data. If you see a sudden spike in the chart — a sharp rise in reports over a short time window — that's a reliable signal that something's wrong, even if Midjourney hasn't officially acknowledged it yet.
The chart is useful for context: it shows you whether this is an isolated spike or part of a recurring pattern.
Option 3: X/Twitter Search
Search "Midjourney down" on X/Twitter. When Midjourney has problems, designers, artists, and developers complain about it immediately and visibly. Within 5-10 minutes of a real outage starting, you'll see a stream of reports. Not scientific, but fast.
Option 4: Reddit
The r/midjourney subreddit is active and will have threads within minutes of any widespread issue. Useful for getting a sense of scale — is it one person, or is everyone affected?
Why Midjourney Doesn't Have a Status Page
Worth understanding this context. Midjourney is unusual in the AI space — it's a profitable, bootstrapped company that doesn't follow the standard SaaS playbook. CEO David Holz has been explicit that the Discord-centric approach is intentional, not oversight.
The practical consequence for you: there's no single URL to bookmark for instant status checks. You have to triangulate.
That said, the Discord approach has an upside: Midjourney's communication during outages tends to be direct and informal in a way that's actually useful. Staff post what's happening, what they're doing about it, and rough timelines. Compare that to some corporate status pages that post "investigating" for three hours with no updates.
Midjourney Outage Patterns
A few patterns worth knowing:
Queue slowdowns vs. full outages. The most common issue isn't Midjourney being "down" — it's the generation queue backing up. During peak times (US evenings, product launch days), queue times balloon from seconds to minutes. Your /imagine command submits fine, but you're waiting much longer for results. This isn't an outage but it feels like one.
Discord-side issues. Midjourney runs through Discord's API. When Discord itself has problems — and Discord does have outages — Midjourney's bot functionality breaks even if Midjourney's own infrastructure is fine. If Discord seems slow or glitchy, check discordstatus.com to rule that out.
Web app vs. bot issues. Midjourney's web app (midjourney.com) and the Discord bot are separate surfaces. Sometimes one works when the other doesn't. If the bot isn't responding, try the web app, or vice versa.
Account-specific issues. If Midjourney generally seems fine but your generations aren't going through, check your subscription: GPU hours remaining, whether your subscription renewed, payment issues. Account-level problems look exactly like outages from the user's perspective.
Is It Midjourney — or Is It You?
Quick checklist:
Points toward a Midjourney outage:
- Discord #announcements has an active incident post
- Downdetector shows a spike in reports
- Multiple people in your network report the same issue
- The Midjourney bot in Discord doesn't respond at all to
/imagine
Points toward a local or account issue:
- No activity in Discord channels about outages
- Downdetector shows no spike
- The issue is specific to your account (others in shared Discord channels are generating fine)
- You're getting error messages about subscription limits or account access
What to Do While Midjourney Is Down
Midjourney's style — the aesthetic, the specific look it produces — isn't exactly replicable elsewhere. But if you need to ship something and you can't wait:
Ideogram is probably the closest in terms of workflow. Good at following detailed prompts, strong with typography (which Midjourney has historically been weak at). Free tier is usable.
DALL-E 3 (via ChatGPT or the API) is fast and accessible if you already have a ChatGPT account. Quality is different from Midjourney — more photorealistic by default, less artistic — but it's capable for most commercial uses.
Adobe Firefly is worth considering if you're in the Adobe ecosystem. Commercially safe training data is a genuine differentiator for professional work. Free credits are available; paid access comes with Creative Cloud.
Stable Diffusion (via hosted services like Clipdrop or Stability AI's API) is an option if you need heavy customization or specific style control. Higher setup cost but more flexibility.
None of these are identical substitutes. Midjourney's community, model quality, and the /imagine workflow have a specific feel that the alternatives don't fully replicate. But for a deadline situation, they'll get the job done.
Getting Updates Without Constantly Checking
The Discord method is annoying if you're not otherwise living in Discord. A few alternatives:
- X/Twitter: Follow @midjourney — they occasionally post status updates there during significant incidents
- Downdetector email alerts: Downdetector offers paid alerts, but the free version lets you check the chart manually
- Community monitors: Some power users run Discord bots that ping channels when the Midjourney bot goes offline; if you're in a design community, someone probably already has this set up
The honest answer is that Midjourney's status communication infrastructure is a genuine weak point compared to competitors. If reliable uptime notification matters for your workflow, it's a legitimate criticism of the product.
When to Expect Resolution
Most Midjourney incidents resolve quickly — under two hours, often much faster for queue issues. Full infrastructure problems take longer. The Discord channel is your best source for ETAs; Midjourney staff are generally responsive about posting timeline updates.
If an outage has been going on for more than a few hours with no Discord activity, that's unusual enough to start taking alternatives more seriously for the day.
For a broader look at how Midjourney compares to alternatives when it's actually working, see the Midjourney review and our breakdown of the best AI image generators if you're evaluating whether to stick with Midjourney long-term.
