Midjourney made V8.2 its default image model on July 24, 2026. The announcement is one paragraph and four bullets, with no numbers in it, which is why so much of what circulates about V8.2 arrived from somewhere else.
Everything below comes from that announcement and the two official pages that carry rules. Where those pages are silent, the text says so.
What the V8.2 announcement says
The post opens with the sentence that matters: “We are launching our V8.2 image model today.” Four bullets carry the rest:
- Images “should be more creative, bold, sophisticated, edgy and fresh”.
- “Random situations where you’d get a low quality image should be dramatically reduced.”
- Personalization will “understand” your personal taste much better, “especially if you have a ton of ratings”.
- V8.2 personalization profiles draw on “a much larger and improved pool of images”.
It closes by suggesting you try “both new and old personalization profiles”. No bullet carries a figure. New here? The Midjourney quick-start guide covers the first grid.
July 24, 2026: V8.2 becomes the default version
The Version page states it plainly: “The current default Midjourney version is V8.2.” The next sentence adds the date: “V8.2 released as the default version on July 24, 2026. V8.2 is an update focused on aesthetics, image quality, and Personalization.” V8.2 also brings the new Edit Model, “which replaces Omni Reference, Character Reference, and the Retexture tool”.
Where V8.2 sits in the version timeline
| Version | Released | Default window | What the official page says |
|---|---|---|---|
| V8.0 Alpha | March 17, 2026 | never the default | Early access alpha, retired July 2026. |
| V8.1 | April 14, 2026 | June 10 – July 23, 2026 | Fastest model so far; 4–5× faster jobs. |
| V8.2 | July 24, 2026 | July 24, 2026 onward | Aesthetics, quality, Personalization. |
| V7 | April 3, 2025 | June 17, 2025 – June 9, 2026 | Introduced Draft Mode and Omni Reference. |
V8.0 never held the default slot, and V8.1 lost it the day before V8.2 took over.
Pinning a version with --v
“Add --v # to the end of your prompt,” the Version page says, on web and Discord alike. A standing default is set once instead, in the Imagine bar settings or Discord’s version dropdown — so --v 8.2 is a lock, not a requirement.
What V8.2 keeps from V8.1
The comparison chart runs one column for V8.1 and V8.2 alike, and lists HD images at 2048 px via --hd at 1.3 GPU minutes, against 0.8 for --sd. One boundary: panning, zooming out or editing a region on an HD image returns SD.
Three changes the update names
Stripped of adjectives, the announcement makes three claims. Aesthetics: images should read as more creative, bold, sophisticated, edgy and fresh. Quality: random low-quality results should be “dramatically reduced”. Personalization: taste is understood better, and profiles with many ratings gain the most.
None of the three arrives with a number or a list of cases it does not cover. The rules in the Midjourney prompt guide still hold: short prompt, parameters last.
Personalization: your V7 profile carries over
A version change usually means rebuilding taste data. Not this one. “Your V7 Global Personalization Profile is compatible with V8.2,” the Personalization page says, and in the other direction: “V8 profiles are currently not compatible with V7.” There is no Global V8 profile yet.
Turning personalization on with --p
- Open the Personalize page and find your Global V7 Profile.
- Pick images you like until the progress bar unlocks it.
- Switch Personalization on beside the Imagine bar, or add
--pto a prompt. - For one profile, copy its ID as
--p pID; on submit it converts to--p code.
Stylize sets the strength: lower limits how much personalization lands, higher increases it, over 0 to 1000 with a default of 100. Feeding a profile changed too — rating image pairs was replaced by selecting from a grid.
Worked example: three V8.2 prompts to run
Each prompt pastes as it stands; the notes describe what the official pages promise, not a benchmark we ran.
Case one: the default version, with personalization on
street market at dawn, one vendor arranging fruit, muted palette, calm mood, 35mm documentary feel --ar 16:9 --pNo --v flag, so this runs on the default model, V8.2. --p applies your default personalization profiles: the announcement says profiles with many ratings understand taste much better, and stylize decides how much of that profile lands — at the default 100, a moderate dose, not the maximum.
Case two: the same prompt pinned to V8.1
street market at dawn, one vendor arranging fruit, muted palette, calm mood, 35mm documentary feel --ar 16:9 --v 8.1Nothing here is legacy: V8.1 was the default from June 10 to July 23, 2026, and the Version page still calls it “our fastest model so far”, with standard jobs four to five times faster than earlier versions. The difference the docs set up here is speed against aesthetics.
Case three: HD output at 2048 px
street market at dawn, one vendor arranging fruit, muted palette, calm mood, 35mm documentary feel --ar 16:9 --hd--hd is the documented switch for 2048 px in the shared V8.1 and V8.2 column, at 1.3 GPU minutes against 0.8. The same passage adds a boundary: panning, zooming out or using Edit/Vary Region on an HD image downscales it to SD.
What the official pages have not published about V8.2
Each gap below gets filled with a confident number somewhere online.
- A changelog longer than the announcement: no page enumerates the rest.
- A preview build or a
--previewflag before July 24, 2026. - Per-version GPU pricing: one cost table, organised by task type.
- Whether Turbo Mode runs on V8.2. GPU Speed addresses V8.1 only.
- Parameter differences between V8.1 and V8.2 — the chart merges them — plus a Global V8 profile and a launch time.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to add --v 8.2 to every prompt? No. It is the default, so the flag only matters when a pipeline must not drift.
Is V8.2 a paid upgrade? The pages describe no V8.2-specific charge; cost is per plan and per GPU minute, covered by the plan breakdown.
Can I still render on V8.1? Yes, with --v 8.1. V8.0 was an alpha and “is no longer available for use”.
Does my existing personalization profile work? The Global V7 profile works in V8.1 and V8.2; V8 profiles do not work in V7.
How does V8.2 relate to style references? Different controls, same family: style reference is a V6-and-later feature that V8.2 can now combine with the Edit Model.