FLUX by Black Forest Labs vs Krea
We give FLUX by Black Forest Labs a 2.0 GPA and Krea a 2.8, out of 4.0. Krea grades higher on value for money, features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
FLUX image and video models, paid per use via API and playground
Krea
Image, video and 3D generation with real-time canvas and plugins
How we grade them
| 2.0GPAFLUX by Black Forest LabsFair | 2.8GPAKreaGood | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo subscription, so no monthly plan to set against this category. You prepay credits at $0.01 each: a FLUX 3 image costs $0.048 and a Klein one $0.009, so $10 makes about 200 FLUX 3 images. Light use beats any plan here, heavy use won't. | ABasic is $5.25 a month on yearly billing ($9 monthly) for 5,000 units, under 60% of this category's cheaper quarter. That's about 64 Nano Banana 2 images or 20 Seedance 2.0 videos a month, plus upscaling to 22K. Veo and Kling need Pro at $21. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe FLUX.2 [klein] 4B weights are free under Apache 2.0, commercial use included, but only if you can run them on your own hardware. The hosted playground and API have no free credits on record. | C100 units a day, refilled daily, with the live canvas, image and 3D models, LoRA training on 50 images and 2K upscaling. Video is off, though, and Basic's own figures put a Nano Banana 2 image at about 78 units. |
| Features | CFLUX 3 makes images with accurate text and clips up to 20 seconds with sound, and FLUX Tools erase, outpaint and deblur. For a person, though, the listing shows a playground over an API, with no styles, projects or gallery around it. | BIts own models plus Nano Banana, Seedance, Veo and Kling, a canvas that renders as you draw, editing, upscaling to 22K, LoRA training, a node editor, an agent, and plugins for Photoshop, Premiere, Resolve and Blender. Nothing core is missing. |
| Ease of use | CNo app rating on record. The playground needs no code, but you're buying credits, picking models and resolutions and paying per image, which is a developer's way of working. | C4.49 from 689 App Store ratings, just under the 4.5 line. And with nodes, LoRAs, an agent and dozens of models, there's a fair bit to learn. |
| Platforms and integrations | CA web playground and an API, plus open weights to run on your own machine. No phone app and no integrations in the listing. | BWeb and iPhone, plus plugins for Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Blender, an API and an MCP server. No Android or desktop app of its own. |
| Best for | pay-per-image FLUX models and open weights | lots of models on a small budget |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: FLUX by Black Forest Labs and Krea. How we grade
Where they differ
- Only Krea lists an iOS app.
- FLUX by Black Forest Labs is self-hostable, according to its own site.
At a glance
| FLUX by Black Forest Labs | Krea | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | $5.25 per month for 5,000 units, billed annually ($9 billed monthly) |
| Free plan | The FLUX.2 [klein] 4B weights are free to download and run yourself under Apache 2.0, commercial use included. The hosted playground and API need bought credits. | 100 compute units a day, refilled daily, with real-time generation, the image and 3D models, LoRA training on up to 50 images and upscaling to 2K. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| iOS | ||
| Made by | Black Forest Labs | Krea |
| Price read from | bfl.ai | krea.ai |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
- Developers adding image or video generation to their own product
- Teams that want to self-host and fine-tune an image model
- Occasional users who prefer paying per image over a subscription
Krea
- Designers who want many partner models under one subscription
- Fast visual exploration on a live, render-as-you-draw canvas
- Small studios sharing one pool of units across up to 50 members
Worth knowing
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
- Hosted use is pay as you go: FLUX 3 Image costs $0.048 per 1K image, Klein $0.009, and FLUX 3 video $0.17 a second at HD.
- There is no subscription for the playground or API, and no published monthly price for any self-hosting license.
- FLUX.2 [klein] 9B, FLUX.2 [dev] and FLUX.1 [dev] weights are non-commercial; running them commercially needs a paid license.
- There is no student discount, and volume discounts on API use are arranged through sales.
Krea
- Units on Basic, Pro and Max reset monthly and do not roll over; only Business and Enterprise carry unused units forward.
- Basic covers selected video models only; Veo, Sora, Kling and the other video models need Pro or above.
- After units run out, unlimited slower generation covers only supported in-house image models.
- SAML SSO, an SLA and IP indemnification are limited to Enterprise.
Key features
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
- FLUX 3 image and video
- One model family covers images with accurate text rendering and video clips of up to 20 seconds with optional generated speech, effects and ambience.
- Image editing tools
- FLUX.2 models edit images from a prompt, and FLUX Tools add outpainting, object erasing and deblurring.
- Browser playground
- Try the models without code in the playground, which charges the same credit prices as the API.
- API with prepaid credits
- Credits cost $0.01 each, are shared across an organization's projects, do not expire, and can be topped up automatically.
- Open weights
- Models such as FLUX 3 Image Klein and FLUX.2 [klein] can be downloaded from Hugging Face and GitHub and fine-tuned on your own hardware.
Krea
- Many models in one place
- Krea's own image models sit beside partner image and video models such as Nano Banana, GPT, Seedance, Veo, Sora and Kling.
- Real-time canvas
- Generates images as you type or draw on a live canvas, for fast iteration before a final render.
- Editing and upscaling
- Change an image by describing the edit with the Krea 3 model, remove backgrounds, and upscale images up to 22K on paid plans, plus video upscaling.
- LoRA training
- Train custom image or video LoRAs on your own characters, styles or products: up to 50 images per LoRA, or 2,000 on Max and Business.
- Nodes and Krea Agent
- Chain models and steps in a visual node editor, save workflows as shareable apps, or brief Krea Agent to plan and iterate across models.
- Plugins, API and MCP
- Plugins run Krea inside Photoshop, After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Blender, and a developer API and MCP server are offered.
Plans
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
FLUX.2 [klein] 4B open weights$0
Download from Hugging Face and host it yourself under Apache 2.0, with free commercial use.
Builder licenseCustom
Self-serve monthly license bought in the dashboard; price not published. 10K images a month, 1 domain, 10 users.
Platform licenseCustom
For products offering FLUX to their own users: 100K images a month on 1 domain, sold through sales.
Professional licenseCustom
For agencies making images for named clients: 100K images a month, first 3 clients included, sold through sales.
EnterpriseCustom
All models and new releases, custom volume, volume discounts and an SLA, with combined API and weights pricing.
Krea
Free$0
100 compute units a day and one image job at a time; the page lists video concurrency as 0.
Basic$5.25
per month for 5,000 units, billed annually ($9 billed monthly)
About 64 Nano Banana 2 images or 20 Seedance 2.0 videos a month; selected video models; upscaling to 22K. The page rounds the price to $5.
Pro$21
per month for 20,000 units, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
About 257 Nano Banana 2 images or 83 Seedance 2.0 videos a month, all video models including Veo and Kling.
Max$42
per month for 40,000 units, billed annually ($70 billed monthly)
Price rises with units: $63 a month yearly ($105 monthly) at 60,000. LoRA training on up to 2,000 images.
Business$40
per month for 20,000 units, billed annually ($50 billed monthly)
One price for up to 50 members sharing the units; $160 a month yearly ($200 monthly) at 80,000. Unused units roll over.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom seat counts and compute packages, SAML SSO, an SLA and IP indemnification.
Ways to pay less
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
No public discounts listed.
Krea
- Annual discount
Save 40% on yearly individual plans
Yearly billing takes 40% off Basic, Pro and Max (Pro falls from $35 to $21 a month) and 20% off Business.
