# FLUX by Black Forest Labs

> FLUX image and video models, paid per use via API and playground

Black Forest Labs makes the FLUX models, which generate and edit images and, with FLUX 3, video with sound. People use them in a browser playground or through an API, both paid per generation from prepaid credits with no subscription. Several models are also released as open weights that can be downloaded and run on your own hardware, with paid licenses for commercial self-hosting.

- **Category:** AI Image & Video Generators
- **Made by:** Black Forest Labs
- **Website:** https://bfl.ai
- **Runs on:** Web
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026

## Pricing

FLUX by Black Forest Labs has a free plan.

- **Pricing model:** Free plan
- **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.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| FLUX.2 [klein] 4B open weights | $0 | Download from Hugging Face and host it yourself under Apache 2.0, with free commercial use. |
| Builder license | Custom | Self-serve monthly license bought in the dashboard; price not published. 10K images a month, 1 domain, 10 users. |
| Platform license | Custom | For products offering FLUX to their own users: 100K images a month on 1 domain, sold through sales. |
| Professional license | Custom | For agencies making images for named clients: 100K images a month, first 3 clients included, sold through sales. |
| Enterprise | Custom | All models and new releases, custom volume, volume discounts and an SLA, with combined API and weights pricing. |

Read from https://bfl.ai/pricing on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with FLUX by Black Forest Labs before buying.

## Key features

- **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.

## Good for

- 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

## Worth knowing

- 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.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.0 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. Black Forest Labs makes the FLUX models, and you use them in a browser playground or through an API, paying per image with no subscription. A FLUX 3 image is under 5 cents, and some weights are free to run on your own machine. It's an engine rather than an app, though: no phone app, and little around the playground.

- **Value for money: C.** No 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.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** The 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.
- **Features: C.** FLUX 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.
- **Ease of use: C.** No 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.
- **Platforms and integrations: C.** A web playground and an API, plus open weights to run on your own machine. No phone app and no integrations in the listing.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Black Forest Labs' own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among AI image and video generators

- FLUX by Black Forest Labs's GPA of 2.0 is higher than 2 of the 21 other AI image and video generators we grade, and level with 3.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-images

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** To replace FLUX by Black Forest Labs you would be making an image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 16 of the 21 other AI image and video generators grade higher.

- You could not: An image model, which you can rent by the picture but not make.
- You could not: A video model, which you can rent by the second but not make.
- You could not: An API that other software can build on.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

**Tags:** Image generation, Video generation, AI features, Public API, Self-hostable

## Alternatives

- [Stability AI](https://toolgpa.com/tools/stability-ai): Stable Diffusion image models to self-host or call through an API. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-stability-ai)
- [Ideogram](https://toolgpa.com/tools/ideogram): Image generator for designs with text, plus editing and video apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-ideogram)
- [Midjourney](https://toolgpa.com/tools/midjourney): Image and short-video generator run on monthly GPU time. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-midjourney)
- [Recraft](https://toolgpa.com/tools/recraft): Image and vector generator built for designers and brand work. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-recraft)
- [Krea](https://toolgpa.com/tools/krea): Image, video and 3D generation with real-time canvas and plugins. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-krea)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026:

- https://bfl.ai/pricing
- https://bfl.ai/
- https://bfl.ai/licensing
- https://bfl.ai/models/flux-3-image-klein
- https://help.bfl.ai/articles/7986977817-what-are-the-costs-associated-with-using-your-models
- https://help.bfl.ai/articles/9272590838-self-serve-dev-license-overview-pricing
- https://help.bfl.ai/articles/8986571742-billing-payment
- https://help.bfl.ai/articles/8031234243-what-are-credits
- https://docs.bfl.ai/account_management/credits_billing
- https://docs.bfl.ai/quick_start/pricing

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/black-forest-labs
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).