Black Forest Labs
Updated May 2026Flux
The image model that dethroned Stable Diffusion
Black Forest Labs was founded in 2024 by the original creators of Stable Diffusion after they left Stability AI. Flux combines the best of diffusion transformer research with an open-weights Schnell variant for hobbyists, an API-only Pro tier for quality, and Kontext variants for targeted image editing. As of 2026 Flux is the default choice when developers want open-weight image generation that rivals Midjourney.
Variants
5
Best at
open weights (Schnell and Dev)
Max context
—
Pricing
FLUX.2 Pro API
$0.05
per image
FLUX.2 Schnell
$0.003
per image via fal.ai
Self-host Schnell
$0
per Apache-2.0 weights
Variants
Sort the table by context window or cost to find the right variant. Click any version below for a battle card with ranks, pricing notes, and official links.
| Modalities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
FLUX.2 Pro flux-2-pro | — | varies / varies | 2025 | image |
FLUX.2 Max flux-2-max | — | varies / varies | 2025 | image |
FLUX.2 Dev flux-2-dev | — | varies / varies | 2025 | image |
FLUX.2 Schnell flux-2-schnell | — | varies / varies | 2025 | image |
FLUX.1 Kontext Pro flux-1-kontext-pro | — | varies / varies | 2025 | image |
Battle card
Context rank
N/A
within Flux
Capability rank
#2
modalities + reasoning
Weights
Closed
API/app access
Best fights to pick
- commercial marketing visuals
- product photography replacement
- high-fidelity illustrations
Rankings are Tendril directory ranks, computed from the model data shown here. Public benchmark leaderboards change often, so official docs and current benchmark pages should be checked before buying or deploying.
Learn
Lessons about this model
Structured lessons that cover Flux directly or put it in context alongside its rivals.
Check yourself
Quizzes
Short, mixed-difficulty quiz sets on Flux and its model family.
Other Players: MiniMax, Cohere, Amazon, 01.AI, and More
5 questions
The broader landscape of model providers.
Start quiz →Hands-on
Try these prompts
Ready-made prompts that show Flux at its best. Use them in your own AI workspace, then compare the output with what you learned in Tendril.
Flux Pro for a typographic poster
BuildersFlux's superpower is readable text inside images — test with a multi-line tagline.
A minimalist tourism poster for 'Iceland' with a glacier illustration. The words 'LAND OF FIRE & ICE' in bold sans-serif at the bottom, perfectly legible, no artifacts. Aspect ratio 2:3.
Flux Schnell for rapid iteration
BuildersSchnell is Flux's ~1-second variant — great for exploring many variations fast.
A cozy cafe interior, golden hour light through the window, rustic wood tables, one customer reading a book. Generate 4 variations with different camera angles.
Flux Dev fine-tune prompt
CreatorsAssuming a LoRA trained on your brand style — prompt test.
<lora:mybrand:0.8> product photo of a ceramic mug on a marble countertop, soft diffused light, my brand aesthetic
Print & keep
Printable reference
One-page summaries and flowcharts — great for desks, classrooms, or study sessions.
Go deeper
Official resources
Straight from the lab — docs, API references, and the chat surfaces you can try today.
Strengths
- open weights (Schnell and Dev)
- rivals closed models on quality
- excellent text rendering in images
Limits
- no native video generation
- Pro/Max closed
- API quota limits on free tier