Flux vs Recraft
Both get recommended for brand and product work, but they solve different halves of that job: one is the open-weight model teams build a whole pipeline on top of, the other is the only mainstream generator that hands back a real editable vector instead of a picture of one.
The difference that matters
Flux is open-weight, self-hostable, and the strongest option for photographic realism and prompt adherence, the default base a lot of other tools quietly run underneath their own interface. Recraft outputs genuine SVG that opens and edits directly in Figma or Illustrator, with brand style sets to keep a whole series of assets consistent, but it is not built for photographic imagery.
Side by side
| Flux | Recraft | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free if self-hosted (open-weight model, no vendor fee, your own compute) | Free plan, daily-reset credits (exact count unpublished); images are public and owned by Recraft, no commercial rights |
| Entry paid plan | $10/mo (hosted access via Black Forest Labs, no setup) | $12/mo (Basic), 1,000 credits/month; about $10/mo if billed annually |
| Bills in | Hosted tier is a flat monthly subscription; exact usage caps are not published on the pricing page | Credits: 1 per raster image, 2 per vector, 20 per Creative Upscale; same per-credit rate scales through Pro's tiers |
Choose Flux if
You are building a real production pipeline, want to self-host or fine-tune on your own material, and need photographic realism above all.
Choose Recraft if
The deliverable is a logo, icon, or illustration that has to be an actual editable vector file, not a raster image that merely looks like one.
Our verdict
Flux for a pipeline you own and photographic output. Recraft when the deliverable specifically has to be a vector, that requirement rules out nearly everything else in the category.
What to watch out for
Flux's vendor pricing lives at a rebranded domain (bfl.ai/pricing, redirected from blackforestlabs.ai) that renders real server-side figures. Recraft's headline dollar figures were not present on its own pricing page on first fetch (client-side injected) and were confirmed instead via its billing docs page, cross-checked against three independent trackers.
Compare against the rest
Both of these sit in the full Image & Design directory, which covers 10 tools.
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