{"schema_version":"1.2","slug":"flux","url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/platform/flux/guide","data_url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/data/v1/guides/flux.json","title":"Getting Started with FLUX","tagline":"The image model that finally gets text right — but you'll reach it through someone else's front door.","archetype":"prompts","last_reviewed_at":"2026-10-14","changelog_url":"https://docs.bfl.ai/release-notes","how_it_works":"FLUX is a model — the AI \"brain\" that does the actual work — not a website you log into. Whichever route you reach it through, the motion is the same: describe the picture you want, look at what comes back, change the wording, go again.","what_it_is":["An image and editing model family from Black Forest Labs, the German lab founded by the researchers behind Stable Diffusion. The current line is FLUX.2: [max], [pro], [flex], [dev] and [klein]. Two are open-weight — the model file itself is published, so you can run it yourself, which no closed rival allows. The rest sit behind a paid API, a way for programs to talk to each other without a person clicking.","Its pitch against Midjourney: legible text inside images, and tight instruction-following. BFL says typography, infographics and UI mockups \"now work reliably\", and that it holds a character consistent across up to ten reference images."],"before_you_start":["Going direct to Black Forest Labs' dashboard at bfl.ai is pay-as-you-go, no subscription. You pay per image, at a few cents each, and per-model rates vary by resolution; the calculator on bfl.ai/pricing shows the current rate for the model and size you pick.","Most beginners should come in through someone else's app. Krea and Freepik are ordinary image-making websites — sign up, type, get pictures — that license FLUX and run it for you. Both have a free tier, you pay them rather than BFL, and their terms set your rights.","Running the files yourself is free, and the barrier is hardware, not skill: the freely licensed FLUX.2 [klein] 4B wants a graphics card with roughly 13GB of memory on it — most laptops don't have that — plus software like ComfyUI to drive it. Below that bar, a third-party app is the same model for cents an image."],"getting_set_up_safely":null,"security":[{"kind":"text","text":"Privacy differs sharply by route. [klein] on your own machine is genuinely private — no server is involved. Every other route sends what you type to someone's computer, BFL's or a third-party app's, which may pass it on. Open source is not the same as private."},{"kind":"list","label":"Free to download is not free to sell from","items":["Images made through BFL's paid API are yours: their Developer Terms say you own the Output and may use it commercially.","FLUX.2 [klein] 4B is Apache 2.0 — free, and free to sell from. The 9B is under the FLUX Non-Commercial License: free to download, not for commercial use.","FLUX.2 [dev], the large open-weight model, is non-commercial by default; selling needs a paid self-hosted licence.","For FLUX these permissions genuinely come apart — check your variant before anything reaches a client invoice."]}],"triad":{"best_at":["Readable text inside an image — signage, packaging, poster headlines","Long, multi-part instructions, without quietly dropping half","Editing by instruction: change the jacket, leave the rest alone"],"okay_at":["Painterly art — Midjourney is prettier unasked","Photorealistic faces: good, occasionally uncanny","Fast iteration on the small variants, trading fidelity for speed"],"avoid":["Expecting a polished consumer app with a gallery — BFL doesn't make one","Body text: headlines hold, paragraphs degrade into plausible nonsense","Anything commercial on a non-commercially-licensed variant — a legal limit, not a quality one"]},"starter_actions":[{"title":"Test the text-rendering claim first","what_it_does":null,"why_here":"Legible text is the capability BFL leads with for FLUX.2, so a failure here tells you about your route immediately.","tweak":null,"prompt":"A weathered enamel shop sign on a brick wall, cream lettering on deep green, reading exactly: HARBOUR ROAD BAKERY - est. 1974. Soft overcast daylight."},{"title":"Stack five requirements and count what survives","what_it_does":null,"why_here":"FLUX.2 is tuned for adherence to complex structured instructions, so counting how many hold is a fair test, not a gotcha.","tweak":null,"prompt":"A ceramicist's workbench seen from directly above. Exactly three unfired bowls in the upper left. A blue cloth over the right edge. Warm light from the left. No hands."},{"title":"Edit a picture with words instead of tools","what_it_does":null,"why_here":"FLUX.2 generates and edits in one model at up to 4MP, and change one thing, touch nothing else is the job it was built for.","tweak":null,"prompt":"Keep this photograph as it is, but change the parked car from silver to matte dark green. Change nothing else — not the background, the lighting, the reflections."}],"pitfalls":["It is not a website you log into. There is no consumer FLUX app the way there is a Midjourney — BFL runs a developer dashboard with a playground, billed against prepaid credit. A free browser tool with a gallery means a third-party product with FLUX inside.","Confusing the generations. FLUX.1, FLUX.2 and FLUX 3 are different things; FLUX 3 is a combined image, video and audio model, not a successor to the image line. Check the release notes when what you read doesn't match what you see."],"where_to_next":[{"label":"Image tools you can just sign up for","url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/discover?category=image-generation-editing"},{"label":"Running open models yourself","url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/discover?category=local-open-source-ai"}],"tool":{"slug":"flux","name":"FLUX","url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/platform/flux","data_url":"https://www.launchpadhq.io/data/v1/tools/flux.json","category":{"slug":"image-generation-editing","name":"Image Generation & Editing"},"cost_tier":"FREEMIUM","lifecycle":"active","free_tier":{"available":true,"summary":"FLUX.1 Schnell (fast) is open-source and free to self-host; hosted services vary"},"starting_price":"~$0.048/image (768×768, 1 image). Open-weights licensing (Builder/Platform) is separate and custom.","lowest_paid":{"name":"Pay as you go, no subscriptions. Official API calculator default","price_text":"~$0.048/image (768×768, 1 image). Open-weights licensing (Builder/Platform) is separate and custom.","amount":0.048,"currency":"USD","period":"usage","limits":null,"is_free":false},"data_as_of":"2026-10-14"},"prices_removed":0,"pricing_note":"Prices in this text come from the catalog, the same data as each tool's page and its record (tool.starting_price, tool.lowest_paid, and plans in /data/v1/tools/{slug}.json). Any sentence that typed a price by hand is removed; prices_removed counts them.","generated_at":"2026-10-27T02:01:28.100Z","sponsored":false,"attribution":"Data from Launchpad HQ (https://www.launchpadhq.io). Please credit Launchpad HQ and link to the tool's Launchpad HQ page."}