Black Forest Labs
FLUX 3 review
$0.024 per megapixel via fal.ai · tested version: blackforestlabs/flux-3 (fal, 2026-10) · no fixed seed (results not exactly reproducible)
Short answer
FLUX 3 by Black Forest Labs ranks #7 of 11 for interior & architecture (4.3/5), #6 of 11 for portraits & people (4.0/5), #2 of 11 for product photos (4.2/5) and #6 of 11 for social media ads (4.5/5) in our side-by-side tests. It costs $0.024 per image on average, with a median 26.3 s from request to finished image. Its strongest use case in our tests is product photos.
Last tested
Interior & architecture
Time to image 25.1 s
Portraits & people
Time to image 28.2 s
Product photos
Time to image 23.8 s
Social media ads
Time to image 27.5 s
Interior & architecture: where FLUX 3 stands
Quality vs. price
FLUX 3 is highlighted among every model tested for interior & architecture.
| Model | Score | Price per image |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.67 | $0.07 |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.62 | $0.06 |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.58 | $0.15 |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.55 | $0.04 |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.55 | $0.14 |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.42 | $0.03 |
| FLUX 3 | 4.35 | $0.02 |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.22 | $0.04 |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.02 | $0.06 |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 3.95 | $0.006 |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.92 | $0.01 |
Quality vs. time to image
Median wait per image, including queue time.
| Model | Score | Time to image |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.67 | 32 s |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.62 | 87 s |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.58 | 21 s |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.55 | 9.5 s |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.55 | 89 s |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.42 | 11 s |
| FLUX 3 | 4.35 | 25 s |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.22 | 40 s |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.02 | 8.5 s |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 3.95 | 2.8 s |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.92 | 6.1 s |
Portraits & people: where FLUX 3 stands
Quality vs. price
FLUX 3 is highlighted among every model tested for portraits & people.
| Model | Score | Price per image |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.43 | $0.07 |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.42 | $0.15 |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.17 | $0.06 |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.17 | $0.06 |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.17 | $0.16 |
| FLUX 3 | 4.03 | $0.02 |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.03 | $0.04 |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.02 | $0.006 |
| Recraft V4.1 | 3.87 | $0.04 |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 3.82 | $0.03 |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.47 | $0.01 |
Quality vs. time to image
Median wait per image, including queue time.
| Model | Score | Time to image |
|---|---|---|
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.43 | 40 s |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.42 | 23 s |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.17 | 66 s |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.17 | 9.1 s |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.17 | 101 s |
| FLUX 3 | 4.03 | 28 s |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.03 | 17 s |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.02 | 3 s |
| Recraft V4.1 | 3.87 | 13 s |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 3.82 | 11 s |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.47 | 8.3 s |
Product photos: where FLUX 3 stands
Quality vs. price
FLUX 3 is highlighted among every model tested for product photos.
| Model | Score | Price per image |
|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2 | 4.77 | $0.17 |
| FLUX 3 | 4.23 | $0.02 |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.23 | $0.04 |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.23 | $0.07 |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.20 | $0.03 |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.20 | $0.06 |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.20 | $0.07 |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.13 | $0.15 |
| Recraft V4.1 | 3.97 | $0.04 |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 3.93 | $0.007 |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.93 | $0.01 |
Quality vs. time to image
Median wait per image, including queue time.
| Model | Score | Time to image |
|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2 | 4.77 | 95 s |
| FLUX 3 | 4.23 | 24 s |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.23 | 61 s |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.23 | 8.8 s |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.20 | 9.9 s |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.20 | 57 s |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.20 | 39 s |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.13 | 20 s |
| Recraft V4.1 | 3.97 | 11 s |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 3.93 | 2.9 s |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.93 | 7.9 s |
Social media ads: where FLUX 3 stands
Quality vs. price
FLUX 3 is highlighted among every model tested for social media ads.
| Model | Score | Price per image |
|---|---|---|
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.53 | $0.15 |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.52 | $0.17 |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.48 | $0.04 |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.48 | $0.06 |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.47 | $0.07 |
| FLUX 3 | 4.45 | $0.02 |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.37 | $0.06 |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.28 | $0.04 |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.20 | $0.007 |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.18 | $0.03 |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.92 | $0.01 |
Quality vs. time to image
Median wait per image, including queue time.
| Model | Score | Time to image |
|---|---|---|
| Nano Banana Pro | 4.53 | 22 s |
| GPT Image 2 | 4.52 | 97 s |
| Recraft V4.1 | 4.48 | 11 s |
| Grok Imagine 2.0 | 4.48 | 65 s |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | 4.47 | 63 s |
| FLUX 3 | 4.45 | 28 s |
| Ideogram V4.5 | 4.37 | 11 s |
| Qwen Image 3 | 4.28 | 14 s |
| Krea 2 Turbo | 4.20 | 3 s |
| FLUX.2 [pro] | 4.18 | 10 s |
| FLUX.2 [dev] | 3.92 | 7.2 s |
Strengths
- Near-flawless text rendering (8 of 9 text prompts exact)
- Top-5 quality at $0.024 per image, cheaper than FLUX.2 [pro]
- Believable real-world scenes: storefronts, interiors, group portraits
Weaknesses
- Loose on precise lighting direction (no true Rembrandt light)
- Often angles the camera when a true top-down view is asked
- Slower than FLUX.2 [pro] (27 s vs 11 s median)
All 20 FLUX 3 outputs
Every image FLUX 3 generated in our tests, one per prompt. Click an image to enlarge it, or open the prompt to see every model side by side.