AI image models: Recraft vs Krea

AI image models, episode 5. Previously: FLUX, Nano Banana vs GPT Image, xAI Grok Imagine and Midjourney vs Ideogram. Next: Seedream vs Qwen-Image.

Recraft and Krea sit on opposite sides of the same design problem. Recraft sells a pay-as-you-go image API with raster and SVG outputs, a Flash tier, and a dedicated styles model. Krea sells a creative studio with moodboards, in-house image models, and a Krea 3 editing API already in early access. We compare Recraft’s current V4.1 family (default recraftv4_1, Utility, Flash, Styles, Pro) with Krea 2 Large for generation and Krea 3 where editing matters.

1. Max resolution

• Recraft: standard V4.1 / Utility / Flash / Styles raster models target 1K (for example 1024 by 1024 at 1:1). Pro variants (recraftv4_1_pro, recraftv4_1_utility_pro, recraftv4_styles_pro) target 2K (2048 by 2048 at 1:1). Vector variants return SVG with no fixed pixel size. Flash is raster only.
• Krea: the Krea 3 API overview prices 1K and 2K output sizes. The product page markets edits “in under 8 seconds”; partner coverage has mentioned 4K, which is not on the Krea pages we opened for this draft. Treat 2K as the documented paid API base.

2. Aspect ratios

• Recraft: fourteen documented ratios from 1:1 through 16:9 and 9:16 (and several in between), set as w:h or an exact WxH from the size table. Prefer the ratio form; size can also be inferred from the prompt when omitted (appendix).
• Krea: studio tools expose common social ratios. Ad Studio lists Instagram 4:5 or 1:1, Stories/Reels 9:16, and 16:9. The Krea 3 API accepts size via its early-access contract; we do not have a full public ratio table in src.

3. Reference types

• Recraft: custom styles and style references on V4.1; the dedicated V4 Styles line is style-driven generation with no training step. V3 still covers inpainting, outpainting, replace/generate background and image-to-image. Flash has no style support.
• Krea: Krea 2 is built around style references and moodboards (collections of images). Krea 3 is marketed as an instruction-following editor with image references and weighted styles, and as a text-to-image path as well.

4. References at once

• Recraft: up to 10 style reference images on V4 Styles / V4.1 style refs (style_reference_urls or a saved style_id). Creating a new style adds $0.005.
• Krea: moodboards take a curated set; the live Krea 3 API post notes partner claims of up to six references, which are not repeated on the Krea pages opened here. Stick to “multi-reference editing” unless Fact confirms a hard cap on Krea’s own docs.

5. Price (read 6 November)

• Recraft API (pay as you go; $1 = 1,000 units): V4.1 Flash $0.007 raster; V4.1 / Utility $0.035 raster / $0.08 vector, Pro 2K $0.21 / $0.30; V4 Styles from $0.035 / $0.05 (Pro $0.10 / $0.12); V4 from $0.04 / $0.08. Default model when none is set: recraftv4_1.
• Recraft Studio: Free is limited and public. Paid Basic from $12/mo ($10 billed annually) for 1,000 credits; Pro tiers $20 / $40 / $80 / $160 a month (or $16 / $32 / $64 / $128 annual); Teams from $22/mo. Paid plans include private generation and commercial rights while subscribed.
• Krea plans (pricing page figures read 6 Nov; each tier also showed a lower promo figure): Free $0; Basic $9 ($5 promo); Pro $35 ($21 promo); Max $105 ($63 promo); Business $200 ($160 promo). Paid plans include a commercial license per Krea’s FAQ. Compute units do not roll over on Basic/Pro/Max.

6. Speed and leaderboard rank (read 6 November)

• Recraft: Flash is marketed at about 1.3 seconds end-to-end per image (Recraft’s figure). On Artificial Analysis text to image (6 Nov): Recraft V4.1 Utility Elo 1028 (rank 30, $35/1k); Utility Pro 1018 (#38, $210/1k); Flash 951 (~#71, $7/1k).
• Krea: Krea 2 markets outputs in about 15 seconds or less (Krea’s figure). AA T2I (6 Nov): Krea 2 Large Elo 1035 (rank 25, $60/1k); Medium Turbo 1020 (#37); Medium 1014 (~#44). Ranks move; attribute and date them.

7. Character consistency

• Recraft: no separate identity-lock product. Consistency is via reused style references / custom styles, plus Utility’s more predictable flat lighting for product shots.
• Krea: Krea 3 markets consistent characters, products and materials across references. That is Krea’s claim, not an independent test.

8. Style and scene consistency

• Recraft: this is the V4 Styles pitch: define a style from 1 to 10 references once, then hold technique, colour, texture and composition across generations. V4.1 also accepts style_id / style refs with flexible or precise match.
• Krea: moodboards and style references are the Krea 2 selling point for open-ended aesthetics that a single reference cannot carry. Ad Studio packages brand kit extraction for static ads on top of Krea 3.

9. Against the previous version

• Recraft: V4.1 (May 2026) sharpened photorealism and prompt following over V4 and added Utility; Flash (Sep 2026) cut cost/latency; Styles (Aug 2026) made style matching a first-class model. V3 remains for text-layout controls and classic edit ops.
• Krea: Krea 2 (announced 12 May 2026) is the in-house foundation image model; Krea 3 (Oct 2026) is the editing/generation follow-on with an early-access API.

10. Text rendering

• Recraft: V3 was marketed for photorealism and text; V4.1 drops text_layout / no_text controls (those stay on V3). Do not treat V4.1 as the text specialist without a board that scores text alone.
• Krea: neither Krea 2 nor Krea 3 pages we read lead with text-in-image as the signature claim; treat text quality as unbenchmarked here.

11. What users think (labelled user reports)

We did not pull a fresh X sample for this episode. Prior local-model chatter has paired Krea 2 with other open weights; treat that as individual posts, not a survey. Recraft’s designer/API audience shows up mainly in vendor materials.

12. General quality

On Artificial Analysis single-image Elo (6 Nov), Krea 2 Large sits a few points above Recraft V4.1 Utility, with both well behind the board leaders. Recraft’s edge is the cheap Flash tier and native SVG; Krea’s edge is the studio surface and Krea 3 editing. We ran no fal samples for this episode.

13. Licence and commercial use

• Recraft Free: images are public, remain Recraft’s property, and are not licensed for commercial use. Paid: you get full ownership and commercial rights; paid images stay private and remain yours even after you cancel. Across plans, Recraft forbids using generated assets to train AI systems.
• Krea: FAQ states Basic, Pro, Max, Business and Enterprise include a commercial license for generated content. Free is for basic use with a daily compute allowance; do not assume Free includes that commercial license. Krea markets Krea 2 as open source on its model page (GitHub / Hugging Face links shown); our src scrape did not capture a concrete Hugging Face repo URL or license file, so we do not assert a specific open-weight license here.

14. Verdict (opinion)

Pick Recraft if you are wiring an API: unit pricing from $0.007, default recraftv4_1, vectors, and style refs up to ten images with clear ownership on paid plans. Pick Krea if you work in a creative suite: moodboards, plan tiers with commercial license on paid, and a Krea 3 editing API already covered at $0.03 / $0.06 base. Neither leads the Artificial Analysis board; if raw single-image Elo per dollar is the only goal, revisit the leaders from episode 2 and FLUX.

Summary

#	Checklist	Recraft V4.1 family	Krea 2 / Krea 3
1	Max resolution	1K standard; 2K Pro; SVG vectors	1K/2K API bases documented
2	Aspect ratios	14 documented ratios	studio/social ratios; Ad Studio listed
3	Reference types	styles, style refs; V3 edits	moodboards, style refs; Krea 3 edits
4	References at once	up to 10	multi-ref / moodboards (cap unclear on primary)
5	Price (6 Nov)	API from $0.007; Studio Basic $12	Free $0; Basic $9; Pro $35; Max $105; Business $200 (promos lower)
6	Speed, rank	~1.3 s Flash (own); AA Utility ~#30, Flash ~#71	~15 s Krea 2 (own); AA Large ~#25
7	Character consistency	style reuse / Utility predictability	Krea 3 claim across refs
8	Style/scene consistency	V4 Styles strength	moodboards strength
9	vs previous	Flash + Styles + Utility over V4	Krea 3 editing after Krea 2
10	Text rendering	stronger story on V3 than V4.1	not the signature claim
11	Users	little independent sample here	prior local praise labelled anecdotal
12	Quality	mid-board Utility; cheap Flash	mid-board Large; studio surface
13	Licence	Free: Recraft owns; Paid: you own + commercial	paid commercial; Krea 2 marketed open source (HF URL open)
14	Verdict (opinion)	builder API / vector pick	studio + editing pick