Black Forest Labs
Black Forest Labs is the AI research lab behind the FLUX model family, offering state-of-the-art image and video generation through a simple API. FLUX 3 generates up to 20-second videos with native audio, while FLUX.2 models cover high-fidelity images at competitive per-megapixel prices. Open weights are available for self-hosting.
What is Black Forest Labs?
Black Forest Labs is a frontier AI research lab that develops the FLUX family of generative models for image and video creation. Its flagship release, FLUX 3, is a multimodal model that generates video with native audio, supporting text-to-video, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation with up to 20-second clips in a single generation and multiple shots in one take. FLUX 3 spans stylistically diverse outputs from cinematic and broadcast to anime, comedy, and stop-motion, with an action-prediction modality also announced. The FLUX.2 line covers image generation with four models: FLUX.2 max for highest visual fidelity and 4-megapixel outputs for commercial production, FLUX.2 pro for a balance of quality and speed with reference image support, FLUX.2 klein in 9B and 4B variants for high-throughput and real-time applications, and FLUX.2 flex with flexible per-megapixel billing. Pricing is pay-as-you-go with no subscriptions or seat fees. FLUX 3 video is billed per second, from $0.06 per second for Draft mode to $0.17 per second for standard HD text-to-video generation, with higher rates for full-HD and video-to-video inputs. FLUX.2 images are billed per megapixel, from $0.014 per image for the klein 4B model to $0.07 for the first megapixel of max, with per-megapixel rates for additional resolution and reference images. The lab also offers FLUX Video Tools including a video upscaler for 2K and 4K, and FLUX Image Tools. Developers access the models through a documented API with a dashboard, and open weights are published on Hugging Face with commercial licensing options: Builder, Platform, Professional, Enterprise, and Synthetic Data licenses, with varying image volumes, domains, and fine-tuning rights. Black Forest Labs raised a $300 million Series B and counts Martin Scorsese as an advisor, positioning itself as a leading independent AI research lab building visual intelligence. The lab also publishes research and maintains a creator program, keeping the community informed about model updates and new capabilities. Its status page, documentation, and enterprise contacts make it straightforward for teams to adopt FLUX models in production.
Black Forest Labs Core Features
FLUX 3 Video
Generates up to 20-second clips with native audio from text, images, or keyframes.
FLUX.2 Image Models
High-fidelity image generation from max to klein variants for any workload.
Pay-as-You-Go API
Per-second and per-megapixel billing with no subscriptions or seat fees.
Video Upscale
FLUX Video Tools upscale footage to 2K and 4K.
Open Weights
Downloadable models on Hugging Face with commercial licensing options.
Reference Image Support
Image editing with reference input on pro models.
Enterprise Tier
Volume discounts, SLA guarantees, and dedicated support.
Synthetic Data License
Dedicated licensing for synthetic data generation pipelines.
Who is Black Forest Labs for?
Black Forest Labs serves developers, product teams, and enterprises that need production-grade image and video generation. Software developers and ML engineers use the FLUX API to add text-to-image, image-to-video, and video-to-video generation to their applications, with the dashboard and documentation supporting integration at scale. AI startups and indie builders use the pay-as-you-go pricing to experiment cheaply with models like FLUX.2 klein before scaling. Content and media companies use FLUX 3 to generate stylistically diverse video with native audio for marketing, entertainment, and social content. Design and creative teams use FLUX.2 models for commercial production work, taking advantage of high visual fidelity, reference image input, and 4-megapixel outputs. Agencies use the API to produce ad creatives and video variants for clients, paying only for what they generate. Enterprises with high-throughput workloads use the enterprise tier for volume discounts, SLA guarantees, and dedicated support. Companies that prefer to run models on their own infrastructure use the open weights licensing options, from Builder for early-stage teams to Professional and Enterprise tiers with fine-tuning and LoRA rights. Researchers and hobbyists use the playground and Hugging Face releases to explore the models, while organizations building synthetic data pipelines use the dedicated Synthetic Data license. The platform is also used by partners such as Mistral, Magnific, Adobe, Microsoft, and Picsart, which integrate FLUX models into their products.
Black Forest Labs Use Cases
Generate text-to-video clips with native audio for social campaigns.
Restyle existing footage into new visual styles with video-to-video.
Produce high-fidelity commercial images with FLUX.2 max.
Build real-time image applications with the klein 4B model.
Upscale video footage to 2K and 4K with FLUX video tools.
Integrate FLUX models into a product via the API.
Run open weights on your own infrastructure with a license.
Create synthetic data for model training with dedicated licensing.
Black Forest Labs Pros and Cons
Pros
- Frontier image and video quality with a simple pay-as-you-go API.
- No subscriptions or seat fees, with per-second and per-megapixel pricing.
- Open weights with flexible commercial licensing for self-hosting.
- Enterprise options with SLAs and volume discounts for high throughput.
Cons
- Per-use pricing can add up for high-volume or long-video workloads.
- Video generation is more expensive than image generation.
- Advanced licensing and enterprise features require sales engagement.
FAQ About Black Forest Labs
Black Forest Labs Pricing
Pay-as-you-go API: FLUX 3 video from $0.06/s (Draft) and $0.17/s (HD); FLUX.2 images from $0.014/MP; enterprise and open-weights licensing custom.
Check official pricingFLUX 3 Video Draft
Text/image-to-video draft generation, $0.12/s for video-to-video.
FLUX 3 Video
Standard HD text/image-to-video generation, $0.29-$0.53/s for higher resolutions and video-to-video.
FLUX.2 Image
Per-megapixel image pricing from $0.014 (klein 4B) to $0.07 first MP (max), with per-MP rates for additional resolution and reference images.
Enterprise
Volume discounts, SLA guarantees, and dedicated support for high-throughput workloads.
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