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FLUX by Black Forest Labs vs Runway

Features, pricing, ratings, and pros and cons, side by side.

FLUX by Black Forest Labs logo

FLUX by Black Forest Labs

Image and video generation models with a pay-per-use API and open weights

Paid
Visit websiteView details

Verdict

FLUX by Black Forest Labs and Runway are both Image & Visual AI tools. Only Runway has a free plan or trial. Only Runway is available on iOS and Android.

Best overall

Runway

  • Filmmakers
  • Video creators
  • Marketers and ad teams
  • Designers

Choose FLUX by Black Forest Labs if

  • You want a tool built for adding image generation or editing to an application through an API.
  • Pay-per-use pricing with no subscription or seat fees.
  • Klein models start at $0.008 per image.

Choose Runway if

  • You want a tool built for Text-to-video and image-to-video generation.
  • Combines video, image and audio generation and editing in one workspace.
  • Offers Runway's own Gen-4.5 plus third-party models such as Seedance 2.0.
Best value
Runway
Best for beginners
FLUX by Black Forest Labs
Best for business
FLUX by Black Forest Labs

Features

18 features compared.

  • FLUX 3 Image
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX 3 Video
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX 3 Image Klein
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX.2 family
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX.1 Kontext
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX Tools
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • FLUX 3 Action
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Playground
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Open weights
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Available
    Runway
    Not available
  • Gen-4.5 video model
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Creative Agent
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Multiple models
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Characters
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Aleph and Act-Two
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Audio tools
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Workflows and Recipes
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Runway Dev API
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available
  • Runway MCP
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not available
    Runway
    Available

Pricing

Plans as listed by each vendor. Check their sites for current prices.

  • Pricing model
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Paid
    Runway
    Freemium
  • Free plan
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    No
    Runway
    Yes
  • Starting price
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    $0.008
    Runway
    $0
  • Plans
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    3 plans
    Runway
    4 plans

FLUX by Black Forest Labs plans

  • Pay-as-you-go API

    Most popular

    $0.008/image

    No subscription or seat fees; prepaid credits at $0.01 each. $0.008 is the FLUX 3 Klein price at 768x768

    • Per-image pricing
    • Per-second video pricing
    • Megapixel-based pricing for FLUX.2 models
    • Batch requests

  • Commercial weights licences

    Custom/year

    Builder, Platform and Professional tiers for self-hosting open weights; no prices are listed and each offers Contact Sales

    • Fine-tuning and LoRA rights
    • 10K to 100K images per month
    • Licensed users per tier
    • Self-hosting on your own infrastructure

  • Enterprise

    Custom/year

    Combined API and weights pricing with volume discounts, SLA and dedicated support through Contact Sales

    • All models and new releases
    • Volume discounts
    • SLA guarantees
    • Dedicated support

Runway plans

  • Free

    $0

    125 one-time credits that do not expire

    • A selection of generative models
    • 5GB storage

  • Standard

    $15/month

    625 credits per month; $12 per month billed annually

    • All video and image models
    • Creative Agent
    • 5 parallel generations
    • Music and voice and sound effects
    • Up to 3 projects
    • No watermarks
    • 4K upscaling
    • 20GB storage

  • Pro

    Most popular

    $35/month

    2,250 credits per month; $28 per month billed annually

    • Everything in Standard
    • 15 parallel generations
    • Up to 5 projects
    • 1 Brand Kit
    • 1 custom voice clone
    • Top-up credits
    • Runway MCP
    • Unlimited 4K video upscaling
    • 100GB storage

  • Max

    $95/month

    9,500 credits per month; $76 per month billed annually

    • Everything in Pro
    • Early access to new models
    • 20 parallel generations
    • Up to 10 projects
    • Up to 3 Brand Kits
    • Up to 3 custom voice clones
    • HDR and ProRes and image sequence outputs
    • 500GB storage

Our ratings

Scored out of 10 by the Finder Atlas editorial team. Last reviewed October 2026.

FLUX by Black Forest Labs
8.3overall
Runway
8.4overall

  • Image Quality

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    9.0
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Prompt Adherence

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    8.8
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Text Rendering

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    8.5
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Ease of Use

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    7.0
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Value for Money

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    8.0
    Runway
    Not rated

  • Video Quality

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not rated
    Runway
    9.0

  • Camera & Motion Control

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.8

  • Model Variety

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.5

  • Editing Tools

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not rated
    Runway
    8.6

  • Pricing Clarity

    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not rated
    Runway
    7.2

Scores weigh documented features, plan value, platform coverage, integrations and user feedback. A missing score means we have not rated that area yet.

Pros and cons

FLUX by Black Forest Labs

Pros

  • Pay-per-use pricing with no subscription or seat fees
  • Klein models start at $0.008 per image
  • One API covers image, video, audio and action models
  • Open weights available for selected models, with commercial licence tiers for self-hosting
  • Company holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 certifications, according to its site

Cons

  • The pricing page mentions no free tier or free credits
  • Commercial licence prices are not published and require Contact Sales
  • Open weights come under several licences, and some are non-commercial
  • No mobile app

Runway

Pros

  • Combines video, image and audio generation and editing in one workspace
  • Offers Runway's own Gen-4.5 plus third-party models such as Seedance 2.0
  • Creative Agent builds videos from a conversation
  • Runway Dev API with Node and Python SDKs
  • Free plan with 125 credits that do not expire
  • Native iOS and Android apps

Cons

  • Credit-based pricing: a 5-second Gen-4.5 clip costs 60 credits, so the 625 credits on Standard cover about 10 such clips
  • Standard and Pro credits do not roll over at the end of the month
  • Some App Store reviewers complain about the cost of failed or unusable generations
  • 4K upscaling is unlimited only on Pro and Max

Platforms

  • Web
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Windows
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported
  • macOS
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported
  • iOS
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Android
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • API
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Supported
    Runway
    Supported
  • Browser Extension
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not supported
    Runway
    Not supported

Integrations

FLUX by Black Forest Labs

3 integrations
  • Hugging Face
  • GitHub
  • MCP

Runway

5 integrations
  • Runway MCP
  • ChatGPT plugin
  • Meta Ads
  • Google Ads
  • TikTok Ads

Company

  • Company
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not listed
    Runway
    Runway AI, Inc.
  • Founded
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not listed
    Runway
    2018
  • Headquarters
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not listed
    Runway
    New York, NY
  • Listing
    FLUX by Black Forest Labs
    Not claimed
    Runway
    Claimed

Frequently asked questions

Is FLUX by Black Forest Labs better than Runway?

It depends on your workflow. FLUX by Black Forest Labs is built for adding image generation or editing to an application through an API. Runway is built for Text-to-video and image-to-video generation.

What are the key feature differences between FLUX by Black Forest Labs and Runway?

FLUX by Black Forest Labs: Image and video generation models with a pay-per-use API and open weights. Runway: AI video, image and audio creation suite with Gen-4.5, agents and an API.

Does FLUX by Black Forest Labs or Runway have a free plan?

Runway has a free plan or trial; FLUX by Black Forest Labs is paid only.

Which is cheaper, FLUX by Black Forest Labs or Runway?

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.