Flux Schnell vs Dev vs 1.1 Pro vs 2 Pro vs 2 Max: Which Flux Model?
TL;DR
FLUX.2 Pro ($0.035) is the best value in the Flux family — scoring 4.53, just 0.016 behind FLUX.2 Max ($0.070) at half the price. The biggest quality jump is from Flux Dev to FLUX.2 Pro (+0.35). Flux Schnell ($0.001) works for prototyping but falls short on complex scenes.
The Flux Price-Quality Ladder
FLUX.2 Max tops the family at 4.55, but FLUX.2 Pro reaches 99.6% of that quality at half the price ($0.035 vs $0.070). The 5 Flux models from Black Forest Labs span a 70x price range — here's where each tier makes sense and where you're paying for diminishing returns.
| # | Model | Avg Score | Cost/Image | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FLUX.2 Max | 4.54 | $0.070 | Premium |
| 2 | FLUX.2 Pro | 4.53 | $0.035 | Standard |
| 3 | FLUX 1.1 Pro | 4.31 | $0.040 | Standard |
| 4 | Flux Dev | 4.17 | $0.003 | Budget |
| 5 | Flux Schnell | 3.99 | $0.001 | Budget |
Average weighted score across 198-200 prompts per model.
Best value: FLUX.2 Pro — 99.6% of Max quality at 50% of the cost.
Best budget: Flux Dev — 92% of FLUX.2 Pro quality at $0.003/image.
Quality by Dimension
Visual fidelity improves steadily across the range. The biggest per-dimension leap is subject integrity from Flux Schnell (3.33) to Flux Dev (3.95) — a +0.62 jump. Instruction adherence also sees a notable improvement from FLUX 1.1 Pro (3.95) to FLUX.2 Pro (4.23), making 2 Pro significantly better at following complex prompts.
| Model | Visual Fidelity | Physics | Subject Integrity | Instruction Adh. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flux Schnell | 4.39 | 3.71 | 3.33 | 3.41 |
| Flux Dev | 4.65 | 4.14 | 3.95 | 3.85 |
| FLUX 1.1 Pro | 4.76 | 4.25 | 4.20 | 3.95 |
| FLUX.2 Pro | 4.83 | 4.27 | 4.33 | 4.23 |
| FLUX.2 Max | 4.90 | 4.34 | 4.42 | 4.33 |
Visual Comparisons
Side-by-side outputs on prompts with the largest quality spread across the Flux family. These examples are drawn from our 200+ prompt benchmark suite.
Portrait with symmetrical detail
prompt-0027
“Portrait showing both ears of person facing camera directly, symmetrical face, neutral expression”
Flux Schnell
2.51
Flux Dev
3.15
FLUX 1.1 Pro
3.87
FLUX.2 Pro
5.00
FLUX.2 Max
5.00
Concept art with multiple views
prompt-0119
“Concept art turnaround sheet of a post-apocalyptic wanderer showing front, side, and three-quarter views”
Flux Schnell
3.06
Flux Dev
3.95
FLUX 1.1 Pro
2.67
FLUX.2 Pro
4.11
FLUX.2 Max
4.70
Detailed battle scene
prompt-0084
“Concept art battle scene of two armored knights locked in combat on a muddy medieval tournament field, the attacking knight lunging forward with a...”
Flux Schnell
3.13
Flux Dev
2.93
FLUX 1.1 Pro
3.60
FLUX.2 Pro
4.85
FLUX.2 Max
4.45
The Sweet Spot: FLUX.2 Pro
FLUX.2 Pro delivers 99.6% of FLUX.2 Max's quality at half the price. And it's actually cheaper than FLUX 1.1 Pro ($0.035 vs $0.040) while scoring higher across every dimension. Unless you need the absolute maximum visual fidelity (4.90 vs 4.83), FLUX.2 Pro is the clear choice for production workloads.
When to Use Each Model
Flux Schnell — $0.001
Strengths
- +Cheapest option at $0.001/image
- +Good for simple scenes and quick prototyping
- +Decent visual fidelity (4.39) for the price
Limitations
- −Lowest scores on subject integrity (3.33)
- −Struggles with complex anatomy and detailed objects
- −Weakest instruction adherence in the family (3.41)
Flux Dev — $0.003
Strengths
- +Huge quality jump over Schnell for just +$0.002
- +Strong visual fidelity (4.65) at budget pricing
- +Good for non-commercial and prototyping work
Limitations
- −Still below 4.0 on instruction adherence (3.85)
- −Non-commercial license restrictions
- −Gaps on complex multi-subject scenes
FLUX.2 Pro — $0.035 (Best Value)
Strengths
- +Best price-to-quality ratio in the family
- +Cheaper than FLUX 1.1 Pro with higher scores everywhere
- +Strong across all 4 dimensions (4.23+ on each)
Limitations
- −Slightly lower visual fidelity than Max (4.83 vs 4.90)
- −~12x the cost of Dev for a 0.35 quality increase
FLUX.2 Max — $0.070
Strengths
- +Highest quality in the Flux family (4.55)
- +Best visual fidelity (4.90) and instruction adherence (4.33)
- +Top choice when maximum quality is required
Limitations
- −Only 0.016 better than Pro at double the price
- −Diminishing returns for most use cases
A Note on FLUX 1.1 Pro
FLUX 1.1 Pro (4.31) sits between Flux Dev and FLUX.2 Pro in quality but costs $0.040 — more than FLUX.2 Pro ($0.035) despite scoring lower. Unless you have a specific compatibility requirement, FLUX.2 Pro is strictly better: higher quality at lower cost.
Find the Right Flux Model for Your Use Case
The best Flux tier depends on what you're generating. Enter your prompt and we'll recommend the optimal model — including non-Flux alternatives that might score higher.
Try the recommendation engineRelated Benchmarks
How does the Flux family compare to the top overall models? See our GPT Image 1.5 vs Nano Banana Pro benchmark — the two highest-rated models in the full leaderboard.
FLUX.2 Pro also ranks #3 for text rendering — see our text rendering benchmark for the full 18-model ranking.
View the full 18-model leaderboard for overall scores across all quality dimensions.
Methodology: Rankings and scores in this article are based on VibeDex's benchmark of 20 AI image generation models evaluated across 200+ prompts. Every image is scored by AI-powered visual judges across four quality dimensions: Visual Fidelity, Physics & Logic, Subject Integrity, and Instruction Adherence. Scores are weighted by prompt intent. See our full methodology
Models not included in our benchmark (such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion XL/3, Adobe Firefly, and DALL-E 3) are not represented in these rankings.
FAQ
Which Flux model is the best value?
FLUX.2 Pro at $0.035/image is the sweet spot. It scores 4.53 — only 0.016 behind FLUX.2 Max ($0.070) — making it half the price for nearly identical quality. The Dev-to-2 Pro jump (+0.35 quality) is the largest improvement in the family.
Is Flux Schnell good enough for production?
Flux Schnell (3.99) works well for simple scenes, landscapes, and quick prototyping at $0.001/image. It struggles with complex subjects like detailed anatomy, multi-element scenes, and text rendering. For production work, Flux Dev ($0.003) offers a notable quality jump at 3x the cost — still under a penny.
What is the difference between FLUX 1.1 Pro and FLUX.2 Pro?
FLUX.2 Pro (4.53) scores higher than FLUX 1.1 Pro (4.31) across all four quality dimensions, and is actually cheaper ($0.035 vs $0.040). FLUX.2 Pro is the better choice in every scenario — higher quality at lower cost.
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