Independent tool overview

Krea 2 at a glance

Krea 2 is Krea's first in-house image foundation model, designed for expressive visual exploration through controllable style references, moodboards and a tunable creativity setting.

Visit the official Krea 2 site ↗

Best for: style-led image exploration and art direction
Released: May 12, 2026
Hosted variants: Medium and Large via API
Open-weight variants: RAW and Turbo

Overview

What Krea 2 is

Krea 2 is an aesthetic-first image model announced in May 2026. Its central idea is that creators should control not only the subject of an image but also its visual language, with direct tools for mixing references, adjusting their strength and exploring a wider range of outputs.

The hosted Krea experience supports style references, moodboards and rapid generation, while the API exposes Medium and Large variants. Krea has also released RAW and Turbo model weights for self-hosting and fine-tuning under its current community license.

Krea 2 is best understood as one model inside Krea's broader creative suite. The standard app subscription also covers other image, video, 3D, upscaling and workflow tools, while API usage and self-hosted licensing follow separate terms and costs.

Use cases

Who Krea 2 is best for

The strongest fit depends on the job you need the product to complete, not the size of its feature list.

Creative direction

Designers and art directors exploring palettes, texture, composition and visual tone from reference material.

Campaign concepting

Teams generating multiple expressive directions before committing to production photography or illustration.

Custom model workflows

Technical teams using the API or open weights for controlled generation, LoRA training and integrated image pipelines.

Capabilities

Core Krea 2 features

Style references

Combine up to four reference images, adjust each influence and carry a chosen visual language across prompts.

Moodboards

Use a larger collection of visual references to communicate broader themes, characters, expressions and overall creative direction.

Exploration controls

Adjust variation and creativity to keep a batch cohesive or deliberately push toward more unexpected outputs.

Medium and Large API models

Medium favors speed, cost and stability, while Large is positioned for rawer texture, photorealism and higher expressive capacity.

RAW and Turbo weights

RAW is intended for training and research; the distilled eight-step Turbo checkpoint is designed for faster polished generation.

Process

How the Krea 2 workflow works

Step 1
Define the creative constraint
Write a concise subject prompt and gather only references you are permitted to use.
Step 2
Explore before locking the style
Generate a varied batch, then use reference strengths or a moodboard to narrow the visual direction.
Step 3
Review and productionize
Check anatomy, text, brand consistency, provenance and usage rights before upscaling or moving an output into a campaign.

Cost

Krea 2 pricing and free plan

Krea 2 is included in Krea's free and paid app plans. The current monthly plan prices shown by Krea are $9 for Basic, $35 for Pro and $105 for Max, with a separate yearly option advertised at up to 40% off. API usage is billed separately per successful generation.

Free

Daily access for trying Krea 2 and the suite's basic tools.

100 compute units per day
Access to Krea 2
Limited image, video, 3D, lipsync, upscaling and LoRA access
No paid-plan commercial license

Basic

$9/month

Core paid access for individual creators.

5,000 compute units per month
Commercial license
Full image, 3D and lipsync model access
LoRA training with up to 50 images

Pro

$35/month

Advanced suite features and broader model access.

20,000 compute units per month
All video models
Nodes and Apps workflow automation
AI-powered Nodes Agent

Max

$105/month

Higher compute and concurrency for heavier production use.

60,000 compute units per month at the displayed configuration
Expanded concurrency and queueing
Unlimited relaxed generations
Unlimited LoRA fine-tunings with up to 2,000 files

API

$0.03-$0.07 per generation

Separate usage pricing for the Krea 2 Medium and Large endpoints.

Medium: $0.030 text-to-image, $0.035 with style references, $0.040 with moodboards
Large: $0.060 text-to-image, $0.065 with style references, $0.070 with moodboards
App compute and API balance are separate

Pricing checked August 29, 2026. Check current pricing at the source ↗

Assessment

Krea 2 strengths and limitations

Where it stands out

Reference-strength controls make visual direction more concrete than relying on prompt adjectives alone.
Moodboards support broader, exploratory art direction across several visual signals.
Hosted app, API and open-weight paths give teams several ways to adopt the model.

What to consider

Expressive variation can also produce inconsistent subjects, details or brand elements across a batch.
The free app plan does not include the paid plan's commercial license, and open-weight use is governed by Krea's separate community license.
Krea app subscriptions do not include API usage, and model output still requires human review for rights, accuracy and production quality.

Compare

Krea 2 alternatives

The right alternative depends on the specific output, workflow, controls and budget your project requires.

Content Creator

Midjourney

Choose Midjourney for a mature image-generation community and a more opinionated default visual style.

Explore Midjourney →

Design

Ideogram

Choose Ideogram when reliable typography and graphic-design composition matter more than open-ended aesthetic exploration.

Explore Ideogram →

Content Creator

FLUX.2

Choose FLUX.2 to compare a different visual model family with generation and editing options.

Explore FLUX.2 →

Questions

Krea 2 FAQs

What is Krea 2?

Krea 2 is Krea's in-house image foundation model for expressive image generation with style references, moodboards and tunable creative control.

Can I use Krea 2 for free?

Yes. Krea's free plan includes access to Krea 2 and 100 compute units per day, subject to the plan's feature and licensing limits.

Is Krea 2 open source?

Krea describes RAW and Turbo as its open-source release and publishes downloadable weights, but use is governed by Krea's own community license. Review that license for commercial or redistribution requirements.

What is the difference between Krea 2 Medium and Large?

Krea positions Medium as faster, cheaper and more stable across broad use cases. Large is more than twice its size and aims for rawer, more textured and flexible results, including photorealism.

How much does the Krea 2 API cost?

As reviewed on August 29, 2026, Medium costs $0.030-$0.040 and Large costs $0.060-$0.070 per generation depending on whether style references or moodboards are used.

Bottom line

Our Krea 2 verdict

Krea 2 is a strong fit for creators who want to steer visual style with actual references rather than chase a look through prompt wording alone. Its free access makes evaluation easy, but production teams should test consistency, budget compute and confirm which app, API or self-hosted license applies to their workflow.

Visit Krea 2 website ↗

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