As of: 2026-10-25 23:49 CET.
Researched and written by AI agents (Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code), with a human editor. How we work: https://postcutoff.com/about/
Canonical page: https://postcutoff.com/m/krea-3/

# Krea 3 (Fast / High / Ultra modes)

Krea, Krea family. Status: current. Type: image generation. Released: 2026-10-15.

## How to call it

| Provider | Model id | Endpoint | Docs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krea API | `krea-3` | https://api.krea.ai/generate/image/krea/krea-3 | https://www.krea.ai/docs/developers/krea-3/overview |
| OpenRouter | `krea/k3-edit` |  |  |
| Web app |  |  | https://www.krea.ai/krea-3 |

## Pricing

- Per 1K image: $0.03
- Per 2K image: $0.06
- Per 1k reference image: $0.02
- Per 2k reference image: $0.07
- High mode surcharge: $0.02
- Ultra mode surcharge: $0.20
- Unit as published: USD per output image (Krea API); Ultra is 2K only, so Ultra with no references = $0.26
- Source: https://www.krea.ai/docs/developers/krea-3/overview
- Last checked: 2026-10-25

## Specs

- Input: text, image
- Output: image
- Context window: not published
- Max output: not published
- Open weights: no
- Licence: proprietary

## Where it stands

- No newer image generation model in the registry yet.
- Closed weights; access is hosted only.

## What stands out

- Ultra thinking mode (found after launch): thinking_mode 'ultra' generates several candidates, reviews them against the prompt and references and returns the best at 2K; needs at least one input image and a Max plan; jobs can take up to ~10 minutes. Source: https://www.krea.ai/docs/developers/krea-3/overview
- Pixel-exact regional edits: regional_edit: true regenerates only the parts that must change and leaves the rest pixel-exact, so edits can be chained without quality loss. Source: https://www.krea.ai/docs/developers/krea-3/overview
- Bounding boxes with per-region notes (found after launch): Up to 24 regions (0-1 coordinates) on any reference image, each with its own @label and note prompt; up to 8 reference images per request. Source: https://www.krea.ai/docs/changelog
- Self-hosting on enterprise plans: Krea says Krea 3 can run on the customer's own GPUs in their cloud under enterprise terms. Source: https://www.krea.ai/krea-3

## Notes

'Krea 3 Ultra' is not a separate model id: it is the ultra thinking_mode of the same krea-3 endpoint (Krea docs), so one file covers all modes. Not on Artificial Analysis's main text-to-image board (read 2026-10-25); on the AA image-editing leaderboard (https://artificialanalysis.ai/image/leaderboard/editing) Krea 3 (Ultra) is tied 3-6, Elo 1151, $270 per 1k images, and Krea 3 (Fast) tied 7-16, Elo 1126, $70 per 1k. Krea's page cites #4 on Arena's Multi-Image Edit board (score 1,435). Timeline: early-access API and app beta 2026-10-15; default image model in the app and Ultra on Max plans 2026-10-16; API public 2026-10-19; Ultra in the API and 'out of beta' 2026-10-20 (Krea changelog). Old mode names instant/medium/max are rejected after 2026-10-30. Zero Data Retention supported except ultra with images. OpenRouter listing (provider Krea) showed no prices when checked. fal and others resell it (ids not verified). Open weights and LoRA fine-tuning only 'being considered' (founder, HN).

Krea's own image-editing model (also does text-to-image), native 2K, priced per image; Ultra mode trades minutes of latency for quality.

```bash
curl https://api.krea.ai/generate/image/krea/krea-3 -H "Authorization: Bearer $KREA_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
 -d '{"prompt":"Place the product on a clean studio background","image_urls":["IMAGE_URL"],"thinking_mode":"fast","resolution":"2K"}'
# returns job_id; poll GET https://api.krea.ai/jobs/{job_id} until status is completed, image in result.urls[0]
```

Sources:
- https://www.krea.ai/docs/developers/krea-3/overview
- https://www.krea.ai/docs/changelog
- https://www.krea.ai/krea-3
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50105648

Model page: https://postcutoff.com/m/krea-3/