Recraft V4.1 Flash vs Recraft V4.1
Recraft V4.1 Flash is the fast, raster-only tier of Recraft V4.1, released in September 2026. Both ran the same prompts through fal: V4.1 on 9 September, Flash on 22 October. Neither has an edit endpoint on fal, so the edit prompt is recorded as unsupported for both.
Anvisha Pai, Co-founder & CEO, Voyager
Which to use
V4.1 if you can spend the extra 2.8 cents; Flash for sketches. Both have Recraft's design instinct, and Flash's poster and woodblock print are as committed as V4.1's. Flash even got the composition test right, pencil across the rim, where V4.1 stood it in the glass. But Flash follows instructions less well: its banner filled the copy space with nonsense text, its chart axis is just the data values stacked up, and its infographic invented a wrong first step. V4.1's chart had a proper axis with one wrong label. Flash costs $0.007 an image against $0.035 on fal, read on 22 October and 9 September 2026, and drops styles, style references and vector output. Through fal it was not much faster than V4.1 on most prompts, despite Recraft's 1.3-second figure. One run per prompt is a fair first look, not a ranking.
Side by side, measured
| Recraft V4.1 Flash | Recraft V4.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Recraft | Recraft |
| Released | Date not verified | 2026-05-14 |
| Price | $0.007 per image via fal | $0.035 per raster image via Recraft API |
| Seconds per image | 2 to 21 | 8 to 16 |
| 12 pictures cost | $0.077 | $0.385 |
| Sizes | 1K raster only, at Recraft's own sizes: 1024 square, 896 by 1216 at 3:4, 1216 by 896 at 4:3, and 1536 by 768 when we asked for 21:9 |
Seconds and cost are from our own runs of the same 12 prompts through each model.
The same 12 prompts, Recraft V4.1 Flash against Recraft V4.1
One try each, nothing re-rolled or retouched, generated by us. Recraft V4.1 Flash is on the left, Recraft V4.1 on the right. Every prompt has its own page with the whole roster.
Text in an image
Every model on this prompt →Both spelled all three lines in a two-colour design. V4.1 used a psychedelic display face; Flash a risograph layout with an eye motif.
›What we asked for
A concert poster that reads 'MODA SUMMER SESSIONS' in large bold type, with the subtitle 'Friday 12 June, 8pm, Roundhouse' and a smaller line 'Tickets at the door'. Risograph style, two colours, tangerine and navy, grainy ink texture.
Product on white
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
Studio product photograph of a matte black ceramic pour-over coffee dripper on a seamless white background, soft top light, subtle contact shadow, centred, catalogue style.
Face and hands
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
Close-up portrait of a woman in her 40s with short grey hair, laughing, holding a red ceramic mug with both hands, natural window light, 85mm lens, shallow depth of field.
Logo mark
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
A flat vector logo mark for a bicycle repair shop called 'Spoke & Chain': a single-colour icon combining a chain link and a wheel spoke, with the wordmark below in a geometric sans-serif, black on white.
Busy scene
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
A crowded Saturday farmers market seen from slightly above: at least twelve stalls with striped awnings, shoppers carrying tote bags, a dog on a leash, crates of oranges, a musician with a guitar, bunting overhead, late morning light.
Specific art style
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
A lighthouse on a rocky cliff during a storm, in the style of a Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print, with visible wood grain texture, flat colour areas and a bokashi gradient sky.
V4.1 drew a proper 0 to 300 axis and labelled January 150 instead of 120. Flash's axis is the data values at even spacing, with every bar taller than the last.
›What we asked for
A clean bar chart titled 'Monthly active users' showing six months, January through June, with the values 120, 150, 180, 170, 220 and 260, labelled axes, white background, one accent colour, no 3D effects.
Wide aspect ratio
Every model on this prompt →Neither left the left third clear. V4.1 wrote a tagline and a button; Flash wrote a nonsense headline, 'Waciefpnsdsatwetore', and three lines of gibberish.
›What we asked for
Website hero banner: a wide panorama of a sunlit modern co-working space with plants, the left third of the frame kept as clear wall space for text, warm neutral palette.
Infographic with steps
Every model on this prompt →V4.1 kept to the four headings; Flash added sub-lines, one of them wrong, and a footnote.
›What we asked for
An infographic card titled 'How to brew pour-over' with four numbered steps in this order: 1. Rinse the filter, 2. Bloom for 30 seconds, 3. Pour in slow circles, 4. Wait 3 minutes. A simple icon beside each step, muted palette, clean sans-serif type.
Food photography
Every model on this prompt →
›What we asked for
Overhead photograph of a margherita pizza on a wooden board, fresh basil leaves, one slice pulled out with the cheese stretching, restaurant menu photography, natural light.
Hard composition
Every model on this prompt →Flash placed the pencil across the rim with three ice cubes; V4.1 stood the pencil in the glass.
›What we asked for
A glass of water on a wooden table with exactly three ice cubes in it, a yellow pencil resting across the rim of the glass, a blue book to the left of the glass and a red apple to the right, photographed from table height.
Edit an existing image
Every model on this prompt →›What we asked for
Change the coffee dripper to a deep forest green and add a small brass handle on its right side. Keep the background, lighting and composition exactly as they are.
Frequently asked questions
Is Recraft V4.1 Flash as good as V4.1?
Recraft says its quality is close to V4.1. On our prompts its taste was close, but it followed instructions less well on the banner, chart and infographic.
How much cheaper is Flash?
$0.007 an image against $0.035 on fal, a fifth of the price.
What does Flash leave out?
Styles, style references, negative prompts, text layout, image input and the vector and Pro variants. It keeps the palette and background colour controls.
Voyager
Run any of these inside Voyager
Voyager is an agent for creative work that runs every model on this page. Brief it, and it picks the model for the job, makes the thing and hands back something you can edit. Create an account to get started.