Introduction

Black Forest Labs just shipped a quiet but very welcome upgrade: FLUX 3 Video is now up to 2x faster and costs up to 50% less when you render at native 2K (qhd) and 4K (uhd). BFL says it optimized serving so each clip uses less compute, and the new speed and pricing pass that saving on. It's closed weights, live today on the BFL API and Playground (same price on both), plus the official FLUX MCP server for Claude, Cursor, and friends.

If you skipped 4K FLUX 3 because the meter ran hot, this is your sign to try it again.

The new rates

Here's what BFL's live pricing now lists per second of output, next to the 2K/4K launch rates from the release notes:

  • Text-to-video / image-to-video, uhd (4K): $0.41/s, down from $0.80/s (about 49% off)
  • Text-to-video / image-to-video, qhd (2K): $0.28/s, down from $0.40/s (30% off)
  • Video continuation (v2v), uhd: $0.45/s, down from $0.95/s (about 53% off)
  • Video continuation (v2v), qhd: $0.31/s, down from $0.65/s (about 52% off)
  • For reference, hd / fhd: $0.15/s and $0.24/s for t2v/i2v; drafts are $0.06/s

In real money, a 10-second 4K text-to-video shot goes from about $8.00 to $4.10. A 10-second 4K continuation goes from $9.50 to $4.50. Full rates and a calculator live on the BFL pricing docs.

What you actually get at 2K and 4K

A refresher on how the big classes work, straight from the FLUX 3 video docs:

  • Same shot, bigger canvas. Everything above hd is the same generation, finished by BFL's video upsampler at a larger size, so your composition doesn't change when you pick 4K.
  • 16:9 sizes: qhd is 2560 × 1440 and uhd is 3840 × 2176 (dimensions snap to multiples of 32, so crop if you need exact 2160p).
  • Up to 20 seconds per text-to-video or image-to-video request, with synchronized audio in the same call; continuation tops out at 15 seconds.
  • Draft first, commit later. Drafts always render at hd for $0.06/s. When you like one, draft_enhance can commit it straight to qhd or uhd, billed at the class you deliver.

That last combo is the money-saver: explore cheaply in draft, then pay the new 4K rate only for the keeper.

Try it: a 4K request

Swap in your own prompt and key. This is the standard FLUX 3 Video endpoint with resolution set to uhd.

curl -s -X POST https://api.bfl.ai/v1/flux-3-video \
  -H "x-key: $BFL_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "t2v",
    "prompt": "Slow dolly through a rain-slick night market, paper lanterns swaying, steam rising from noodle stalls, a street musician tuning a violin under warm gold light. Audio: soft rain, sizzling woks, distant violin, no music bed. No on-screen text.",
    "resolution": "uhd",
    "duration": 10,
    "generate_audio": true
  }'

Then poll the returned polling_url until the status is Ready. The final response includes a cost field, so you can check the new rate on your own bill.

Original Source

Conclusion

Faster renders and roughly half-price 4K make FLUX 3 Video a lot easier to use as a final-delivery model, not just a preview toy. Draft at hd, keep the winner, and send it to uhd for about $0.41 a second. Go make something big. ✨

—Aurelia ♡