What Is Krea 3 for Ads: $0.06 a 2K Image Without a Product Photo

Krea 3 costs $0.06 until you add a product photo

Krea's launch post of October 15, 2026 says "It costs $0.06 per image at 2K." The same post labels its figures "list prices per image, without image references." So $0.06 gets you a 2K image made from text alone. But Krea pitches the model for a different job, saying it "keeps the product as it is, down to the label and the logo, and builds a new scene around it." For that, your product photo goes in as a reference, and on Krea's API one reference takes the same 2K image to $0.08 or $0.13, depending on the photo's size.

None of the top five results we opened for "krea 3" turns Krea's plan counts into dollars, so we did the math. On Basic, the cheapest Krea plan that includes a commercial license, one Krea 3 image comes to about 3 cents by Krea's own count. That's $9 a month divided by the roughly 277 images its table lists. The count doesn't name a size or settings, so it isn't a 2K price.

We didn't test Krea 3 for this post. The numbers come from Krea's pages and a few hosts' pages, read from Spain on November 5, 2026. The product photo further down is ours, made with another model, Nano Banana Pro.

What Krea 3 is and what it can do

An editing model that also makes images from text

Krea's API docs call Krea 3 "a fast image editing model," and its October 20 changelog entry says "Krea 3 is out of beta." Krea's user guide adds that it "generates images from text and edits existing images from plain-language instructions."

For ad work, Krea's Krea 3 page says it's "Best at product scene changes, object removal and photo cleanup." That's Krea's claim, and we didn't check it. Krea's comparison post of October 20 also names a weak spot for ads, saying "Small-text rendering is still slightly behind the strongest models. Check every letter on a label or a price tag before you ship."

Sizes, 4K and references

The launch post says "Krea 3 generates natively at 2K," and the user guide lists "1K or 2K output" in the app. You get 4K through the API, and the October 27 changelog entry says it's "billed as a 2K image plus the 2x upscale." So we'd treat 2K as the model's largest native size.

The launch post says an edit takes up to 6 reference images, while Krea's API pages say up to 8, so check the limit on whichever route you'll use.

What it doesn't support yet

Krea's user guide says "Krea 3 does not yet support the Krea 2 API's style-reference or LoRA controls," and the API docs, dated October 28, say "Style references are coming soon to the API." The launch post does say "you can also add style references," but not where. For one brand look across a set of ads, the guide points you to Krea 2, which our Krea 2 style reference post covers.

On November 5, 2026, we found no public Krea 3 checkpoint on Krea's site or its Hugging Face organization. Krea's changelog dates the Krea 2 open weights to June 23, and its Krea 3 page says self-hosting is "on enterprise plans." Flux.1 Krea is a different model, and Krea's November 2 changelog entry says "Flux.1 Krea is no longer available."

What one image costs through Krea's API

Prices as of November 5, 2026.

The list price and what a reference adds

Krea's API page says "Krea 3 has a flat price per image: $0.03 at 1K or $0.06 at 2K, plus a small charge for each reference image and for High thinking." On references, the docs say "Include at least one for an edit; omit for text-to-image generation." So by Krea's own docs, every edit through the API carries at least one reference charge.

On the API page, a reference up to 1024×1024 pixels adds $0.02. A larger one adds $0.07. The table's sums are ours, for one product photo in the default fast mode.

What you send	1K image	2K image
Text only	$0.03	$0.06
One reference up to 1024×1024	$0.05	$0.08
One larger reference	$0.10	$0.13

The docs say Krea 3 "uses each reference at its uploaded resolution," so shrinking a product photo first should put it in the $0.02 band. That's our reading of the page, and we haven't tested what that does to a label's detail.

High thinking, ultra and 4K

Krea's docs list three more settings that change the bill.

• High thinking adds $0.02 a generation.
• Ultra adds $0.20 a generation, at 2K only, and it's "available to workspaces on a Max plan or above." With ultra, "the first four reference images are billed at $0.07 each," whatever their size. Any others are $0.02 each.
• "A 4K image is billed as a 2K image plus $0.04," so it's $0.10 before references.

Where Krea's pages disagree on an edit

Krea uses the word "edit" for more than one price.

• The Krea 3 page shows "~ $0.06 / edit" and notes that "Costs are approximate USD list prices for 2K edits, excluding promotions."
• The launch post's cost table prices 100,000 edits "at list price per image," and says that's "without image references."
• Krea's technical report of November 3 lists "$80.00 per 1k edits" at API prices, which is 8 cents an edit by our division. The figure doesn't say what size or references it assumes, though by our sums 8 cents is what a 2K edit with one small reference costs on the API.

Since the docs say an edit needs a reference, we'd budget $0.08 or $0.13 for an API edit until those pages agree. The "~ $0.21 / edit" card on the Krea 3 page is for GPT Image 2.5, and Krea's note says "GPT Image 2.5 pricing is a draft estimate pending validation."

Other hosts set their own prices

The launch post lists Krea 3 "On krea.ai, and through fal, Hedra, Together AI, Nous Research, OpenRouter and Replicate." We read three of those hosts' prices, and they don't all match Krea's.

Host	2K image, no reference	What a reference adds
Krea's API	$0.06	$0.02 or $0.07
Replicate, fast mode	$0.06	$0.02 per megapixel
fal, at 2048×2048	about $0.10	$0.025 per megapixel
OpenRouter, K3 Edit at 50% off	$0.03	$0.01

fal adds that "An edit with one same-size reference costs twice its output." OpenRouter shows $0.06 struck through with a 50% off tag, and we couldn't see an end date. It calls the model K3 Edit, and we take that to be Krea 3, going by its maker and its October 15 release date.

What a Krea 3 image costs on a plan

On a plan you pay in compute units, so the $0.06 doesn't apply

Krea's API page says "API access is billed independently from Krea Pro, Max, or any team plan." In the app, the user guide says Krea 3 "uses compute units like other models," and adds "Check the model picker for the cost of your selected settings." That picker is behind Krea's sign-in, and we didn't read it, so we can't tell you how many units a 2K image takes.

Krea's own counts, turned into dollars

Krea's pricing page lists how many Krea 3 images each plan's units cover, under the line "Generation counts. Settings are shown when relevant." The Krea 3 row shows none. We divided each price by its count. Prices as of November 5, 2026, in US dollars.

Plan and units a month	Krea's count	Billed monthly	Per image	Billed yearly	Per image
Basic, 5,000	~277	$9	about 3.2 cents	$5.25	about 1.9 cents
Pro, 20,000	~1,111	$35	about 3.2 cents	$21	about 1.9 cents
Max, 40,000	~2,222	$70	about 3.2 cents	$42	about 1.9 cents
Business, 20,000	~1,111	$50	about 4.5 cents	$40	about 3.6 cents

How far to trust those cents

• The count implies about 18 units an image. At Basic's rate, that's close to the API's 1K price, so our guess is that a 2K image takes more units than the table counts. Even at twice the units, a Basic image billed monthly comes to about 6.5 cents.
• Krea says "Basic, Pro, and Max plans allocate compute units monthly and they do not roll over," so these numbers only hold if you spend every unit on Krea 3 every month.
• By our arithmetic, Krea's Max count matches a 40,000-unit tier and its Business count a 20,000-unit tier, and its Krea 2 Turbo row matches the same two. So we priced those rows at $70 and $50 a month. The Max card shows $105 a month for 60,000 units. The Business card shows $200 for 80,000. The yearly prices on those two cards belong to the same bigger tiers.
• Basic billed yearly shows as $5 a month on its card and $5.25 in the table, and we used the table's figure. Krea's page advertises "Save 40% with annual," and its terms state that a paid plan renews "at the then-current non-promotional rate." So we'd treat the yearly prices for Basic, Pro and Max as a promotion and budget for the monthly ones.

The nine included images, relaxed generations and tax

• Krea's October 26 changelog entry says "Every plan now includes 9 free Krea 3 images." It doesn't say whether they come once, daily or monthly, so they aren't in our sums.
• Max and up include "Unlimited relaxed generations," which Krea describes as "Continue generating with supported in-house image models after exhausting your compute units." The page doesn't name those models, so we wouldn't count on Krea 3 being one of them.
• We left out Free (~5 Krea 3 images a day), since it isn't on Krea's list of plans with the commercial license.
• We found no tax or VAT line on the pricing page, the API page, the launch post or the API docs, and we didn't go as far as a checkout. Krea's terms mention "any charges, taxes, and fees we bill you," so read every figure here as a list price.

For the rest of Krea's plan details, see our Krea pricing post.

Can you run a Krea 3 image as an ad?

Basic and up, according to Krea's pricing page

Krea's pricing page, read November 5, 2026, says "Yes, Basic, Pro, Max, Business, and Enterprise plans include a commercial license that allows you to use all generated content for commercial purposes without restrictions." It goes on to name "marketing, advertising, products, and client work." Free isn't on that list. For the API, an undated answer on the API page says "All output generated through the Krea API is licensed for commercial use, including marketing, products, and client work," and adds that "A handful of partner-hosted models carry their own terms."

Krea's ads guide of August 31, 2026 disagrees. It says "Pro at $35/month (20,000 units) adds the video models" and the commercial license, while the pricing page starts the license at Basic. We follow the pricing page, as it's the one where Krea lists its plans.

The terms let Krea change that

Krea's terms, last updated May 20, 2024, say "Krea reserves the right to modify the terms of commercial use of Content generated from the Services at any time." So the license line is only as current as the day you read it, and we'd save a copy of the page on the day a campaign goes out.

Krea's Ad Studio, announced October 29

Krea announced Ad Studio on October 29, 2026. It says the tool "turns a website into an editable brand kit and product catalog, then makes static ads for those products with Krea 3," and that it's "on every paid plan, from Basic up." You can make up to 12 ads in one batch, Krea says, and "Preview any ad in a Facebook, Instagram or Reels mockup before it runs."

Krea says "Ads use your compute units, like other Krea 3 generations," but not how many units one ad takes. We didn't try the tool, so the plan table above is our closest estimate.

Krea 3 next to Nano Banana Pro in Novoads

We don't sell Krea 3. The closest model we can put next to it is one we do sell, Nano Banana Pro, and we can only compare their costs, because we never ran the two against each other.

Krea's list price is lower

In Novoads, one 2K Nano Banana Pro image costs 2 credits, with or without a reference. That's about 15 cents on Starter, at $0.075 a credit. On Plus, at $0.049 a credit, it's about 10 cents. Krea's $0.06 list price is lower than both. So is Basic's 3 cents, even if a 2K image takes twice the units.

One image	Cost
Krea 3 on Basic, billed monthly, by Krea's count	about 3 cents
Krea 3 on Krea's API, 2K, text only	$0.06
Krea 3 on Krea's API, 2K, one reference up to 1024×1024	$0.08
Nano Banana Pro in Novoads, 2K, on Plus	about 10 cents
Krea 3 on Krea's API, 2K, one larger reference	$0.13
Nano Banana Pro in Novoads, 2K, on Starter	about 15 cents

So we only come in under an API edit with a larger reference, and only on Plus.

If it's Nano Banana Pro you want, the gap closes. Krea's table counts 64 Nano Banana Pro images at 1K on Basic. By our division, that's about 14 cents each. In Novoads that 1K image is also 2 credits, so Plus comes in under that and Starter is about the same. Krea's " $0.135 / edit" for that model is its own figure, and it isn't what Novoads charges. Our GPT Image 2 vs Nano Banana Pro post puts both through the same ad prompts.

One 2K image from the model we sell

Made in Novoads with Nano Banana Pro · serum bottle from Google's mockup prompt · 2K at 4:5 for 2 credits, first take · 2026-11-01

This is a single take from November 1, 2026. We gave Nano Banana Pro Google's own product mockup template, filled in with a serum bottle (our Nano Banana prompts post walks through that template). It ran at 2K and 4:5. The file came back at 1856 × 2304. We asked for a blank label, so the picture can't show you how the model renders text on packaging. It isn't Krea output or a test against Krea 3.

What Krea claims about speed and rankings

• Krea's October 15 launch post says "Most edits come back in under 8 seconds, end to end, at native 2K," against 33 seconds for Nano Banana Pro in its table.
• The undated Krea 3 page says "4× faster than Nano Banana Pro." Its side-by-side shows Nano Banana Pro at about 26.8 seconds and calls Krea 3's 8 seconds "illustrative."
• Krea's October 20 benchmarks post says Krea 3 "ranks in the top 4-5 on three independent leaderboards."

Those are Krea's claims about its own model. We haven't read an independent test of them or run one.

Krea's comparison post, titled "Krea 3 vs Nano Banana Pro (2026): Ahead on Every Leaderboard," also says "Pick Nano Banana Pro when you need 4K straight from the model, images built from live search data, long dense text inside the image, or Google's separate character-image slots." For ads, we think that's the line that matters, since plenty of static ads carry a headline. In Novoads, a 4K Nano Banana Pro image costs 4 credits. That's about 20 cents on Plus and 30 cents on Starter.

The video ads Novoads makes

Krea's August 31 guide says "There are no avatar actors with lip-synced scripts," and that line was still on the page when we read it on November 5. Ad Studio's announcement describes static ads. That gap is where we'd use Novoads. You write a script, pick one of 100+ AI actors and download it as a vertical, square or horizontal video, then run it wherever you buy ads. A talking actor costs 200 credits for each started minute at 720p, voice included. Our pricing FAQ says "All videos generated with Novoads are fully licensed for commercial use."

Starter is $15 a month for 200 credits, billed monthly only. Spend them all on stills and that's 100 Nano Banana Pro images. Plus is $49 a month for 1,000 credits. Novoads plans are paid from the start, and our pricing page has the rest.

The Novoads pricing page on monthly billing, each plan with its price and credits · 2026-11-05

If you're comparing Krea with other tools for video clips, our Krea alternatives post has the clip costs and licenses.

Which one we'd use for which job

We'd look at Krea 3 first when:

• Your work is static images, and cost per image decides it.
• You're running product scene changes through an API and can budget $0.08 or $0.13 an edit.

We'd look at Novoads first when:

• Each month you need an ad where an AI actor reads your script on camera.
• You want Nano Banana Pro, which Krea's own post recommends for long text inside an image, on the same credit balance as your videos.

We didn't run Krea 3, so check its output on your own product before you commit a budget to it.