New image model from Black Forest Labs can run on an 8 GB graphics card

German image model developer Black Forest Labs released FLUX 3 Image Klein on October 15, 2026. The model is a so-called open-weights model. That means the model's "weights," meaning what it has learned, can be downloaded and used on your own computer.

Klein has 5.6 billion parameters. Parameters are the settings that make up an AI model, and fewer typically means a smaller, lighter model. That is about 38 percent fewer than its predecessor, FLUX.2 klein, at 9 billion.

Can run on a regular graphics card

According to Black Forest Labs, the model takes up about 11.2 GB in the BF16 version and 5.6 GB in the FP8 version. With the INT8 version, it can run on NVIDIA GeForce RTX cards with as little as 8 GB of VRAM (the graphics card's memory). This works through the ComfyUI or Diffusers programs. According to the company, the versions were developed with support from NVIDIA.

The model can create images from text, edit images and generate new images from up to 10 reference images. It also supports 4K resolution, pixel-precise editing and bounding boxes, which let users specify where in the image elements should be placed.

The release includes a base model, which can be fine-tuned for specific purposes, and a distilled model for fast responses. There are also FP8, INT8 and NVFP4 versions.

Speed and price

The company says the distilled INT8 model produces a 1-megapixel image in about 4 seconds on an RTX 5090 and in under 9 seconds on an RTX 4070 via ComfyUI. Through the company's API, the median latency is 4.54 seconds for text-to-image and 7.18 seconds for editing. API prices start at USD 0.009 per 1,000 images.

License and safety

The model is released under the FLUX Community License. It allows free commercial use for companies and individuals with less than USD 5 million in annual revenue, and it can be used freely for research and non-commercial purposes. The weights are available on Hugging Face.

According to the release, the model was tested internally and assessed by partner Cinder, which reportedly found significantly fewer vulnerabilities than in other popular open models.

Own tests point to top ranking

Black Forest Labs says the model ranks first in the company's own blind evaluations for text-to-image, reference-based generation and editing. The company says it beats larger open models as well as Ideogram V4.5 and FLUX.2 pro, and that it scores 91 more Elo points than FLUX.2 klein in text-to-image and 70 in editing. The results are the company's own and have not been independently verified.

Klein is a smaller model in the larger FLUX 3 family, which was announced on July 23, 2026. The 8 GB requirement therefore applies only to Klein and not to the large FLUX 3 models.