2026 Review

Krea

Real-time AI creative suite — dozens of image, video and 3D models on one canvas.

Images VideoFreemiumAPIPopular84% positive

Facts checked Aug 10, 2026

About Krea

Krea is a creative suite rather than a single generator: real-time image generation that redraws as you type or sketch, its own Krea 2 model alongside third-party image, video and 3D models, upscaling, LoRA training and a node editor for building repeatable workflows. The free plan gives 100 compute units a day but no commercial licence; Basic at $9/month (5,000 units) adds commercial use and paid upscalers, and Pro at $35/month (20,000 units) unlocks every video model. Yearly billing is 40% off, taking Basic to $63/year ($5.25/month).

At a glance

Founded: 2022
Headquarters: San Francisco, US
Users: 40M subscribers (company claim)
Platforms: Web

Integrates with

VeoSoraKlingFLUXTopazNano Banana

Main competitors

Midjourney Freepik Leonardo AI Runway

Best for

Concept artProduct imageryAI videoUpscalingStyle training

Pros

Real-time generation genuinely changes how you work — you steer an image rather than reroll a prompt
One subscription reaches models you would otherwise pay several vendors for
$9/month for Basic is a low entry point for commercial rights plus 5,000 units
Unlimited relaxed generations mean running out of units slows you down rather than stopping you

Cons

The free plan has no commercial licence — anything you make on it cannot be used for client or product work
Compute units are the real currency and the page never says what a typical image or video costs
Video is the expensive part: 20 Seedance videos a month on Basic goes nowhere for a serious video project
All video models require Pro at $35/month, which is a steep jump from Basic

Our verdict

Best for: Designers and creators who iterate visually and want image, video, 3D and upscaling under one subscription.

Skip if: You generate a handful of images a month — Midjourney or ChatGPT Images is simpler — or you need heavy video, where per-model tools cost less.

Our review

Krea's real-time canvas is the rare AI feature that changes the activity rather than speeding it up. Most image tools are a slot machine: write a prompt, wait, judge, reroll. Krea redraws as you type and as you sketch, so the loop collapses to something closer to drawing — you nudge the composition, watch it respond, and stop when it is right. Once you have worked that way, the submit-and-wait interfaces feel like filling in a form.

Around that sits a genuinely broad suite: its own Krea 2 model, most of the third-party models worth having, video, 3D, lip-sync, upscaling, frame interpolation, LoRA training for consistent characters, and a node editor for turning a workflow into something repeatable. The breadth is the value proposition — one subscription instead of four — and it is the main reason to pick it over Midjourney, which still wins on the beauty of a single still.

The pricing needs care. Compute units are the real currency and Krea does not publish per-action costs, offering only rough equivalences: 5,000 units is roughly 64 images from one model, or 20 short videos. Video eats units at a rate images never approach, so anyone with a serious video plan should price it before subscribing. The sharper trap is the free plan having no commercial licence at all — it is fine for evaluation, but nothing you make there can go near a client, and that is easy to miss.

Verdict: the most complete creative suite in the catalog for people who iterate visually, and at $9 a month for Basic the cheapest legitimate route to commercial AI imagery across this many models. Use Midjourney if you want the single most beautiful image; use Krea if you want to work.

What reviewers elsewhere say

84% positive — Creators rate the real-time canvas and the breadth of models very highly; the consistent complaints are opaque compute units, how quickly video consumes them, and the commercial licence being withheld from the free plan.

Sentiment estimated from reviews on Reddit, Product Hunt, G2, as of Aug 2026. Third-party scores are point-in-time snapshots. We don't host user reviews.

Key features

Real-time generation — the image updates as you type or draw, instead of a submit-and-wait cycle
Krea 2, its own in-house image model, alongside third-party models including Veo, Sora, Kling and FLUX
Image, video, 3D and lip-sync generation plus upscaling and frame interpolation in one place
LoRA fine-tuning on your own images or video for a consistent style or character
Krea Nodes — a visual workflow editor with an App Builder and an AI assistant that builds node graphs for you
Unlimited "relaxed" generations on in-house models after your monthly compute units run out (paid plans)

How to use Krea

Sign up free and start in real-time mode — sketch or type and watch the image form as you go.
Try the same prompt across two or three models; the point of Krea is that switching is free.
Watch the compute counter for your first week to learn what your own work actually costs.
Train a LoRA on your own images once you need a consistent character or house style.
Upgrade to Basic ($9/month) before using anything commercially — the free plan has no commercial licence.
Move to Pro ($35/month) only if you need the full video model set; video burns units fastest.

Pricing

Deal: Yearly billing saves 40% — Basic drops to $63/year, about $5.25/mo

Free$0

100 compute units per day. All image and video models, limited LoRA training, upscaling to 2K. No commercial licence.

Basic$9/mo

$63/year billed yearly — about $5.25/mo (40% off). 5,000 units/month, commercial licence, selected video models, upscaling to 22K, 4 concurrent images.

Pro$35/mo

$252/year billed yearly — about $21/mo. 20,000 units/month, every video model including Veo, Sora and Kling, 8 concurrent images, 4 concurrent videos.

MaxFrom $70/mo

$504/year billed yearly — about $42/mo at the 40,000-unit tier. Compute slider from 40,000 to 100,000 units/month ($70–$165/mo), unlimited concurrency, 2,000 images per LoRA.

BusinessFrom $50/mo

$480/year billed yearly at the 20,000-unit tier; the default 80,000-unit tier is $200/mo. Up to 50 seats on one flat price, scalable to 1.5M units.

Pricing verified August 2026 · prices as listed by the vendor; check the official site for current offers.

Try Krea

Frequently asked questions

What is Krea?

Krea is an AI creative suite covering image, video and 3D generation, upscaling, frame interpolation and LoRA training. Its signature feature is real-time generation — the image redraws continuously as you type or sketch — and it offers its own Krea 2 model alongside dozens of third-party models such as Veo, Sora, Kling and FLUX.

How much does Krea cost?

Free gives 100 compute units a day with no commercial licence. Basic is $9/month for 5,000 units a month plus commercial rights, Pro is $35/month for 20,000 units and every video model, Max runs $70–$165/month across a 40,000–100,000-unit slider, and Business starts at $50/month for up to 50 seats. Yearly billing is 40% off, taking Basic to $63/year — about $5.25/month.

Can I use Krea images commercially on the free plan?

No. The commercial licence starts at Basic ($9/month). Anything generated on the free plan is for personal or evaluation use only, which matters if you are testing it on client work — upgrade before you deliver anything.

What is a compute unit worth?

Krea does not publish a per-action cost, and consumption varies by model and settings. The pricing page gives rough equivalences instead — 5,000 units is about 64 Nano Banana 2 images or 20 Seedance videos. Video is dramatically more expensive than images, so plan around your video use, not your image use.

Krea vs Midjourney — which should I pick?

Midjourney still has the edge on single-image aesthetic quality and is simpler if images are all you want. Krea wins on breadth and control: real-time iteration, video and 3D, upscaling, LoRA training and dozens of models under one subscription. Pick Midjourney for beautiful stills, Krea for a working visual pipeline.