# Image generation is live on Kyma

Markdown version of https://kymaapi.com/blog/image-generation-on-kyma, for agents and crawlers. Same content as the HTML page.

- Generated: 2026-10-09T21:45:05.589Z
- HTML page: https://kymaapi.com/blog/image-generation-on-kyma
- Model catalog: https://kymaapi.com/models.md
- Pricing: https://kymaapi.com/pricing.md

2026-04-25 · 4 min read

> **Update, 2026-09-12.** `flux-1.1-ultra` and `recraft-v3` were paused and now return `404 model_not_found`. The rest of the lineup here is live.


![Four Greek muses, four image models — rendered on Kyma](/blog/image-gen-muses-hero.jpg)

Kyma now generates images. The same API key that hits `chat/completions` also hits `images/generations`. Four models, per-image billing, one ledger.

Every image in this post was generated on Kyma. The four-muse hero, the editorial keysmith, the typography mark, the vector logo - all dogfood, no stock.

## What's available

| Model | Best for | Per image |
|---|---|---|
| **flux-1.1-ultra** | Photoreal hero, editorial, cinematic | **$0.081** |
| **ideogram-v3** | Typography, posters, packaging, logos | **$0.108** |
| **recraft-v3** | Vector illustration, brand assets | **$0.054** |
| **flux-kontext-pro** | Image-to-image edit, inpaint, refine | **$0.054** |

Pricing is per call. No subscription, no per-second compute charges. Your image-gen calls draw from the same balance as your text calls.

## Showcase

Each of the three demos below was generated end-to-end on Kyma. The prompts and their outputs:

### FLUX 1.1 Ultra - photoreal hero

![FLUX 1.1 Ultra editorial render of an artisan crafting a brass key](/blog/image-gen-flux-hero.jpg)

*Prompt: cinematic wide shot, an artisan crafting an ornate brass key on a workshop bench at golden hour, warm rim light pouring through dusty window, shallow depth of field, 35mm film aesthetic, photorealistic. Roughly 12 seconds, $0.081.*

Look at the rim light, the depth of field, the way the apron catches the window glow. This is the photoreal frontier - editorial-grade output you'd put above the fold without retouching.

### Ideogram V3 - typography that renders

![Ideogram V3 poster typography mark](/blog/image-gen-ideogram.jpg)

*Prompt: bold poster typography centered on dark navy background reading "IMAGE GENERATION" in large serif metallic gold letters, below it the word "on Kyma" in elegant smaller italic.*

This is the model's actual differentiator. Most image models butcher text. Ideogram renders it - kerning intact, weight intact, no melted glyphs.

### Recraft V3 - vector that ships

![Recraft V3 wave-psi brand mark](/blog/image-gen-recraft.webp)

*Prompt: flat vector illustration of an abstract psi symbol shaped like a wave, gold and deep navy color palette, modern minimalist tech brand logo on white background.*

Vector-clean, brand-consistent, no painterly artifacts. The kind of output you'd actually ship as a product mark.

## Why these four (and not twenty)

We picked four models that don't overlap. Each one does a thing the others can't:

- **FLUX 1.1 Ultra** is the photoreal frontier. Editorial-grade fidelity, deep cinematic looks, the kind of image you'd put above the fold.
- **Ideogram V3** renders text correctly. If you're making posters, packaging, app store screenshots, or anything with words baked in, this is the one model that doesn't hallucinate the letters.
- **Recraft V3** is the vector specialist. Brand marks, illustration, flat geometric work. Style presets that hold across a series.
- **FLUX Kontext Pro** edits an existing image. Mask-based inpainting, refinement, "make this version of the photo but change X."

Adding a fifth photoreal model wouldn't have given anyone a real choice. We'd rather route four sharp tools than twenty fuzzy ones. If something obviously different ships (video, audio-to-image, a true vector-from-scratch model with better quality), we'll add it.

## How it works

Same OpenAI-compatible base URL. Same key. POST to `/v1/images/generations`, get a `job_id` back, poll `GET /v1/jobs/{id}` until `succeeded`. Most images finish in 10-30 seconds.

A few behaviors worth knowing:

- **It's async.** Submit returns a `job_id` and a 202 immediately, so you don't hold a long HTTP connection.
- **Pricing is held at submit, charged at success.** Kyma places a hold of the per-image rate at submit time. If the upstream fails, the hold is released and you never pay for a failed generation.
- **Output URLs are stable.** We rehost the result on our own blob storage so the URL doesn't expire when the upstream cleans up its cache.
- **Kontext needs an `image_url`.** It's the edit model. Send a base image plus your edit prompt - sending text-only triggers a refund, not a charge.

Full request shape, parameters, polling, and SDK examples are in the [image generation API reference](https://docs.kymaapi.com/api-reference/images-generations).

## Use cases this unlocks

Concrete patterns we've seen builders ask for:

- **Marketing automation.** Generate per-product hero images on demand instead of paying a designer per asset.
- **App-internal illustrations.** Empty states, onboarding visuals, error pages - Recraft V3 keeps them on-brand.
- **Content pipelines.** Blog cover images for every post. This post's hero is Exhibit A.
- **Logo and brand exploration.** Ideogram and Recraft can turn a brief into a dozen mark variations in under a minute.
- **Photo editing at scale.** Kontext for batch refinement, background swaps, style transfers.

## Pricing in context

For perspective: a one-line of GPT-5.4 reasoning on a hard problem costs more than a FLUX Kontext edit. A typography poster from Ideogram costs less than a single completion call to Claude Opus 4.6 on a 30K-token context.

If you're already buying credits for text models, image generation slots in without a second budget. If you're starting fresh, note that FLUX and Recraft sit outside the [free tier](https://kymaapi.com/pricing#free-tier) — the $0.50 signup credit does not reach them, so add credits before your first render.

## What's next

Phase 2 is on the roadmap: video generation, more granular aspect-ratio control, and a streaming-style "preview during generation" mode. We'll publish dates when we have provider parity verified.

For now, this is what's live. Same key, four models, per-image pricing, and the exact charge on every response.

## Links

- [Image generation API reference](https://docs.kymaapi.com/api-reference/images-generations)
- [Image models page](https://docs.kymaapi.com/models/image-generation)
- [Pricing](https://docs.kymaapi.com/pricing)
- [Sign up](https://kymaapi.com/signup) - $0.50 free credit, on the [free tier](https://kymaapi.com/pricing#free-tier)