Flux 2 Dev vs Flux 1.1 Pro Ultra

Wildlife portraits demand extreme detail: individual whiskers, the complex banding patterns in tiger fur, and the layered reflections in feline eyes. These micro-details are where resolution differences become most apparent—and where Pro Ultra's 4MP output has an inherent advantage.

In our testing, Pro Ultra's native 4MP output revealed finer fur texture gradients and more precise whisker placement. Flux 2 Dev produced excellent quality that holds up well at normal viewing sizes, but when zoomed to 100%, Pro Ultra maintained detail that Dev approximated. For images destined for large prints or close examination, this resolution gap matters.

This candid street scene tests photorealistic authenticity: natural lighting, atmospheric rain, realistic reflections, and the documentary feel of an unposed urban moment. It's exactly the kind of image where viewers subconsciously judge whether something looks "real" or "generated."

Pro Ultra's raw mode showed advantages in atmospheric rendering. Rain droplets, neon color falloff, and the overall tonal quality felt more natural and less processed. Flux 2 Dev produced a visually similar image but with slightly more saturated colors and a cleaner aesthetic that some might find appealing but others might identify as having that "AI look."

Portraits are heavily scrutinized by human perception—we've evolved to read faces and hands with exceptional precision. This prompt demands realistic skin rendering across age ranges, the subtle textures of weathered hands, and convincing natural light interaction with human subjects.

Pro Ultra's raw mode produced more natural skin tones with subtle subsurface scattering effects. Aged skin texture and the delicate details of hands were rendered with particular care. Flux 2 Dev produced professional-quality portraits, but the skin sometimes appeared slightly more processed—still excellent, but less immediately "photographic" in that indefinable way.

Flux 2 Dev supports image-to-image generation—a capability Pro Ultra lacks entirely. This enables workflows where you provide a reference image to guide generation: style transfer, image variations, product mockups from photos, and editing existing images with AI assistance.

For text-to-image generation, both models produce excellent product photography. But if your workflow involves transforming real product photos, creating variations from reference images, or any editing-based generation, Flux 2 Dev is your only choice. This functional difference may outweigh any quality or resolution considerations for many use cases.

Consider the math: Pro Ultra costs about 5× more than Flux 2 Dev at 1MP resolution. If you're iterating on concepts, Dev lets you explore five variations for the price of one Pro Ultra output. For bulk content libraries, this cost difference compounds significantly.

Pro Ultra makes sense for specific scenarios: the hero image on your homepage that millions will see, the stock photography destined for print publications, the billboard creative that demands every pixel. For these high-stakes, high-visibility assets, the premium investment delivers native 4MP resolution and professional photography aesthetics that justify the cost.