Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

DALL-E 3 vs FLUX.2 [flex] benchmark

Name: DALL-E 3 vs FLUX.2 [flex] AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares DALL-E 3 (OpenAI) and FLUX.2 [flex] (Black Forest Labs) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 1, 2026. Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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OpenAI

DALL-E 3

Legacy OpenAI image model benchmark baseline. Retained for historical comparisons.

Img Elo 1,145$40/1k imgs

Black Forest Labs

FLUX.2 [flex]

Flexible step-distilled variant of FLUX.2 offering 99% of Max quality with 45% faster generation speeds.

Flex / TurboImg Elo 1,224$60/1k imgs

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Instant pairwise benchmark recalculation across 400+ LLMs

Model A

Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

DALL-E 3 (1)vsFLUX.2 [flex] (4)

DALL-E 3: 1W (20%)Overall: FLUX.2 [flex]FLUX.2 [flex]: 4W (80%)

← DALL-E 3FLUX.2 [flex] →

FLUX.2 [flex] (3/3)

Visual Quality & Adherence

Arena Preference Elo, prompt fidelity & typography score

Image Elo

1,145vs1,224

Prompt adherence

84%vs90.5%

Text rendering

81%vs91.5%

DALL-E 3: 0WFLUX.2 [flex]: 3W

FLUX.2 [flex] (1/1)

Generation Latency

Time to render full-resolution image snapshot (seconds)

Generation time

6.2svs2.8s

DALL-E 3: 0WFLUX.2 [flex]: 1W

DALL-E 3 (1/1)

Cost Efficiency

API inference cost per 1,000 generated images

Price per 1k images

$40/1kvs$60/1k

DALL-E 3: 1WFLUX.2 [flex]: 0W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageFLUX.2 [flex] 4/6

Image Preference Elo

FLUX.2 [flex]

79 pts advantage

Generation Latency

FLUX.2 [flex]

3.4s faster

Image Price Efficiency

DALL-E 3

$20.0/1k cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Img Elo

High is better

1,145

Img EloHigh is better

1,224+7%

Gen Time

Low is better

6.2s

Gen TimeLow is better

2.8s+121%

Img $

Low is better

+50%$40/1k

Img $Low is better

$60/1k

Prompt %

High is better

84%

Prompt %High is better

90.5%+8%

Text %

High is better

81%

Text %High is better

91.5%+13%

Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 33% with DALL-E 3

Monthly Image Production Volume25k images / month (25000 imgs)

Quick Presets:

DALL-E 3$1,000.00 / mo

Rate: $40/1k

FLUX.2 [flex]$1,500.00 / mo

Rate: $60/1k

Estimated Cost Delta

DALL-E 3 is estimated to save $500.00/month ($6,000/year).

Based on 25k images generated

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatinsufficient data

Need list prices.

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGinsufficient data

Need context sizes.

Screenshots / visioninsufficient data

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	insufficient data	Need list prices.
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	insufficient data	Need context sizes.
Screenshots / vision	insufficient data	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM Matrix

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LIVE

OpenAI

DALL-E 3

Elo n/a

LiveBench—

SWE-bench—

Speed—

Output cost—

Black Forest Labs

FLUX.2 [flex]

Elo n/a

LiveBench—

SWE-bench—

Speed—

Output cost—

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?: We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?: SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: List prices are missing for at least one model.
Which is faster, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?: We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?: Context window is missing for at least one model.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DALL-E 3 and FLUX.2 [flex] Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All DALL-E 3 matchups →|All FLUX.2 [flex] matchups →

DALL-E 3 vs GPT Image 1.5 (next gpt-image)FLUX.2 [flex] vs FLUX.1.1 [pro] (previous flux)FLUX.2 [flex] vs FLUX.2 [max] (next flux)GPT Image 2 (High) vs FLUX.2 [flex]GPT Image 2 (Low / Fast) vs FLUX.2 [flex]GPT Image 1.5 vs FLUX.2 [flex]

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

DALL-E 3 (1)vsFLUX.2 [flex] (4)

DALL-E 3: 1W (20%)Overall: FLUX.2 [flex]FLUX.2 [flex]: 4W (80%)

← DALL-E 3FLUX.2 [flex] →

FLUX.2 [flex] (3/3)

Visual Quality & Adherence

Arena Preference Elo, prompt fidelity & typography score

Image Elo

1,145vs1,224

Prompt adherence

84%vs90.5%

Text rendering

81%vs91.5%

DALL-E 3: 0WFLUX.2 [flex]: 3W

FLUX.2 [flex] (1/1)

Generation Latency

Time to render full-resolution image snapshot (seconds)

Generation time

6.2svs2.8s

DALL-E 3: 0WFLUX.2 [flex]: 1W

DALL-E 3 (1/1)

Cost Efficiency

API inference cost per 1,000 generated images

Price per 1k images

$40/1kvs$60/1k

DALL-E 3: 1WFLUX.2 [flex]: 0W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatinsufficient data

Need list prices.

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGinsufficient data

Need context sizes.

Screenshots / visioninsufficient data

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	insufficient data	Need SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chat	insufficient data	Need list prices.
Voice / low-latency UI	insufficient data	Need TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAG	insufficient data	Need context sizes.
Screenshots / vision	insufficient data	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (undefined).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?

We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.

Which is better at coding, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?

SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

List prices are missing for at least one model.

Which is faster, DALL-E 3 or FLUX.2 [flex]?

We do not have TTFT for both models.

Which has the larger context window?

Context window is missing for at least one model.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. DALL-E 3 and FLUX.2 [flex] Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.