# Recraft — GPT Image 2.6 in Recraft: Sunburst vs Flare, Tested

- Company: Recraft (recraft.ai)
- Announced: 2026-11-05
- Category: availability-change
- Coverage: not counted
- Announcement: no
- Group: routine
- Source: https://www.recraft.ai/blog/gpt-image-2-6
- Record: https://forck.live/items/32173-gpt-image-2-6-in-recraft-sunburst-vs-flare-tested
- Subject: Recraft V4
- Models affected: GPT Image 2.6, GPT Image 2.6 Sunburst, GPT Image 2.6 Flare, Recraft V4.1 Pro, Nano Banana 2.1

Recraft has added OpenAI's GPT Image 2.6 to Recraft Studio, with the Sunburst variant available on the Free plan and Flare reserved for paid plans. OpenAI released the model on November 4, 2026, as ChatGPT Images 2.6, shipping it as two models: Flare for fast drafts and Sunburst for images that stay consistent across rounds of edits. Both run in Studio for prompt-to-image and image editing at 1K or 2K, and cost the same there while sharing the same controls. Recraft says Flare is the sketchbook and Sunburst the final pass, and that in its tests the two usually agree on composition, so a Flare draft previews where Sunburst will go. OpenAI says Flare can return an image in as little as six seconds at Low quality, and an early independent test found 2.6 Flare ran about twice as fast as 2.5 Flare at every quality level. In ChatGPT and the OpenAI API, 2.6 also produces GIFs and SVG files and takes drawn markup as an edit instruction. Recraft ran 12 prompts through GPT Image 2.6 and Recraft V4.1 Pro, and five through Nano Banana 2.1, with each image a single generation at Medium quality and 1K for GPT Image 2.6.

## Evidence

Verbatim from https://www.recraft.ai/blog/gpt-image-2-6:

> OpenAI's GPT Image 2.6 is live in Recraft Studio. We ran it through 12 prompts next to Recraft V4.1 Pro and Nano Banana 2.1.
> 
> GPT Image 2.6 is now in Recraft Studio, and GPT Image 2.6 Sunburst is available on the Free plan. OpenAI released the model on November 4, 2026, as ChatGPT Images 2.6. It ships as two models: Flare for fast drafts and Sunburst for images that stay consistent across rounds of edits.
> 
> Both run in Studio for prompt-to-image and image editing, at 1K or 2K. To see how they handle real briefs, we ran 12 prompts through GPT Image 2.6 and Recraft V4.1 Pro, and five of them through Nano Banana 2.1 as well. The results are below.
> 
> GPT Image 2.6 at a glance
> 
> What's new in GPT Image 2.6
> 
> OpenAI built 2.6 around speed and control. On Arena's launch-day leaderboard , OpenAI models took all of the top five text-to-image spots.
> 
> Flare is the fast one. OpenAI says Flare can return an image in as little as six seconds at Low quality. In an early independent test , 2.6 Flare ran about twice as fast as 2.5 Flare at every quality level.
> 
> Sunburst is the consistent one. OpenAI describes higher-quality generation and greater consistency across edits at Medium and High quality.

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Record: https://forck.live/items/32173-gpt-image-2-6-in-recraft-sunburst-vs-flare-tested
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