---
title: "Recraft AI: Vector Output, Styles and How to Use It"
description: "Recraft is the image model that writes real SVG. Get the builds, the costs and the vector workflow, then run Recraft on the FLORA canvas ✓ Try it free"
url: "https://flora.ai/academy/recraft"
---

## [FLORA Academy](https://flora.ai/academy.md)

Master FLORA. Go beyond the fundamentals to the tools, techniques, models, and workflows behind professional creative work.

# Recraft AI: Vector Output, Styles and How to Use It

Recraft is an image model built for designers, and its distinguishing trick is that it can return a real SVG instead of a picture of one. Sixteen Recraft builds run on the FLORA canvas, from a three-quarters-of-a-cent flash model to print-resolution vector.

**Want to try it?** Recraft runs on the FLORA canvas next to Nano Banana, Flux and Seedream, so you can send one prompt to all of them and take the vector back from Recraft. [Start free on FLORA](https://app.flora.ai/sign-up).

## What is Recraft?

Recraft is an image generation model from a company of the same name, tuned in collaboration with working designers around composition, color relationships and typography instead of broad appeal. The current generation is V4, released in February 2026, with a V4.1 refresh since. Recraft's own framing is that the model has design taste, and the practical version of that claim is that output tends to arrive already laid out.

The more concrete difference is the file it hands back. Most image models return pixels. Recraft's Vector builds return an SVG with real paths, which opens in any design tool and can be edited, scaled or recolored with no tracing step. It is the only model on the FLORA canvas that does this. So when the output has to end up as a logo, an icon set or a print asset, Recraft is the block you reach for.

## Quick facts

- **What runs on FLORA:** sixteen Recraft builds, all text to image, spanning V3, V4 and V4.1.
- **Vector output:** five of the sixteen builds return SVG, the other eleven return a raster image.
- **Cheapest:** Recraft V4.1 Flash, about 0.007 US dollars a run in roughly 5 seconds.
- **Everyday build:** Recraft V4.1, about 0.048 US dollars in roughly 30 seconds.
- **Print resolution:** the Pro builds run about 0.29 to 0.36 US dollars in 55 to 60 seconds.
- **Styles builds:** four builds expose style controls directly as parameters.
- **Provider:** Recraft. Proprietary, so there is no self hosted option.

## What it is great for

- Logos, icons and illustration that has to end up as a vector file, where every other model forces a tracing step you then have to clean up by hand.
- Brand systems, where the same style needs to hold across a set of assets without training anything first.
- Layouts that carry type, since typography is one of the things the V4 generation was specifically tuned on.
- High-volume comps on the Flash build, where a run costs less than a cent and comes back in about five seconds.

## Raster or vector, and how to tell them apart

The two examples below came from the same prompt. One is a 51 KB raster image. The other is a 1.4 KB SVG containing six paths, which means it scales to a billboard without softening and can be recolored by editing two hex values. That size difference is not a quirk of this one run, it is the whole point of the format.

The practical rule is to decide by where the asset is going. Anything that will be resized, printed large or handed to a developer wants the vector build. Anything photographic cannot be vector at all, so those jobs go to the standard builds or to another model entirely.

## Example outputs

Recraft V4.1, raster. 51 KB, fixed at 1024 by 1024.

Recraft V4.1 Vector, same prompt. 1.4 KB of SVG, six editable paths, scales to any size.

### Copy and paste prompts

`Vector illustration of a mountain range at sunrise, three flat colors, clean geometric shapes, generous negative space`

`Icon set of six line icons for a travel app, consistent stroke weight, 24 by 24 grid`

`Editorial poster with the headline set in a condensed sans, two colors, generous margins`

## Parameters

| Name | Type | Default | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| prompt | text | required | Natural language description |
| style | select | model default | Available on the four Styles builds |
| substyle | select | none | Narrows the style on the Styles builds |
| aspect_ratio | select | 1:1 | Standard ratios |
| colors | list | none | Steers the palette on the Styles builds |

## Builds on the canvas

| Build | Output | Estimated time | Cost |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Recraft V4.1 Flash | Raster | ~5s | ~$0.007 |
| Recraft V4 Styles | Raster | ~15s | ~$0.042 |
| Recraft V4.1 | Raster | ~30s | ~$0.048 |
| Recraft V3 | Raster | ~25s | ~$0.049 |
| Recraft V4 | Raster | ~40s | ~$0.049 |
| Recraft V4 Styles Vector | Vector | ~15s | ~$0.060 |
| Recraft V4 Vector | Vector | ~40s | ~$0.096 |
| Recraft V4.1 Vector | Vector | ~40s | ~$0.096 |
| Recraft V4 Styles Pro | Raster | ~20s | ~$0.120 |
| Recraft V4 Styles Pro Vector | Vector | ~20s | ~$0.144 |
| Recraft V4 Pro | Raster | ~60s | ~$0.288 |
| Recraft V4.1 Pro | Raster | ~60s | ~$0.300 |
| Recraft V4 Pro Vector | Vector | ~55s | ~$0.360 |
| Recraft V4.1 Pro Vector | Vector | ~55s | ~$0.360 |

## Prompt tips

- Name the number of colors when you want vector. Three flat colors produces clean paths, A gradient-heavy description pushes the model toward shapes that do not survive the format well.
- Ask for negative space explicitly. Vector output reads best when the composition breathes, and the model will fill the frame if you let it.
- Comp on Flash before you commit. At well under a cent you can find the composition first and only then spend on a Pro Vector run.
- Use the Styles builds when you need a set. Fixing the style and substyle holds consistency across a whole run without training anything first.
- Describe type as part of the layout. The V4 generation was tuned to treat typography as structure, Telling it where the words sit in the composition works better than asking for text on top.

## Running Recraft in FLORA

On the FLORA canvas Recraft sits as a block, so a prompt feeds in and the result flows on to whatever is next on the board. The useful pattern is to let Recraft do the part only it can do and hand everything else off. Generate the mark or the illustration here in vector, then take it into a layout, a mockup or a video step without leaving the canvas.

The techniques around it cover the rest of that chain. Lift a subject out with the [background remover](https://flora.ai/techniques/background-remover.md), push resolution with the [image upscaler](https://flora.ai/techniques/image-upscaler.md), adjust a scene with [change background color](https://flora.ai/techniques/change-background-color.md), or set a finished still moving through [image to video AI](https://flora.ai/techniques/image-to-video-ai.md).

Because models are interchangeable on the canvas, the way to pick is to run the same prompt through several and compare. Put Recraft against [Nano Banana](https://flora.ai/academy/nano-banana.md) for prompt accuracy, [Flux](https://flora.ai/academy/flux.md) for range and [Seedream](https://flora.ai/academy/seedream.md) for photoreal work, and read our ranking of the [best AI image generators](https://flora.ai/articles/best-ai-image-generators.md) for the wider field.

## Recraft FAQs

### Who makes Recraft?

Recraft, a company building image models aimed squarely at designers. The current V4 generation was released in February 2026 and tuned in collaboration with working designers.

### Does Recraft really generate vector files?

Yes. The Vector builds return an SVG with real paths instead of a raster image, so it opens in any design tool and can be scaled or recolored with no tracing step. The vector example on this page is 1.4 KB and contains six paths, against 51 KB for the raster version of the same prompt.

### How much does Recraft cost on FLORA?

It depends heavily on the build. Recraft V4.1 Flash is about 0.007 US dollars a run, the everyday V4.1 build is about 0.048, and the print-resolution Pro Vector builds run about 0.36. You can try any of them on FLORA's free tier before committing budget.

### Which Recraft build should I use?

Comp on V4.1 Flash because it is fast and costs almost nothing. Move to V4.1 for anything that will be seen. Use a Vector build whenever the asset has to be resized, printed large or handed to a developer, and a Pro build when it needs print resolution.

### Is Recraft better than Nano Banana or Flux?

For anything that needs to leave as a vector file, nothing else on the canvas competes, because nothing else returns one. For photoreal work Nano Banana and Seedream are the stronger picks. All of them run on the FLORA canvas, so sending one prompt to each costs a few cents and settles the question properly.