# GPT Image 2.5 Flare

> GPT Image 2.5 Flare is one of the two image models OpenAI released on 8 September 2026. Flare is the fast one, and the one OpenAI recommends as the default: better output than GPT Image 2 at roughly half the latency. Pick it for everyday generation, batch jobs, and anything user-facing where someone is waiting on the image.

Canonical: https://routemux.com/openai/gpt-image-2.5-flare
Provider: OpenAI

## Key facts

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Model ID | openai/gpt-image-2.5-flare |
| Official model ID | gpt-image-2.5-flare |
| Input modalities | text, image |
| Output modalities | image |
| Capabilities | Image Generation, Image Edit |
| Upstream release | 2026-09-08 |
| Availability | available |

## Pricing

- RouteMux: $0.0186 per generation
- Official: $0.062 per generation
- Saving vs official: 70%
- Official price source: relay_per_call_2026_09, verified 2026-09-10

Billing is prepaid wallet, charged per successful request only.

## API access

Base URL: https://api.routemux.com

Supported protocols:

- openai_images

Aliases that also route here: gpt-image-2.5, openai/gpt-image-2.5

## What is GPT Image 2.5 Flare

GPT Image 2.5 Flare is one of the two image models OpenAI released on 8 September 2026. Flare is the fast one, and the one OpenAI recommends as the default: better output than GPT Image 2 at roughly half the latency. Pick it for everyday generation, batch jobs, and anything user-facing where someone is waiting on the image.

The other model in the pair is GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, which trades speed for edit precision. They are separate model ids, not two quality settings of one model, so you choose between them by name rather than by parameter.

Billing is per image, not per token. One image costs one fixed amount — however long your prompt is, however complex the scene. Budgeting is price times image count, with no test batch needed to find out what an image will cost. That is unusual: most image models bill by token.

Each call returns one image. The size parameter selects the aspect ratio rather than the resolution, and the dimensions that come back are the ones that count — they can be larger than what you asked for. The response follows the OpenAI Images shape, with the image itself returned as base64 in data[0].b64_json.

It speaks the OpenAI Images protocol, so /v1/images/generations and /v1/images/edits take the same request shape as calling OpenAI directly.

## Key capabilities

- **The fast tier** — About half the latency of GPT Image 2, at higher quality. OpenAI recommends it as the default of the pair.
- **Flat price per image** — One price per image, independent of prompt length or scene complexity. Budget is price times count.
- **Generation and editing** — Both /v1/images/generations and /v1/images/edits route to this model.
- **Native OpenAI Images** — Same request shape as calling OpenAI directly — existing code mostly works unchanged.

## Other variants in this family

- GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (`openai/gpt-image-2.5-sunburst`)
- GPT Image 2 (`openai/gpt-image-2`)

## Sources

- [OpenAI model docs](https://platform.openai.com/docs/models)
- [OpenAI pricing](https://openai.com/api/pricing/)

_Content reviewed by Jerry Fan on 2026-09-10._