Recraft V4.1 Flashvs.SenseNova U1.5 Lite

Which one is better?

In our own test both are on par. Neither is in the arena. Neither has an API price.

Test images

Same task, the first image of each. The task with the biggest difference is preselected.

Recraft V4.1 Flash: Product photography, first image from the fixed test run — Recraft V4.1 Flash36 out of 100

SenseNova U1.5 Lite: Product photography, first image from the fixed test run — SenseNova U1.5 Lite84 out of 100

Result for “Product photography”:SenseNova U1.5 Lite ahead

Prompt given to both modelsCreate a square premium product photograph of a brushed titanium wristwatch standing upright on dark green marble. The watch has a cream dial, thin black hands set to 10:10, twelve distinct hour markers, a realistic crown, and a dark brown leather strap. Soft window light from the left, controlled reflections, shallow depth of field, no text, no logo, no extra objects.

What the rating looks at: Materials, reflections, and fine details.

“Ahead”: better in all three rating rounds. “Slightly ahead”: a higher value, but not in every round.

Test protocol of the images

Each test attempt uses the same archived prompt and one request. The first output of that attempt counts. Repeats after technical test failures are disclosed for the affected images. Files are normalized to 1,024 × 1,024 pixels without cropping. Provider resolution, randomness, quality tier and prompt processing can still differ. The images are a practical visual test, not a reconstruction of the arena configuration.

Character and detail

Recraft V4.1 Flash: openrouter, aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.007000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 8:28 PM. Source

SenseNova U1.5 Lite: manual, local stable-diffusion.cpp@3be23788fc0c9f35a2c24b1211caae11d4a54dbc, ggml@d49c49e1dd361ba3c0a77c90b5b1404b83969aa8; sensenova/SenseNova-U1.5-8B-MoT@9feeeab8a2792514d109cd34589342a2cc1d4ab2; native 2048x2048, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=50, guidance=4.0, seed=8087247682796819534; Apple M5 Max Metal MTL0 requested through the native backend option; automatic placement remains enabled, and actual placement is recorded in the CLI log; Original BF16 checkpoint. The exact two SenseNova vision convolution weights use a targeted lossless BF16-to-F32 rule; other eligible weights use the native unquantized f16 option. This BF16-to-F16 conversion rounds values, as quantified by the linked complete-checkpoint GGML preflight; excluded weights remain BF16 if used. Operation precision follows the backend.; Euler, flow shift 3; CPU Philox RNG (CLI cuda RNG option, no CUDA hardware); original BF16 weights without requested quantization; observational latent and pre-clipping finite checks; native prompt template without rewriting; empty unconditional prompt, source 2048x2048, stored 1024x1024 (Lanczos3 downscale), generated Nov 2, 2026, 10:17 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: 985a75b38642a9f0e5e0c0e0c67f1b7f67780d42bd2168fa24e9a7a7a94b0da6

Recraft V4.1 Flash image SHA 256: dbce96e506ae3556509e45211cdd885bb4f5b79875e4c0adcc9398286183a910

SenseNova U1.5 Lite image SHA 256: c092b333f479c5b28ad33958d0e45f0fb0989970af02690079cf1398742c55b8

Infographic

Recraft V4.1 Flash: openrouter, aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.007000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 8:29 PM. Source

SenseNova U1.5 Lite: manual, local stable-diffusion.cpp@3be23788fc0c9f35a2c24b1211caae11d4a54dbc, ggml@d49c49e1dd361ba3c0a77c90b5b1404b83969aa8; sensenova/SenseNova-U1.5-8B-MoT@9feeeab8a2792514d109cd34589342a2cc1d4ab2; native 2048x2048, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=50, guidance=4.0, seed=2640628636372692680; Apple M5 Max Metal MTL0 requested through the native backend option; automatic placement remains enabled, and actual placement is recorded in the CLI log; Original BF16 checkpoint. The exact two SenseNova vision convolution weights use a targeted lossless BF16-to-F32 rule; other eligible weights use the native unquantized f16 option. This BF16-to-F16 conversion rounds values, as quantified by the linked complete-checkpoint GGML preflight; excluded weights remain BF16 if used. Operation precision follows the backend.; Euler, flow shift 3; CPU Philox RNG (CLI cuda RNG option, no CUDA hardware); original BF16 weights without requested quantization; observational latent and pre-clipping finite checks; native prompt template without rewriting; empty unconditional prompt, source 2048x2048, stored 1024x1024 (Lanczos3 downscale), generated Nov 2, 2026, 10:25 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: ed65cb4e6a51e2336f8b149ad4cbb16e020f07d527ad94362e719d2dcf91d94f

Recraft V4.1 Flash image SHA 256: 0f09d34ba3ae484d03dac33e6d64901b6558dcdf51a46051c146b23ed3173756

SenseNova U1.5 Lite image SHA 256: dcf8206386da05d11c35a6950309e61f08a504d440366226eac316328718f5ae

Product photography

Recraft V4.1 Flash: openrouter, aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.007000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 8:28 PM. Source

SenseNova U1.5 Lite: manual, local stable-diffusion.cpp@3be23788fc0c9f35a2c24b1211caae11d4a54dbc, ggml@d49c49e1dd361ba3c0a77c90b5b1404b83969aa8; sensenova/SenseNova-U1.5-8B-MoT@9feeeab8a2792514d109cd34589342a2cc1d4ab2; native 2048x2048, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=50, guidance=4.0, seed=1950293105094404455; Apple M5 Max Metal MTL0 requested through the native backend option; automatic placement remains enabled, and actual placement is recorded in the CLI log; Original BF16 checkpoint. The exact two SenseNova vision convolution weights use a targeted lossless BF16-to-F32 rule; other eligible weights use the native unquantized f16 option. This BF16-to-F16 conversion rounds values, as quantified by the linked complete-checkpoint GGML preflight; excluded weights remain BF16 if used. Operation precision follows the backend.; Euler, flow shift 3; CPU Philox RNG (CLI cuda RNG option, no CUDA hardware); original BF16 weights without requested quantization; observational latent and pre-clipping finite checks; native prompt template without rewriting; empty unconditional prompt, source 2048x2048, stored 1024x1024 (Lanczos3 downscale), generated Nov 2, 2026, 10:11 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: c67fd71e91304458a2feef5c91efa8677260fab0c0099a29a2c52cb579f5b2f3

Recraft V4.1 Flash image SHA 256: 4b7b55957807e99edb69d2ef7ad407b87840eb7d6c6d268c0635834bb4add700

SenseNova U1.5 Lite image SHA 256: d425ed5236325ee28633f83cb00f3fd39181f7dd6df0e5408d8b1c07c6796107

Typography and layout

Recraft V4.1 Flash: openrouter, aspect ratio 1:1, provider default resolution, n=1, seed=provider random, actual cost $0.007000, generated Nov 1, 2026, 8:28 PM. Source

SenseNova U1.5 Lite: manual, local stable-diffusion.cpp@3be23788fc0c9f35a2c24b1211caae11d4a54dbc, ggml@d49c49e1dd361ba3c0a77c90b5b1404b83969aa8; sensenova/SenseNova-U1.5-8B-MoT@9feeeab8a2792514d109cd34589342a2cc1d4ab2; native 2048x2048, 1:1; one request, first output; steps=50, guidance=4.0, seed=8328647217678382438; Apple M5 Max Metal MTL0 requested through the native backend option; automatic placement remains enabled, and actual placement is recorded in the CLI log; Original BF16 checkpoint. The exact two SenseNova vision convolution weights use a targeted lossless BF16-to-F32 rule; other eligible weights use the native unquantized f16 option. This BF16-to-F16 conversion rounds values, as quantified by the linked complete-checkpoint GGML preflight; excluded weights remain BF16 if used. Operation precision follows the backend.; Euler, flow shift 3; CPU Philox RNG (CLI cuda RNG option, no CUDA hardware); original BF16 weights without requested quantization; observational latent and pre-clipping finite checks; native prompt template without rewriting; empty unconditional prompt; three local execution attempts: original Metal BF16 attempt aborted on a missing matrix kernel before output; same-seed CPU retry deliberately interrupted before its first sampling step without image or latent; first image retained after the reviewed loader compatibility correction and disclosed F16 runtime conversion with unchanged prompt and seed, source 2048x2048, stored 1024x1024 (Lanczos3 downscale), generated Nov 2, 2026, 10:04 PM. Source

Protocol gradually-image-comparison-v1. Prompt SHA 256: 2e012c3d14ee5dd02203a94f394ca80a5038cdebd6032b25a8b8a221f2255419

Recraft V4.1 Flash image SHA 256: 8c0ce1a0ca50d0eb9cb6707a1e2fa250b4e1ab66c724498b4a72395fd97461d5

SenseNova U1.5 Lite image SHA 256: df5c50fc54f03b972796f424999bd5991ff758a6b7abc00c212864aca3b124bc

The numbers at a glance

Arena ratingfrom votes by users · higher is better

n/a

Recraft V4.1 Flash

not in the arena

n/a

SenseNova U1.5 Lite

not in the arena

GraduallyBenchour own rating, 0 to 100 · higher is better

Recraft V4.1 Flash

Rank 55 of 108

SenseNova U1.5 Lite

Rank 14 of 108

Price per imagedollars through the API · lower is better

n/a

Recraft V4.1 Flash

no API price

n/a

SenseNova U1.5 Lite

no API price

Ranks among the 21 image models with an arena rating and the 108 with a GraduallyBench run; prices compared with 28 models with an API price.

Recraft V4.1 Flash

Subscription: Free to use at Recraft (Recraft Free, with limited credits), more from ≈ €12.72 a month (Recraft Basic, with limited credits). Through other providers from ≈ €9.54 a month (Krea Basic, with limited credits). 14 plans in Germany.
Via API: No API price known. Access: API, Web app.
Weights: unknown.

SenseNova U1.5 Lite

Subscription: n/a No plan in Germany names exactly this model.
Via API: No API price known. Access: API, Web app, local.
License: Open weights.

Subscriptions only count plans that name exactly this model. Subscription prices include VAT, API prices are in dollars.

GraduallyBench from Nov 3, 2026 · Subscription database from Sep 29, 2026 (38 days old)

All data side by side

The better value is bold. For ratings only when the gap is clear.

Kennzahl	Recraft V4.1 Flash	SenseNova U1.5 Lite
Ratings
Arena ratingfrom votes by users, higher is better	n/a	n/a
Arena rank	n/a	n/a
Arena votesmore votes, a safer rating	n/a	n/a
GraduallyBenchour own rating, 0 to 100	60	73
GraduallyBench by task
Typography and layoutLegible text, hierarchy, and composition	89	93
Product photographyMaterials, reflections, and fine details	36	84
Character and detailAnatomy, clothing, and spatial consistency	42	35
InfographicNumbers, labels, and visual organization	74	80
API price
Per imagelower is better	n/a	n/a
100 images	n/a	n/a
Profile
Released	September 2026	n/a
Weightsopen means: runs locally	unknown	open
Access	API, Web app	API, Web app, local
Parameters	not published	not published
Largest output	1K	4K
Plans in Germanynaming exactly this model	14	n/a

API prices for one image at 1,024 × 1,024 pixels according to Artificial Analysis.

Sources: Recraft V4.1 Flash model source (verified Nov 1, 2026) · SenseNova U1.5 Lite model source (verified Nov 2, 2026)

Arena ratings by category

From blind votes on LMArena. “Ahead” means the lead is clear.

No shared arena score in the stored snapshot

The stored benchmark database contains no measurement for Recraft V4.1 Flash and SenseNova U1.5 Lite from the same arena and category. Older model versions are not used as substitutes.

More comparisons

Compare Recraft V4.1 Flash and SenseNova U1.5 Lite with the models people compare them with most often.

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