Nano Banana 2.1: Google's New AI Image Model, Explained
Nano Banana 2.1 is the update to Nano Banana 2: mask-based editing, steadier characters, sharper in-image text and 4K output at half the per-image price. Here is what changed, what it costs, and a generator you can use right now.
- 1K / 2K / 4K
- Up to 14 reference images
- No watermark
Nano Banana AI Image Generator
Describe an image or switch to Image to Image to edit your own photos. A sample prompt is filled in, so you can generate right away.
Nano Banana 2.1 API access is still rolling out to providers. This generator runs on Nano Banana 2 today and switches to 2.1 as soon as it is available.
Nano Banana - Text To Image
Model
Enter Image Prompt
Aspect Ratio
Advanced Settings
▶Generated Images
No images generated yet
Enter a prompt and pick a model to start generating with GPT Image 2, Nano Banana 2.1, Nano Banana 2, Nano Banana
Please note that prompts involving policy-sensitive content or NSFW material may result in slower generation times or generation failures.
What Is Nano Banana 2.1?
Nano Banana is Google's name for the image models in the Gemini family. The original Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) went viral in August 2025, Nano Banana Pro followed in November, and Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) became the fast default in February 2026. Nano Banana 2.1, released on October 6, 2026, replaces it.
It is built on Gemini 3.6 Flash and keeps Flash-tier speed and cost. Google says it “outperforms our previous models across the board,” with the biggest gains in visual design, mask-based editing and subject consistency. The developer model code is gemini-nano-banana-2.1, the first time Google has put the nickname into the model ID itself.
On launch day it went live in the Gemini app, AI Mode in Google Search, Google AI Studio, the Gemini API, Flow, Stitch, Google Ads and the Gemini Enterprise Agent Platform. Third-party API providers are adding it over the following days.
What's New in Nano Banana 2.1
Six changes from Google's launch post and the Gemini API docs.
Better visual design
Layouts, colour and hierarchy look intentional rather than generated. Posters, slides and social graphics come out closer to something a designer would ship.
Mask-based editing
Mark the exact region to change and leave everything else untouched. Swap a background, fix a hand or replace a product without re-rolling the whole image.
Subject consistency
Up to 14 reference images per request, keeping up to four characters and ten objects consistent. Faces hold steady across multi-turn edits instead of drifting by round three.
Text that renders properly
Sharper typography and more accurate spelling for headlines, labels, menus and infographics, including longer strings that older models garbled.
Extreme aspect ratios
New 1:4, 4:1, 1:8 and 8:1 formats for wide panoramas, website banners, long-scroll infographics and tall phone wallpapers, at 1K, 2K or 4K.
Search grounding and thinking
It can pull facts and visual references from Google web and image search, and reasons before it draws at minimal, medium or high thinking levels.
What You Can Make
Examples made on Bananaify with the Nano Banana family. Every prompt is something you can paste into the generator above.
Nano Banana 2.1 vs Nano Banana 2 vs Pro vs GPT Image 2.5
Specs and Gemini API list prices as published on October 6, 2026.
| Nano Banana 2.1 | Nano Banana 2 | Nano Banana Pro | GPT Image 2.5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Released | Oct 6, 2026 | Feb 26, 2026 | Nov 2025 | — |
| Gemini API model ID | gemini-nano-banana-2.1 | gemini-3.1-flash-image | gemini-3-pro-image | — |
| Status | Current (GA) | Shuts down Oct 29, 2026 | Current | Current |
| Output sizes | 1K / 2K / 4K | 512px / 1K / 2K / 4K | 1K / 2K / 4K | — |
| Reference images | Up to 14 | Up to 14 | Up to 14 | — |
| Price per 1K image (Google API) | $0.0336 | $0.067 | $0.134 | — |
| Price per 4K image (Google API) | $0.0756 | $0.151 | $0.24 | — |
| Arena text-to-image (Oct 6) | #5 (top Google model) | Below 2.1 | Below 2.1 | Ahead of 2.1 |
GPT Image 2.5 is billed per token by OpenAI and is not directly comparable per image; dashes mark specs not published in a comparable form. Arena ranks change daily.
Nano Banana 2.1 Price and API
On the Gemini API, Nano Banana 2.1 costs $0.0336 per 1K image, $0.0504 per 2K image and $0.0756 per 4K image, exactly half of Nano Banana 2 at every size. Image output is billed at $30 per million tokens. Batch mode halves the price again, to $0.0168 for a 1K image.
The fine print: input tokens went from $0.50 to $1.50 per million, and text and thinking output from $3.00 to $7.50. Simple text-to-image jobs get the full saving. Heavy editing workflows that feed in many reference images save noticeably less. There is no free tier for this model on the API, and the 512px option from Nano Banana 2 is gone.
Nano Banana 2 shuts down on October 29, 2026
Google deprecated gemini-3.1-flash-image the day 2.1 launched and named Nano Banana 2.1 as its replacement. If you call the Gemini API directly, migrate your model ID before the cutoff.
You do not need an API key to use it here. On Bananaify, a Nano Banana image costs 4 credits at 1K or 2K and 8 credits at 4K. Packs start at $19 for 100 credits, credits never expire, and they are refundable for 7 days. The same balance runs every image and video model on the site, including AI face swap.
What Nano Banana 2.1 Is Good For
The upgrades line up with a few jobs in particular.
Infographics and explainers
Step-by-step diagrams, comparison charts and recipe cards where every label has to be spelled right. Use the tall 1:4 or 1:8 formats for long-scroll layouts.
Posters, thumbnails and ads
Headline-led creative for YouTube thumbnails, event posters and paid social. The text improvements matter most here.
Product shots and recontextualization
Drop one product photo into new scenes, seasons and backgrounds while the packaging, logo placement and colours stay intact.
Character series and storyboards
Keep the same mascot, model or comic character across a whole set of images by feeding reference shots back in.
Panoramas and banners
4:1 and 8:1 outputs turn into website heroes, LinkedIn banners and wide landscapes without stretching or cropping.
Targeted photo fixes
With mask-based editing, change one element of a real photo (a sky, a shirt, a sign) and keep the rest pixel-for-pixel.
Prompt Tips for Nano Banana
Four habits that get better results from any Nano Banana model.
Put text in quotes
Write the exact words you want in the image inside quotation marks, e.g. a poster titled "Summer Market". The model treats quoted text as copy to render, not as a description.
Describe layout, not just subject
Say where things go: title at the top, three columns, icon left of each label. The design gains in 2.1 show up most when the prompt gives it structure.
Name the medium and the light
"Studio product photo, softbox lighting" and "flat vector illustration" pull very different results from the same subject. Pick one look and say so.
Use references for consistency
For a recurring character or product, upload clear reference images in Image to Image and describe only what should change from shot to shot.
Bananaify Bananaify AI Plans
Professional image editing powered by Bananaify AI with unlimited revisions, priority access, and commercial rights for all Bananaify users.
🎁 Limited-Time Offer: Get 40% off Bananaify AI access
Buy Credits
One-time purchase, no subscription. Credits never expire.
100 Credits
Try it out
$19
USD
- 100 credits (~50 images)
- Credits never expire
- All AI models included
500 Credits
Most popular
$49
USD
- 500 credits (~250 images)
- Credits never expire
- All AI models included
- 2x better value than the 100 pack
1300 Credits
Best value one-time
$119
USD
- 1300 credits (~650 images)
- Credits never expire
- All AI models included
- Priority generation queue
Or Subscribe & Save
Credits are added every billing period at a better rate than packs.
Starter
For solo creators shipping regularly
$39
USD/month
- 430 credits per month
- Credits added every billing period
- Access to all Nano Banana AI models
- Commercial usage rights
- 24/7 email support
Cancel anytime
PRO
For teams that publish every day
$69
USD/month
- 850 credits per month
- Everything in Starter
- Higher per-period credit allotment
- Priority generation queue
- Early access to new models
- Priority email support
Cancel anytime
Advance
For studios and high-volume production
$249
USD/month
- 3,350 credits per month
- Everything in PRO
- Highest credit allotment and best rate
- Fastest generation queue
- Dedicated support channel
Cancel anytime
Nano Banana 2.1 FAQ
Model ID, price, availability and how it compares.
Nano Banana 2.1 is Google's newest image generation and editing model, released on October 6, 2026. It is an update to Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), built on Gemini 3.6 Flash, and keeps Flash-tier speed while improving visual design, mask-based editing, subject consistency, text rendering and how natural images look.
The Nano Banana 2.1 option is currently served by Nano Banana 2, because the API provider we use has not listed 2.1 yet. As soon as it does, the same option switches to the real 2.1 model with no change on your side.
On the Gemini API the model code is gemini-nano-banana-2.1, listed as stable. Google dropped the old gemini-3.1-flash-image style of naming, so the nickname is now part of the model string. On OpenRouter it is listed as google/gemini-nano-banana-2.1.
On the Gemini API, Google charges $0.0336 for a 1K image, $0.0504 for 2K and $0.0756 for 4K, half the per-image price of Nano Banana 2. Batch mode halves that again. The catch is that input tokens cost three times as much ($1.50 per million against $0.50), so editing jobs with many reference images save less than the headline suggests.
Not on the Gemini API: Google lists no free tier for this model. Consumers can try it inside Google's own apps, such as AI Mode in Google Search. On Bananaify there is no token free trial. Credit packs start at $19, credits never expire, every image downloads without a watermark, and credits are refundable within 7 days.
Google names four headline gains: better visual design, mask-based editing, stronger subject consistency and more natural-looking images. The developer docs add sharper typography, steadier characters across multi-turn edits, Google Image Search grounding, and very wide or tall aspect ratios from 1:8 to 8:1. It also drops the 512px tier that Nano Banana 2 offered.
Not across the board. Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) is still Google's heavyweight model for the most demanding professional assets, and it costs about four times as much per 1K image. Nano Banana 2.1 is the fast, cheap workhorse. On launch day it ranked #5 on Arena's text-to-image leaderboard, the highest of any Google model, behind OpenAI's GPT Image 2.5 and GPT Image 2.
Yes, on the Gemini API. Google deprecated Nano Banana 2 on the day 2.1 launched and scheduled the shutdown for October 29, 2026, naming Nano Banana 2.1 as the replacement. Apps built on the old model ID need to migrate before then.
Nano Banana 2.1 outputs 1K, 2K and 4K images. Alongside the usual ratios it adds extreme formats (1:4, 4:1, 1:8 and 8:1), which are useful for banners, panoramas, long infographics and phone wallpapers. It accepts up to 14 reference images and keeps up to four characters and ten objects consistent.
Yes. Images you generate on Bananaify are yours to use in ads, product listings, social posts and client work. Google adds an invisible SynthID watermark to every Nano Banana output, but Bananaify adds no visible watermark. Do not use the model to impersonate real people or to copy someone else's trademarks.
Start Creating with Nano Banana
No API key, no setup. Type a prompt, get a 1K to 4K image without a watermark. Credits start at $19, never expire, and are refundable for 7 days.
Generate Now