Compare · AI image models
Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro are Google's two main Gemini image models. Nano Banana 2 is newer, faster and cheaper; Pro is older but thinks harder. We ran the same four people-first prompts on both and judged each pair at full size. Both run on Affogato from one credit balance.
Most people draft on Nano Banana 2 (or the newer, cheaper 2.1) and render the keeper on Pro. The same prompt works on both, and the face you edited on one can be carried to the other.
Each pair was generated from the exact prompt shown, unedited, at the same resolution. Edit tests started from each model's own earlier image.
Test 1 · Realism
Nano Banana Pro won this run
Pro keeps real skin, with pores, freckles and small blemishes, and stages a get-ready-with-me setup with the phone on a tripod. Nano Banana 2 is a lovely photo but smoother, closer to a retouched portrait.
A candid vertical phone photo of a 26-year-old woman with curly auburn hair and freckles filming a get-ready-with-me video in a sunlit cafe. She holds an iced latte and is caught mid-laugh, looking just past the camera. Natural skin texture with visible pores, soft window light, shallow depth of field, shot on a phone's main camera.
Test 2 · Text in the image
Tie in this run
Both spell every line exactly, down to the small date line at the bottom. Pro sets the masthead in a printed band; Nano Banana 2's layout feels more like a real fashion cover, which is taste rather than accuracy.
A fashion magazine cover: a model in a tailored mustard-yellow suit against a deep teal backdrop, three-quarter portrait, chin slightly raised. The masthead at the top reads "LUMEN" in large serif letters. Cover lines on the left read "The Quiet Luxury Issue" and "48 Looks for Autumn". A small line at the bottom reads "November 2026 · No. 112". Crisp studio lighting.
Test 3 · Face kept across an edit
Nano Banana Pro won this run
Pro puts her on a rooftop filming the skyline, as asked, and keeps her hair and jacket right. Nano Banana 2 keeps her face beautifully but sets the scene on a street in Times Square instead of a rooftop.
Keep the exact same woman from the image: same face, freckles and curly auburn hair. Place her on a city rooftop at night in a black leather jacket, holding her phone up to film the skyline, neon city lights behind her.
Test 4 · Combining two photos
Tie in this run
Both carry her face from the first photo and the coat, sweater and trousers from the second onto a rainy Paris street. Nano Banana 2 also brought along the man's shoulder bag, which nobody asked for.
Dress the woman from the first image in the camel overcoat, cream knit sweater and wide grey trousers worn by the man in the second image. Same face and hair as the first image. Full-body shot of her walking down a rainy Paris street at dusk, umbrella in hand.
Nano Banana 2
16 credits
About 125 images on the Standard plan's monthly credits
Open with Nano Banana 2Nano Banana Pro
30 credits
About 66 images on the Standard plan's monthly credits
Open with Nano Banana ProPrices are per image at 1K. At 2K, Pro costs the same and Nano Banana 2 costs more; at 4K both cost more again. Credits are read from the live catalog; the Standard plan ($24/month) includes 2,000 credits. Per image, Nano Banana 2 costs 47% less.
Nano Banana 2. Text came out as accurate as Pro's in our tests, faster and for fewer credits.
Nano Banana Pro. Skin texture and light are where it is clearly ahead.
Either. Both keep faces well; Pro follows the rest of the instruction more reliably.
Nano Banana 2, or 2.1 for even fewer credits. Re-run the winners on Pro.
Pro for the final ad, Nano Banana 2 for the variations. Check every label on both.
Nano Banana 2: it offers ratios up to 8:1 and a 0.5K draft size that Pro does not.
| Nano Banana 2 | Nano Banana Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Built on | Gemini 3.1 Flash Image | Gemini 3 Pro Image |
| Released | February 2026 | November 2025 |
| Speed | About 4–8 s per image | About 10–20 s per image |
| Resolution | 0.5K · 1K · 2K · 4K | 1K · 2K · 4K |
| Aspect ratios | 9:16 to 21:9, plus up to 8:1 | 9:16 to 21:9 |
| Thinking | Off by default, can be turned up | Always on |
| Edit with photos | Yes, several (model limit 14) | Yes, several (model limit 14) |
| Watermark | Invisible SynthID | Invisible SynthID |
| Newer version | Nano Banana 2.1 (October 2026) | None yet |
Not overall. In our four tests Pro won on realism and on following an edit's scene change, and the text and two-photo tests were ties. Nano Banana 2 is faster and costs about half as much, which often matters more.
Nano Banana 2 at 1K. At 2K the gap narrows, because Pro's 2K costs the same as its 1K. The cost cards above are read from the live catalog.
They tied in our test: both spelled every line of a magazine cover correctly. Google still calls Pro its best model for typography, so use Pro for dense or multilingual text.
Both keep faces well. In our edit test Nano Banana 2 kept the face just as clearly but ignored part of the scene; Pro did both.
It is Google's October 2026 update to Nano Banana 2: better text and multi-character scenes for fewer credits than 2. It is a good default for drafts before a final Pro render.
Each prompt was run once on each model at 2K, unedited. The edit tests started from each model's own first image, so neither had an advantage. One run per model is a sample, not a benchmark.
Both models run in Image Studio on one credit balance. Open either one, paste the same prompt, and keep the better image.
Facts and tests checked November 15, 2026. Sources: fal: Nano Banana Pro vs Nano Banana 2 · Google: Nano Banana Pro · 9to5Google: Nano Banana 2 launch · Google AI Studio: image generation docs · fal: Nano Banana 2.1 vs 2 · Picsart: Nano Banana models compared
