Google Releases Nano Banana 2.1 Image Model With Lower Prices

Google has released Nano Banana 2.1, a new model for image generation and editing that replaces Nano Banana 2, which launched in February 2026. The company says the new version improves on its predecessors "across the board" while costing roughly half as much per image.

Lower Prices at Flash Tier Speed

A 1K image now costs 3.36 cents, down from 6.70 cents with Nano Banana 2, while a 4K image drops from 15.10 to 7.56 cents. Nano Banana 2.1 runs at Flash tier speed and supports 1K, 2K, and 4K resolutions. Nano Banana Pro, which remains Google's most capable image model, costs considerably more at 13.40 cents per 1K image and 24.00 cents per 4K image.

According to Google, version 2.1 improves visual quality, text rendering, character consistency across conversation turns, wide panoramas, and infographics. It can process up to 14 reference images at once while keeping up to four characters and ten objects consistent. The model also connects to Google Search and offers minimal, medium, and high thinking levels that affect image quality.

Benchmarks and Real World Results

Google's benchmark table shows Nano Banana 2.1 with thinking enabled scoring 1050 in text to image overall preference, compared with 935 for the Pro model powered by Gemini 3 Pro Image. The new model also leads in infographic design, general editing, single and multi character consistency, and multi reference editing. However, Google notes that Nano Banana 2 also matched Pro in those tests, and in practice Nano Banana Pro often still produces noticeably better images. Google describes 2.1 as "the more efficient counterpart" to Pro.

In a side by side test with a prompt asking for a monkey holding a pink banana sitting on a tiger while a horse rides an astronaut in the background, Nano Banana 2.1 followed the prompt fairly closely, but Pro's image looked more realistic and natural, particularly in colors and proportions. The new model struggled with scale, making the horse look more like a pony.

Rollout and Deprecation

Nano Banana 2.1 is already rolling out across Google's products, including the Gemini app, AI Mode in Google Search, Google AI Studio, Flow by Google, Stitch by Google, Google Ads, and the Gemini Enterprise Platform. Google will shut down the previous model, gemini-3.1-flash-image, on October 29, 2026. The next major gain in image quality could come with Google's announced Pro model, Gemini 4 Argon.

Sources: The Decoder