GPT Image 1.5 vs Nano Banana 2
OpenAI's GPT Image 1.5 and Google's Nano Banana 2 both target image generation, but they price and behave differently. Here is the side-by-side.
Pricing checked against provider documentation on . How we verify
The short answer
GPT Image 1.5 is the cheaper option — roughly 1.6x less on a blended workload, and it suits complex multi-subject composition. Nano Banana 2 justifies its premium when you need fast generation with multilingual text.
OpenAI • GPT Image
$0.04 / $
/ image (input / output)
The strongest current model for scenes with many interacting elements — independent testing puts it ahead of the FLUX line on photorealism and well ahead on compositions involving eight or more subjects. Latency is around five seconds, so it is a considered choice rather than an interactive one.
Google • Gemini Image
$0.07 / $
/ image (input / output)
Renders in roughly 1.4 seconds and handles text in over 30 languages including non-Latin scripts, which is unusual. Google bills it by output tokens rather than per image, so the price scales with resolution — a 4K render costs more than three times a 512px one.
Input price
Nano Banana 2 is 60% more expensive than GPT Image 1.5 on input tokens.
Specification comparison
| Attribute | GPT Image 1.5 | Nano Banana 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Input (/ image) | $0.04 | $0.07 |
| Output (/ image) | — | — |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Context window | — | — |
| Max output | — | — |
| Native reasoning | No | No |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
| Relative latency | medium | low |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API model ID | gpt-image-1.5 | gemini-3.1-flash-image |
| Status | stable | stable |
GPT Image 1.5: Medium quality at 1024px. High quality is reported between $0.13 and $0.17 per image and sources disagree on the exact figure — confirm in the console before budgeting. A cheaper Mini variant runs about $0.036 at high quality.
Nano Banana 2: 1024² render. Priced at $60 per million output tokens, so cost tracks resolution: $0.045 at 512px, $0.067 at 1K, $0.101 at 2K, $0.151 at 4K. Batch mode halves all of these.
Choose GPT Image 1.5 if…
- Complex photorealistic scenes
- Multi-subject compositions
- Editorial and hero imagery
- Iterative image editing
Choose Nano Banana 2 if…
- Interactive generation in product UIs
- Non-Latin script text in images
- Rapid creative iteration
- Image editing and compositing
Frequently asked
Is GPT Image 1.5 or Nano Banana 2 cheaper?
GPT Image 1.5 is cheaper. On a blended 3:1 input-to-output workload it costs about 1.6x less than Nano Banana 2.
Which has the larger context window, GPT Image 1.5 or Nano Banana 2?
Both accept up to — tokens, so context is not a differentiator here.
Should I use GPT Image 1.5 or Nano Banana 2?
Pick GPT Image 1.5 for complex multi-subject composition. Pick Nano Banana 2 for fast generation with multilingual text. If cost dominates the decision, GPT Image 1.5 wins; if you need the capability ceiling, benchmark both on your own evals before committing.