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By the toolist.ai editors. Researched from Nano Banana's own pages and hands-on tests published by others, not hands-on tested by toolist.ai. Updated October 13, 2026.

Nano Banana review: pricing, features and what testers found

Nano Banana is Google's family of image generation and editing models in the Gemini app, Google Flow and the Gemini API: it makes images from a prompt and edits photos you upload by description. Google lists Nano Banana 2 as free in the Gemini app, and Google AI plans from $4.99 a month add the newer Nano Banana 2.1.

Our take

Nano Banana suits people who want strong image making and photo editing cheaply, especially inside Google's apps: on October 13, 2026, Nano Banana 2.1 ranked 4th of 168 text-to-image models and 4th of 81 editing models on Artificial Analysis's blind-vote boards (the free Nano Banana 2 ranked 7th and 9th), and Ideogram 4.5 ranked 34th for text to image. Google lists Nano Banana 2 as free in the Gemini app; Nano Banana 2.1, 2K downloads and redoing images with Nano Banana Pro start with Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month, and the API charges $0.0336 for a 1K image from 2.1. Against ChatGPT, TechRadar's Eric Hal Schwartz found 2.1 got a poster's text exactly right but set a watch to the wrong time, and Decrypt's Jose Antonio Lanz called Nano Banana 2 a tie with ChatGPT Images 2.5 at three rounds each; Zapier's Harry Guinness found it excellent at editing but hit-and-miss on prompt adherence. The catch is that Google states no number of images for any plan, only usage limits that reset every 5 hours up to a weekly cap, and with Keep Activity on, human reviewers may read your chats and uploads to improve Google's AI.

Based on Nano Banana's published plans and the hands-on tests linked below, not on a test of our own.

Good for

  • Editing your own photos by describing the change, such as swapping objects, hairstyles or backgrounds
  • Posters, infographics, charts and comics where the words and the character have to stay right
  • People who already use Gemini or pay for a Google AI plan
  • Developers who want cheap per-image API pricing, with Batch at about half price

Watch out for

  • Google states no number of images for any plan: Gemini app limits are compute-based, refresh every 5 hours until you reach a weekly limit, and count images more heavily than chat. Plans are sold as multiples (Plus 2x and Pro 4x the free limits, Ultra 5x or 20x Pro's), Google may change limits without notice, and paid plans can buy AI credits to extend them.
  • Which Nano Banana you get depends on the plan and model setting. Google lists Nano Banana 2 for free accounts, but its models page says free accounts can use only Auto, which answers most prompts with Flash-Lite, or Flash-Lite itself, and with Gemini on Flash-Lite the app uses Nano Banana 2 Lite, which is not built for several reference images or repeated edits. Free downloads are 1K. Google's overview page says paid plans get Nano Banana 2.1, while its help pages still name Nano Banana 2.
  • Redo with Nano Banana Pro needs a paid plan, and once you reach your daily quota of Nano Banana 2 images you cannot redo more with Pro.
  • With Keep Activity on, a subset of chats, including uploaded images, is read by human reviewers and used to improve Google's AI; reviewed chats are kept for up to three years. Turning Keep Activity off or using temporary chats stops future chats being used this way, though Google still keeps them for 72 hours; the paid API's prompts are not used to improve Google's products.
  • Every image made in the Gemini app carries an invisible SynthID watermark and C2PA metadata (API images carry SynthID too). A visible watermark can be switched off under Settings, Media Watermark, except in India, South Korea and Vietnam, where only AI Ultra subscribers see the setting.
  • Google AI plans are for ages 18+, editing images needs age 18+, and you can cancel anytime but get no refund for a partial billing period unless the law requires one.

What Nano Banana does

Price

Free plan: Free with a Google account: Google lists Nano Banana 2 (not the newer 2.1) for making and editing images in the Gemini app, though free accounts run Gemini on Auto or Flash-Lite, and on Flash-Lite the app uses Nano Banana 2 Lite; 1K downloads and usage limits Google does not state as a number of images; the API has no free tier for its image models.

PlanBilled monthlyBilled yearly, per monthIncludes
Free free free Nano Banana 2 in the Gemini app (Nano Banana 2 Lite when Gemini runs on Flash-Lite) under the free usage limits (no image count given), 1K downloads, no Redo with Nano Banana Pro; Google Flow with 50 credits a day and limited Nano Banana Pro
Google AI Plus $4.99 not listed Nano Banana 2.1 in the Gemini app, Redo with Nano Banana Pro and 2K downloads; 2x the free usage limits (no image count given); 200 Flow credits a month; more Nano Banana in Search; 400 GB storage
Google AI Pro $19.99 $16.67 $199.99 billed yearly. Nano Banana 2.1, Redo with Nano Banana Pro and 2K downloads; 4x the free usage limits (no image count given); 1,000 Flow credits a month; 5 TB storage
Google AI Ultra $99.99 not listed The 5x tier: 5x Google AI Pro's usage limits (no image count given), Nano Banana 2.1 and Redo with Nano Banana Pro; 10,000 Flow credits a month; storage from 20 TB
Google AI Ultra 20x $199.99 not listed 20x Google AI Pro's usage limits (no image count given), Nano Banana 2.1 and Redo with Nano Banana Pro; 25,000 Flow credits a month; storage from 20 TB
Gemini API not listed not listed No free tier for the image models. Pay per output image: Nano Banana 2.1 $0.0336 at 1K, $0.0504 at 2K and $0.113 at 4K; Nano Banana 2 $0.067 at 1K and $0.151 at 4K; Nano Banana 2 Lite $0.0336 at 1K; Nano Banana Pro $0.134 at 1K or 2K and $0.24 at 4K; Batch at about half these prices; input billed per token

Prices last checked: 2026-10-16 on Nano Banana's pricing page. Full breakdown: Nano Banana pricing.

Price history

No price change since we first recorded these prices on October 13, 2026. We re-check them every week and list each change here.

What hands-on testers found

We have not tested Nano Banana ourselves. These are the published tests we found that used it hands-on, newest first; follow the links for the full reviews.

TechRadar · Eric Hal Schwartz · October 13, 2026

What they tested: Nano Banana 2.1 in Gemini against ChatGPT Images 2.5 on four identical prompts: a greenhouse inside a snow globe during a thunderstorm, a travel poster with exact text, a four-panel comic and a desk holding a list of objects.

  • The results were close, and he saw no obvious advantage for Google over ChatGPT.
  • It reproduced the poster's three lines of text exactly, including the price, and Google edged ahead on the comic, whose four panels told one clear story with a consistent fox.
  • On the desk prompt it included every object but set the pocket watch to 3:00 instead of 3:15.

Analytics Vidhya · Vasu Deo Sankrityayan · October 8, 2026

What they tested: Nano Banana 2.1 in Google AI Studio on four prompts: a clay-style explainer, a bar chart from given values, a linocut restyle of a photo and a three-panel comic.

  • The bar chart's labels and axes were right, and the bar heights matched the requested values.
  • The linocut restyle kept the building but dropped the busy street traffic, leaving an empty forecourt.
  • The comic kept its character consistent, but the tiny on-screen typo it asked for was unreadable; he advises a manual check for work where the brief matters.

Decrypt · Jose Antonio Lanz · September 12, 2026

What they tested: Nano Banana 2 against ChatGPT Images 2.5 on the same prompts in six categories, from a street scene full of lettering to a researched timeline.

  • It won the lettering-heavy street scene with one garbled sticker, while ChatGPT misspelled a graffiti tag.
  • On a Bitcoin timeline it hedged two dates instead of stating a wrong year, and won the round.
  • ChatGPT won the other three rounds, including a more atmospheric clock-tower scene and the anime illustration; overall he judged the two on par.

Their score: Won 3 of 6 rounds against ChatGPT Images 2.5

Zapier · Harry Guinness · updated August 3, 2026

What they tested: Nano Banana 2 in Gemini in a roundup of AI image generators; picked as the best for Google users.

  • Prompt adherence aside, he counted it among the best image models, and found it strongest at editing images you already have.
  • Its prompt adherence trailed other models slightly: it turned a tennis ball into a chicken but could not make the chicken run away from his dog, and it missed a few details in long prompts.
  • He named the watermark on its images as the other big catch.

Test result

toolist.ai has not run its own test of Nano Banana; the findings above come from the published tests linked. See how we research and test.

Best image tools · Nano Banana pricing

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Sources