Image generation models, ranked
These return pictures, and pictures are billed as image output tokens — one image costs several times what a paragraph of text costs. Check your balance before a bulk run: the hold placed on your wallet scales with the number of images you ask for.
Best value in this category
Score out of 100: 50% cheapness, 30% capabilities, 20% context size — not a quality benchmark.
| # | Model | Context | ≈ 1,000 words | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT-5 Image Mini | 400,000 | 1,697 | 62.2 |
| 2 | Nano Banana 2 Lite (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image) | 65,536 | 660 | 60.2 |
| 3 | Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) | 131,072 | 1,320 | 55 |
| 4 | Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) | 32,768 | 1,056 | 52.6 |
| 5 | Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) | 65,536 | 1,320 | 52.6 |
| 6 | Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) | 131,072 | 5,280 | 46 |
| 7 | GPT-5 Image | 400,000 | 7,543 | 46 |
| 8 | GPT-5.4 Image 2 | 272,000 | 8,675 | 43.1 |
| 9 | Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) | 65,536 | 5,280 | 37.6 |