Image generation API pricing, compared.
At about 1024×1024, Grok Imagine Image 2.0 costs a flat $0.04 per image, Seedream 5.0 Pro $0.045 and Nano Banana 2 $0.067. GPT Image 2.5 ranges from about $0.006 at low quality to $0.21 at max. Prices below were checked on 21 September 2026 against each provider's pricing page.
Cost per image and per month
Standard processing, output images only. The monthly column updates with your volume.
| Model | About 1024×1024 | Per image | Per month | Highest tier | Price basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2.5OpenAI · Generally available | 1024×1024 · medium | $0.0132 | $132 | $0.7122880×2880 · max | Calculated from per-token price |
| 1024×1024 · high | $0.0527 | $527 | |||
| Nano Banana 2Google · Generally available | 1K (1024×1024)Batch $0.034 | $0.067 | $670 | $0.1514K (4096×4096) | Published per-image price |
| Nano Banana 2 LiteGoogle · Generally available | 1K (1024×1024)Batch $0.0168 | $0.0336 | $336 | $0.03361K (1024×1024) | Published per-image price |
| Nano Banana ProGoogle · Generally available | 1K or 2KBatch $0.067 | $0.134 | $1,340 | $0.244K | Published per-image price |
| Grok Imagine Image 2.0xAI · Generally available | Per image | $0.04 | $400 | $0.04Per image | Published per-image price |
| Seedream 5.0 ProByteDance · Generally available | Up to 2.61 MP (1K and 1.5K) | $0.045 | $450 | $0.092K (above 2.61 MP) | Published per-image price |
| MAI-Image-2.6Microsoft · Public preview | 1024×1024 | $0.039 | $390 | $0.0391024×1024 (API maximum) | Estimate, not published |
| MAI-Image-2.6-FlashMicrosoft · Public preview | 1024×1024 | $0.0195 | $195 | $0.01951024×1024 (API maximum) | Estimate, not published |
Published: the provider lists a price per image. Calculated: the provider bills per token and publishes the token counts. Estimate: the provider publishes neither, so the figure comes from third-party trackers.
On per-token APIs, quality matters more than the model
OpenAI, Google and Microsoft bill image output by the token. On GPT Image 2.5 the quality setting changes the token count so much that the same 1024×1024 image costs 36 times more at max than at low.
Google fixes the token count per resolution instead, so a Nano Banana 2 image costs the same whatever the prompt: $0.067 at 1K. xAI and ByteDance skip tokens entirely and charge a flat price per image.
The practical rule: decide the size and quality your product needs first, then compare prices at that tier. Comparing default settings compares the wrong numbers.
Price and ranking do not line up
On the Arena text-to-image leaderboard updated on 7 September 2026, GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst ranked first and Flare second, both marked preliminary. MAI-Image-2.6 ranked fourth, Grok Imagine Image 2.0 fifth, Nano Banana 2 ninth, Seedream 5.0 Pro tenth and Nano Banana Pro fourteenth.
Nano Banana Pro costs twice as much as Nano Banana 2 and ranked lower on that board. A higher price is not a reliable sign of a better image, so test on your own prompts.
Batch and editing change the answer
Google halves Nano Banana prices through its Batch API, which makes Nano Banana 2 Lite $0.0168 and Nano Banana 2 $0.034 per 1K image. OpenAI has no batch pricing for GPT Image 2.5, and xAI bills batch images at the standard rate.
Editing adds input images. Google charges a fraction of a cent for each; ByteDance makes the first Seedream reference image free and charges $0.003 for each extra one; OpenAI bills input images at $8 per million tokens without publishing a fixed count per image. The image cost documentation explains each billing model.
Compare two image models
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest image generation API?+
At about 1024×1024, GPT Image 2.5 at low quality costs about $0.0059 per image, and Nano Banana 2 Lite costs $0.0336, or $0.0168 through Google's Batch API. Among models without a quality dial, Grok Imagine Image 2.0 costs a flat $0.04 and Seedream 5.0 Pro costs $0.045.
How much does GPT Image 2.5 cost per image?+
For 1024×1024: about $0.0059 at low, $0.013 at medium, $0.053 at high, $0.094 at xhigh and $0.21 at max quality. The largest size, 2880×2880 at max, costs about $0.71. Flare and Sunburst cost the same.
How much does Nano Banana 2 cost per image?+
$0.045 at 0.5K, $0.067 at 1K, $0.101 at 2K and $0.151 at 4K. The Batch API halves each price. Nano Banana Pro costs $0.134 at 1K or 2K and $0.24 at 4K.
Why is MAI-Image-2.6 marked as an estimate?+
Microsoft bills MAI-Image-2.6 per token but does not publish how many tokens one image uses, so its cost per image cannot be calculated from official figures. The figure shown, about $0.039 per image, comes from third-party trackers.
Do image generation APIs offer batch discounts?+
Google halves Nano Banana prices through its Batch API. OpenAI has no batch pricing for GPT Image 2.5. xAI accepts image requests in its Batch API but bills them at the standard rate.
Sources
Prices checked: 21 September 2026. Image prices change often; provider pricing pages remain authoritative.