GPT Image 2 vs Nano Banana

What one image costs on each API

At medium quality and 1024x1024, GPT Image 2 costs less per image than a 1K Nano Banana 2 image at list price. At high quality, Nano Banana Pro at 1K or 2K costs less at list price. The quality settings are each vendor’s own and do not map one to one.

Method: OpenAI’s image guide priced GPT Image 2 per image by quality, output tokens only, when read on 23 September 2026. On 2 October it documents GPT Image 2.5 and has no per-image table.

OpenAI’s pricing page halves the token price on the Batch API (re-read on 2 October 2026). Google’s Gemini API pricing prices each image by resolution, with batch at half. Prompt text and input images are billed on top on both.

GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst and Flare bill $30 per million image output tokens. OpenAI publishes a calculator for them and no per-image table. Every Nano Banana route: Nano Banana pricing; both rows in the price tracker.

What ChatGPT and Gemini plans buy for images

Neither consumer app states how many images a plan buys, so no cost per image is worked out for a subscription.

ChatGPT Free offers “Limited and slower image generation”, Plus “More complex and accurate image creation”, and Pro “Unlimited and faster image creation” under abuse guardrails. OpenAI’s pricing page sets Go, Plus and Pro prices by region, so they print as unverified (price tracker).

Google AI Plus at $4.99 a month doubles the free usage limits. Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month gives four times the free limits and 2K downloads (Google AI plans, checked 2 October 2026). The limits are compute-based, and free downloads stop at 1K.

Who owns the image, and who trains on it?

OpenAI assigns you the output in writing; Google writes that it “won’t claim ownership”. Training depends on the route.

OpenAI’s Terms of Use (1 January 2026) say you “own the Output” and “We hereby assign to you all our right, title, and interest, if any, in and to Output”. Output “may not be unique”, and you may not “Represent that Output was human-generated when it was not.”

Google’s Gemini API Additional Terms (23 March 2026) say “Google won’t claim ownership over that content” and that Google “may generate the same or similar content for others”. Its Terms of Service (30 July 2026) carry the same ownership line for the Gemini app.

On training, the ChatGPT terms say “If you do not want us to use your Content to train our models, you can opt out”. OpenAI’s Services Agreement 4.2 keeps API content out unless you “explicitly agree”.

Google trains on Gemini app activity “including training generative AI models” while Keep Activity is on (Privacy Hub). The paid Gemini API does not use your prompts or responses to improve products; the free tier does, outside the EEA, Switzerland and the UK. Clause by clause: ChatGPT and Nano Banana in the rights matrix.

Marks and labels on the image

Google marks every Nano Banana image with SynthID; OpenAI’s checker looks for C2PA and SynthID signals and says “Not all OpenAI-generated content contains a supported signal”.

The Gemini API docs say “All generated images include a SynthID watermark.” In the Gemini app the visible mark is a setting. Gemini Apps Help says the app adds Content Credentials (C2PA) metadata, which that setting does not affect.

OpenAI’s Sharing and Publication Policy asks social posts to “Indicate that the content is AI-generated in a way no user could reasonably miss or misunderstand”. Since 1 June 2026 Meta detects ads made with third-party AI tools through “industry-standard detection methods, such as C2PA” (Meta Business Help, US English; Meta Newsroom, updated 1 June 2026). More in Meta’s AI disclosure rules.

What users report about each

ChatGPT users praise fast, usable statics (5 of 34 sources); Nano Banana users praise product fidelity (5 of 38). Reddit supplies 5 of the 34 ChatGPT sources and 33 of the 38 Nano Banana sources.

On ChatGPT images, 34 public sources from March 2025 to September 2026:

• A product link or a reference ad becomes a static ad users call usable within minutes (5 of 34 sources: Reddit, Reddit)
• Edits ignore instructions and change parts that should stay put (7 of 34 sources: Trustpilot)
• Image limits are not shown and move day to day, and failed images count (8 of 34 sources: Trustpilot)

How to Make Static Image Ads With AI (Full Guide)Creating with Conor

On Nano Banana, 38 public sources from November 2025 to September 2026:

• Product shots stay faithful to the real product, and agencies sell that work to brands on Meta (5 of 38 sources: Reddit, Reddit)
• Google keeps swapping models, and users report quiet downgrades (5 of 38 sources: Reddit, Reddit)
• Moderation refuses harmless edits, users’ own faces among them (5 of 38 sources: Reddit, Reddit)
• Paying subscribers get compressed or 1K files where they had 2K (4 of 38 sources: Reddit, Reddit)

How to Create Facebook Ad Images with AI Using Nano Banana Pro in 2026Justin Lalonde

How to brief it for product shots: Nano Banana product photography.

If neither fits

For one house style across mood and lifestyle images, Midjourney steers by style references and moodboards (Midjourney vs Nano Banana). For a headline you can still edit after generation, Ideogram adds editable text layers. More by job: Nano Banana alternatives and the static ad tools hub.