Nano Banana 2 vs Nano Banana 2 Lite

Specs side by side

Price per unit and per clip

Prices exclude taxes and are charged from your prepaid USD balance. Failed generations cost nothing.

Nano Banana 2 Lite is the fastest and cheapest tier of Google's Nano Banana 2 family: always one 1K image, at nearly half the price of Nano Banana 2 at 1K. Full Nano Banana 2 gives up to 4 images per request, resolutions from 0.5K to 4K and more references. If you generate hundreds of 1K images from a script, use Lite. If you need 2K, 4K or several variants at once, use Nano Banana 2.

Key differences

• Resolution. Nano Banana 2: 0.5K, 1K, 2K, 4K. Nano Banana 2 Lite: always 1K.
• Images per request. Nano Banana 2 up to 4 (num_images), Lite one.
• References. Nano Banana 2 up to 14 images, Lite up to 10 (JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 30 MB each).
• Editing. Lite does text-to-image and prompt-based editing, no masks. Nano Banana 2 generates from text and from images.
• Aspect ratios. Both share the same 14 formats, from 8:1 to 1:8. Lite adds auto (the default), which keeps the source ratio when editing.
• Prompt. Nano Banana 2 up to 32,000 characters, Lite up to 20,000.

When to pick Nano Banana 2

• 2K and 4K images for print or large banners.
• Several thumbnail variants in one pass.
• Compositions from more than 10 reference images.
• Graphics with non-English text, since this is the model I have verified in typography tests.

When to pick Nano Banana 2 Lite

• Bulk images for a store or blog generated from a script, when 1K is enough.
• Quick fixes to product photos with a text instruction.
• Edits where the frame should keep the source proportions (auto).
• Drafts for choosing a direction before you render the final at a higher resolution.

Cost in practice

At 1K Nano Banana 2 costs about 1.9 times as much as Lite. At 2K the gap grows to about 2.5x and at 4K to about 3.7x (one Lite image at 1K versus one Nano Banana 2 image at the higher tier). The 0.5K tier in Nano Banana 2 has no lower rate and costs the same as 1K, so Lite is the better choice for cheap previews. With num_images in Nano Banana 2 you pay per image: 4 variants cost four times the rate. Rates: from $0.07 per image (1K) and $0.0375 per image; everything on /pricing.

I have tested Nano Banana 2 for promptowy.com (Polish blog): in my image generator ranking it scored 8.6/10 with an average time of 12.2 s, and in my typography test it made no errors in Polish letters. I have not tested Lite yet, so I am not comparing quality or text rendering. For graphics with text, run a short test in Lite before a batch. Bulk generation through the API is covered in generate images with Python.

FAQ

Nano Banana 2 or Lite: which should I use?

For 1K at volume, Lite, at nearly half the price. For 2K, 4K, several variants at once and text in languages with diacritics, full Nano Banana 2.

Does Nano Banana 2 Lite do 4K?

No, every Lite image is 1K. 2K and 4K are on Nano Banana 2.

Can Lite return 4 images in one request?

No, one. Several variants mean several requests, each billed separately.

How do I run hundreds of images in Lite?

Send tasks to POST /v1/generate with a webhook_url, and Jantaris posts the result to your server. Details in the generate docs.

Vendor examples

Official examples from the model vendors, not our generations.