AI Image Generation: 7 Models Compared — From 500 to 15,000 Credits

TL;DR: 7 AI image models on one credit balance, from 500 to 15,000 credits. Start on Nano Banana 2 Lite to find your prompt, finish on Nano Banana Pro (the only 4K upscale) or GPT Image 2 (best text rendering).

The line-up at a glance

Every price is flat per image. Failures are refunded automatically.

Nano Banana 2 Lite — 500 credits

The cheapest image on the platform and the fastest (15-30s). Use it to iterate: run a prompt five times here for the price of one GPT Image 2 render, then re-run the winner on a better model.

Nano Banana 2 — 1,000 credits

The general-purpose default. ~1K native output (1376x768), 30-60s, four reference images. If you are not sure which model to use, this is the one.

Grok Image — 1,000 credits

xAI's image model, same price as Nano Banana 2 but with 2:3 and 3:2 natively — the two ratios the Nano Banana family cannot draw. Attach a reference and it switches to image-to-image automatically.

Meta AI — 1,500 credits

Meta handles references differently from everything else: instead of a flat list, you pass named components — character_image, scene_image, style_image — each binding to a specific role in the composition. That is far more controllable than "here are four pictures, good luck". Square, portrait and landscape only.

Nano Banana Pro — 3,500 credits

The quality pick in the Nano Banana family, and the only model with a 4K upscale (resolution: "4K"). Slower at 60-90s and more faithful to long, detailed prompts. Recently reduced from 5,000 credits.

FLUX 2 Pro — 5,000 credits

Strong on artistic and stylised output where you want a particular look rather than photorealism. Up to five references.

GPT Image 2 — 15,000 credits

The premium option, and the one to reach for when the image contains text — signage, packaging, UI mockups, posters. It is also the only model accepting all seven aspect ratios.

Output is capped at ~1.57 MP and follows the aspect ratio; there is no 2K/4K tier and no upscale, so pick Nano Banana Pro if you need 4K.

Four controls are unique to it:

• quality — low / medium / high (default high). Changes the output, not the price.
• prompt_mode — auto lets the model rewrite your prompt for better results; direct uses it verbatim. Use direct when you have already tuned the wording.
• reasoning — none through max. Higher settings follow complex prompts more closely but take longer.
• web_search — grounds the generation with a web search first, useful when referencing something real and current.

Recently reduced from a tiered 4,500-80,000 matrix to a flat 15,000.

Which should you pick?

• Iterating on a prompt? Nano Banana 2 Lite at 500.
• No strong opinion? Nano Banana 2.
• Need 2:3 or 3:2? Grok Image.
• Controlling character vs scene vs style separately? Meta AI.
• Need 4K? Nano Banana Pro — nothing else upscales.
• Image contains readable text? GPT Image 2.
• Stylised / artistic look? FLUX 2 Pro.

Get Started

All 7 models are in the [image dashboard](/dashboard/image) and the [public API](/dashboard/api-docs), on one credit balance with no per-model subscription. A practical workflow: draft on Lite, pick the winner, re-render on Pro or GPT Image 2.