"AI Image Generation 2026 — Nano Banana 2 vs Midjourney v7 vs GPT Image 1.5"

Which tool is best at what, what each costs, and what to actually pay for

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  • Audience: Anyone starting with AI image generation, plus developers and creators picking their first tool.
  • What you'll get: 1) The strengths, weaknesses, and pricing of the top three tools as of April 2026; 2) which tool wins per task type; 3) how far the free tiers go; 4) per-image cost comparison; 5) the recent shifts (DALL-E 3 EOL, Nano Banana 2 launch, Midjourney v7).
  • One-liner: Photorealism + accurate text → Nano Banana 2. Artistic style → Midjourney. Conversational editing → GPT Image 1.5.

1. April 2026 — what changed

Three big shifts

  1. DALL-E 3 retired: Support ends May 12, 2026. ChatGPT image generation now runs on GPT Image 1.5 (autoregressive) (source).
  2. Nano Banana 2 (Feb 26, 2026): Google's Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. Currently #1 on Artificial Analysis Image Arena (Google official). $0.067/image at 1K standard.
  3. Midjourney V7 GA: personalization profiles, sharper prompt adherence, Draft Mode for ideation.

Comparison table

Nano Banana 2 Midjourney v7 GPT Image 1.5
Vendor Google Midjourney OpenAI
Released Feb 26, 2026 2026 Late 2025
Quality #1 Image Arena (text-to-image) Long-standing artistic leader LM Arena ELO 1264
Access Gemini app + Search + API Discord bot + own web app ChatGPT Plus + API
Free use Some allowance in Gemini app ❌ None ChatGPT Free: ~2–3/day
Paid entry Gemini AI Pro $19.99/mo Basic $10/mo ChatGPT Plus $20/mo
API price (1K standard) $0.067/image No public API $0.011–0.167/image (by quality)
Strengths Photorealism + text rendering + 5-character / 14-object consistency Artistic style, composition, lighting Conversational editing, region-level changes, follow-up tweaks

Sources: Google AI Pricing, Midjourney pricing (official), OpenAI API Pricing.

2. Tool deep-dives

2.1 Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)

Strengths - Accurate text rendering: ad copy, greeting cards, logo mockups — strong in English, Korean, multilingual. - World knowledge from Gemini: real landmarks, products, public people render correctly ("in front of the Eiffel Tower…"). - Up to 5-character consistency + 14 objects in one workflow. - Speed: Flash-tier inference. Batch API gives 50% off → $0.034/image.

Weaknesses - Pure painterly / illustration styles still favor Midjourney. - API requires Google AI Studio / Gemini API setup.

Use it for - Marketing mockups (product + on-image text). - Blog hero images (best cost-per-quality at scale). - Photorealistic composites.

2.2 Midjourney v7

Strengths - Artistic and compositional quality: dominates on movie posters, concept art, book covers. - Personalization profiles (V7): learns your aesthetic over use. - Draft Mode: rapid ideation, render only the picks at full quality.

Weaknesses - No free tier, starts at $10/month. - Weaker text rendering: signs and logos are better elsewhere. - Discord/web only: no public API → harder to integrate into apps. - Commercial rights vary by plan and region. Read the ToS before signing up.

Use it for - Illustration and concept art. - Book / album / poster covers. - Mood- and lighting-heavy work.

2.3 GPT Image 1.5 (DALL-E successor)

Strengths - Natural-language editing: "swap the background to a cafe," "add glasses to the person on the left" — precise edits in plain English. - Inside ChatGPT: no extra tool, generation and edits flow inside the chat. - Same neural net as GPT-5: language understanding = image-intent understanding. - 4× faster generation than DALL-E 3.

Weaknesses - Not the quality leader: trails Nano Banana 2 / Midjourney. - Cap on volume: ChatGPT Plus = ~50 images per 3-hour window. - API tier pricing: $0.011–0.167/image based on quality.

Use it for - Already inside ChatGPT and don't want another tool. - Iterative editing of an existing image in conversation. - Mixed text + image workflows in one session.

3. Per-image cost comparison

(1024×1024 standard, April 2026)

Path Per image At 100/month
Nano Banana 2 API (standard) $0.067 $6.70
Nano Banana 2 API (Batch) $0.034 $3.40
GPT Image 1.5 API (low quality) $0.011 $1.10
GPT Image 1.5 API (high quality) $0.167 $16.70
Midjourney Basic No API $10/mo (~200 fast images) → ~$0.05/image
Midjourney Standard No API $30/mo (~900 fast + unlimited Relax)
ChatGPT Plus subscription $20/mo (~50 per 3 hr) varies

How to read it - Hobbyist exploration: one Plus subscription is plenty. - Regular content production: Nano Banana 2 Batch API is the most cost-effective path at scale. - Occasional high-quality: Midjourney Standard ($30) or Nano Banana 2 standard. - API automation: Nano Banana 2 or GPT Image (quality vs price tradeoff).

4. Free-tier limits

Tool Free quota Commercial use
Gemini app (Nano Banana 2) Some allowance, not officially specified Check ToS
Midjourney ❌ None Paid only
ChatGPT Free (GPT Image 1.5) 2–3/day, 24-hr rolling Check ToS
Bing Image Creator DALL-E 3-based — sunsetting Separate ToS

Best zero-cost start: Gemini app + ChatGPT Free. You can compare outputs from both within the free limits.

5. Task → tool

Task First pick Backup Note
Blog hero (photo) Nano Banana 2 Midjourney Realism vs artistry
Marketing mockup w/ text Nano Banana 2 GPT Image Text accuracy
Illustration / concept art Midjourney v7 Nano Banana 2 Artistry
Product mockup Nano Banana 2 GPT Image Photorealism
Book / album cover Midjourney v7 Nano Banana 2 Mood, lighting
Portrait Nano Banana 2 Midjourney Identity consistency
Iterative edit in chat GPT Image 1.5 – Conversational
Comic / webtoon panels Midjourney v7 Nano Banana 2 Character consistency is hard
Data viz / infographic Nano Banana 2 GPT Image Text + shapes

6. First-week starter plan

  1. Days 1–2: Run the same five prompts across Gemini app and ChatGPT Free. Note your taste — photo or illustration?
  2. Days 3–4: Subscribe to one paid plan for the side that wins. Start with Plus $20 or Gemini Pro $19.99 — leave Midjourney for last.
  3. Days 5–7: Complete one project (30 hero images, 10 character designs). Validate the spend.
  4. Next month: Keep, cancel, or switch based on usage and satisfaction.

7. Cautions

  • Copyright: AI-image rights vary by country and tool. The US/Korea position (2025–2026 cases) is "no human creative contribution → no copyright."
  • Real-person depiction: defamation and right-of-publicity risk. Be careful in ads and social posts.
  • Commercial-use ToS: Midjourney varies by plan; OpenAI grants user rights; Google states commercial use explicitly. Read the ToS before subscribing.
  • Data use: free tiers may train on your inputs/outputs. Avoid sensitive uploads.

Developer notes

For API-based integration:

  1. Nano Banana 2 = gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview in the Gemini API. 65,536-token context, multimodal input. Batch API for 50% off.
  2. GPT Image 1.5 (gpt-image-1) in the OpenAI API. Quality parameter (low / medium / high) drives cost. The same endpoint covers /edits and variations.
  3. Midjourney has no official API as of April 2026. Unofficial bots/wrappers exist but carry ToS and stability risk.
  4. Automate quality scoring: GPT-5 / Claude Vision can serve as LLM-as-judge for prompt adherence and quality. Generate 100 → auto-score → keep the top 10%.
  5. Multi-tool routing: a prompt classifier + n8n/Make can route "photo style → Nano Banana, illustration → Midjourney" automatically.
  6. Image → CDN: every tool expires URLs after a window. Download to your own storage (S3, R2) immediately on generation.

References

This is part 5 of 11 in the AI Basics series. Next: Image-prompting in practice (extension).

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