Nano Banana 2.1 Price per Image: API, Gemini Plans & Free Use

It depends on where you run it. As of October 2026:

Gemini API: $0.0336 per 1K image, $0.0504 per 2K and $0.113 per 4K at Google's Standard rate, with no free tier. Batch jobs cost half.

Gemini app: included with Google AI Plus, Pro or Ultra ($4.99, $19.99 or from $99.99 a month in the US). The free plan gets Nano Banana 2 instead.

Spicy Studio: a 2K image is 12 credits and a 4K image 18, about €0.13 to €0.20 per 2K image depending on the plan, and new accounts start with 25 free credits.

Google revises its rates from time to time, so check the Gemini API pricing page before you budget.

Google bills tokens, then converts them into a per-image price.

Output images: $30 per million tokens. A 1K image counts as 1,120 tokens, 2K as 1,680 and 4K as 3,780, which is where the per-image prices come from.

Input: $1.50 per million tokens for text, images and video, triple Nano Banana 2's $0.50. Google's Cloud docs count each input image as 1,120 tokens, so one reference adds about $0.0017 and a full set of 14 about $0.024.

Batch: half price for work that can wait: $0.0168, $0.0252 and $0.0567 per 1K, 2K and 4K image.

Search grounding: 5,000 free search requests a month, shared across Gemini 3 and newer models, then $14 per 1,000.

Next to its siblings, 2.1 halves Nano Banana 2's output price at 1K and 2K and trims it by a quarter at 4K, and even its 4K image undercuts Nano Banana Pro's $0.134 at 1K or 2K. For scale, 1,000 images at 2K cost $50.40 at Standard or $25.20 on Batch, before input tokens.

In the Gemini app, not on the free plan. Google's Gemini image page lists Nano Banana 2 as the free model and asks you to upgrade to a Google AI plan to unlock 2.1 (as of October 2026).

In the API, no. Google lists the free tier as not available for 2.1, so billing has to be on from the first call.

In Spicy Studio, a small free start. New accounts get 25 credits with no card required: two 2K images (24 credits) or one at 4K (18), and the same credits work on every other model and tool.

If a site promises unlimited free Nano Banana 2.1, ask who pays: Google bills every API image and keeps the app version behind paid plans.

Every 2.1 image costs the same 12 credits at 2K or 18 at 4K, however many of the 14 reference slots you fill. (GPT Image 2.5, for comparison, adds a credit per reference.) Per image on each monthly plan:

Spicy Basic, €10 for 600 credits: about €0.20 at 2K or €0.30 at 4K, enough for 50 images at 2K.

Spicy Pro, €25 for 1,800: about €0.17 or €0.25, enough for 150.

Spicy Ultimate, €50 for 3,800: about €0.16 or €0.24, enough for 316.

Spicy Creator, €80 for 7,200: about €0.13 or €0.20, enough for 600.

Plan credits reset each billing cycle. One-time top-ups never expire, from Spark (€2 for 90 credits, seven 2K images) to Nova (€50 for 3,100). The full list is on the pricing page.

You're building an app or a pipeline: use Google's API. It's cheaper per image, Batch halves it again, and you get controls the Image Lab doesn't show, such as the thinking level, search grounding, 1K output and 8:1 panoramas.

You make images by hand and turn them into video: credits are simpler. No API key, Google Cloud project or billing setup, references at no extra cost, and one balance for Nano Banana 2.1, Seedance 2.5, Kling 3.0 and the editing tools.

You already pay for Google AI Plus or higher: try 2.1 in the Gemini app first; Google adds a visible watermark there alongside its invisible SynthID mark.

In Spicy Studio, Nano Banana 2 costs 10 or 14 credits and Nano Banana Pro 12 or 16. Nano Banana 2.1 vs Nano Banana 2 vs Pro helps you choose, and Nano Banana 2.1 explained covers what changed.