Nano Banana 2.1 vs GPT Image 2.5

These are the current builds of the two image families people compare most. The older pair, Nano Banana 2 against GPT Image 2, is now kept for saved work and locked recipes. Both of these models read full sentences and both take references. What separates them is what each one holds on to best.

GPT Image 2.5 follows a long compositional instruction more literally than any other image model in Kuro: several named objects in stated places, an interface mockup, a diagram, a sheet of a dozen small captions that all have to be legible. That is the job it is chosen for. Its own guide adds the caveat that lettering can still come back garbled, so every word needs reading before it ships.

Nano Banana 2.1 is the family that best preserves what a reference shows, whether a face, a product or a frame from earlier in a sequence, and it seats fourteen references against GPT Image 2.5's seven. It also renders short text legibly, so a headline or a label is not by itself a reason to move to GPT. And it frames fourteen aspect ratios, including 4:5, 21:9 and the strips from 1:8 to 8:1. GPT Image 2.5 offers seven, and none of those.

Price depends on the dropdown. Nano Banana 2.1 is 3 credits at 1K, 4.5 at 2K and 9.5 at 4K. GPT Image 2.5's quality setting runs from 1 credit on low to 4 credits on medium, 11 credits on high or auto, 19 credits on xhigh and 42.5 credits on max. Low is the same model reasoning about the same prompt, so the economical way to use it is to settle the layout on low and render the keeper higher. Left on auto while you iterate, each attempt costs nearly four times a 1K Nano Banana picture.

GPT Image 2.5 comes in two builds at the same price. Flare, the one in the table above, is the fast everyday build. Sunburst is slower and meant for edits that must land exactly: change one thing and the identity, layout and light stay where they were. Generate on Flare, and bring an exacting edit to Sunburst.

So the split is by what the picture depends on. Words and layout go to GPT Image 2.5. A person or product that has to stay itself, an unusual canvas, or volume at 1K goes to Nano Banana 2.1. Neither is a vector tool; a logo that has to be a file goes to Recraft.

Each model's prompting guide names the jobs it hands to another model. Both lists, as the guides write them:

Use something other than Nano Banana when…

• You want painterly or stylised texture: FLUX.2 Pro.
• The frame holds dense small type, or a long instruction placing several objects: GPT Image 2.5 Flare.
• It is an everyday product or lifestyle shot at a standard ratio: Seedream 5 Lite.
• You want mass drafts with no references: FLUX Schnell.
• You need a vector file: Recraft V4.1 SVG.

Use something other than GPT Image 2.5 when…

• The canvas is 4:5, 21:9 or a strip: Nano Banana 2.1.
• It is a product or lifestyle shot with no lettering: Seedream 5 Lite.
• A series has to keep one face or product identical: Nano Banana 2.1.
• You need a vector logo or icon: Recraft V4.1 SVG.