Nano Banana 2.1 Is Live: What Changed and What It Costs

Google released Nano Banana 2.1 on 6 October 2026, and as of today it is the model behind every Nano Banana image on aitachyon: in the studio, through the API and through the MCP server. If you already call provider: "nanobanana", you changed nothing and you are already on 2.1.

Here is what changed, what it costs at Google's list price and on aitachyon, and what we checked before switching.

What Nano Banana 2.1 is

Nano Banana 2.1 is Google's image generation and editing model, released as generally available, not a preview, under the API id gemini-nano-banana-2.1 (Gemini API model page). It is an update to Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image), the faster and cheaper sibling of Nano Banana Pro.

According to Google's documentation and model card, the update brings:

Sharper output at 1K, 2K and 4K, and no more tiling artifacts on panoramic formats.
Better text and infographics: labels, headlines and small type render more reliably.
Up to 14 reference images in one request: up to 4 characters and 10 objects, for consistent people and products across a series.
Grounding with Google Search (web and image search) and configurable thinking, for prompts that depend on real-world facts.
Higher scores on Google's own evaluations: text-to-image rises from 990 to 1050 Elo and multi-character consistency from 978 to 1106, as published in the model card.

One limit worth knowing: the model does not accept seed or temperature. If your pipeline relied on a fixed seed for reproducibility, plan for variation between runs.

What it costs

Google's list price on the Gemini API pricing page, standard tier:

1K image: $0.0336, half the $0.067 Google charges for Nano Banana 2 at the same size.
2K image: $0.0504.
4K image: $0.113. Nano Banana Pro at 4K lists at $0.24.
Batch: half of each price above, for jobs that can wait.

On aitachyon the price follows the cost. On a prepaid balance, a Nano Banana image now costs about $0.10, down from about $0.20, and a failed render is refunded automatically. On a monthly plan it stays at 4 credits. Every price per call is listed on the Nano Banana model page and returned by GET /api/pricing.

What we checked before switching

Before moving every customer to 2.1, we confirmed that the model id answers on our account and ran a render through the same call our image route makes: a plain prompt asking for a ceramic mug by a window, with the word "aitachyon" printed on it. It came back in about 20 seconds, at 1024x1024, with the lettering correct on the first try.

A speckled ceramic mug on a linen table by a window, with the word aitachyon printed on it, generated by Nano Banana 2.1 — Our first Nano Banana 2.1 render, unedited. The prompt asked for the word on the mug; the model set it in clean, readable type.

We also moved Nano Banana Pro, which powers the optional 4K tier, from its preview id to the stable gemini-3-pro-image. Same model, same price, no change for callers.

How to use it

In the studio: pick Nano Banana as the image model. Nothing else changes.

Through the API: the call is the one you already make.

curl -X POST https://aitachyon.com/api/images/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AITACHYON_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"projectId":"<project id>","provider":"nanobanana","prompt":"A ceramic mug on a linen table, morning light"}'

From Claude or any MCP client: connect the hosted server at https://aitachyon.com/api/mcp and ask for a Nano Banana image; the images_generate tool takes provider: "nanobanana". The full reference is at /docs/api.

The other model updates this season

Nano Banana 2.1 is the latest of several model changes on aitachyon:

ElevenLabs v4 and v4 Turbo, released on 28 September 2026, are the voices behind ElevenLabs voice-overs.
Seedance 2.5 runs clips from 4 to 30 seconds at 480p, 720p or 1080p, with native audio. See what a Seedance 2.5 clip really costs.
Veo 3.1: Google retires its Veo 3.1 preview endpoints on 22 October 2026, per the Gemini API deprecations page, with Gemini Omni 1.1 Flash as the replacement. We are moving our Veo and Omni engines before that date.

If you compared Nano Banana with FLUX.2 [pro] before, our Nano Banana vs FLUX.2 [pro] guide still explains when each one wins; the price gap in Nano Banana's favor is now wider at 1K.

FAQ

Do I need to change my code to use Nano Banana 2.1?

No. Requests with provider: "nanobanana" run on Nano Banana 2.1 since 7 October 2026.

Can I still use Nano Banana 2?

Not on aitachyon: 2.1 replaced it as the Nano Banana model, at half the upstream price and with better results on Google's evaluations.

Does Nano Banana 2.1 support a fixed seed?

No. Google's documentation lists seed and temperature as unsupported, so two runs of the same prompt can differ.

How much is a 4K image?

Google lists Nano Banana 2.1 at $0.113 per 4K image. On aitachyon the 4K tier runs on Nano Banana Pro today, priced on the model page.

Nano Banana 2.1 Is Live: What Changed and What It Costs