Nano Banana vs Nano Banana Pro for Image Generation
Nano Banana Pro is the stronger choice for typography, material rendering, composition, structured graphics, reference-based edits, text replacement, identity and garment transfer, relighting, and outpainting. Nano Banana is the better fit when anatomy or preserving a product through a scene change matters most, while also requiring fewer credits and showing lower latency in this small sample.
Side-by-side facts
| Feature | Nano Banana | Nano Banana Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | ||
| Availability on Banana Pie | Available now | Available now |
| Credits from | 20 credits | 80 credits |
| Max resolution | — | 4K |
| Reference images | Up to 8 | Up to 8 |
Scenario by scenario
Same prompt. Two models. Judge the difference in the published images below.
Product material and lighting
Better here: Nano Banana ProThe right image follows the requested material, fill level, reflection, and lighting behavior more convincingly.
- Exactly one bottle and no extras: Tie. Each image visibly contains one transparent rectangular perfume bottle, with no rendered text, logo, plants, or separate objects.
- Halfway amber fill: Right does better. Its amber liquid level sits close to the midpoint of the rectangular bottle body, while the left bottle appears filled noticeably above halfway.
- Coherent refraction and reflection: Right does better. The glass edges, amber liquid, internal dip tube, and upright reflection on the wet stone align convincingly; the left image has a more fragmented reflection across the foreground edge and a bright amber streak that reads partly as projected light rather than a single reflection.
- Upper-left lighting and contact shadow: Right does better. The bright upper-left illumination, highlights on the glass and metal sprayer, and shadow extending toward the lower right are visibly consistent. The left lighting also comes from the upper left, but its broad dark shadow and multiple bright patches are less cleanly unified.
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
A premium product photograph of exactly one transparent rectangular perfume bottle, half filled with amber liquid, standing upright on wet black stone. Light comes from the upper left, creating coherent refraction, a contact shadow, and one subtle reflection. No text, logo, plants, or extra objects.
Multilingual typography
Better here: Nano Banana ProRight is the clear winner because it reproduces all four requested lines exactly while also meeting the color, alignment, and spacing requirements.
- Exactly four centered text lines and no additional text: Tie. Both posters visibly contain four centered lines and no other text.
- Exact wording and order: Right does better. Right reads exactly "MOONLIGHT MARKET", "月光市集", "18 OCT", and "RIVER HALL" in that order. Left reads "MOONLIGHT MARKET", "月光佈鑒", "18 OCT", and "RIVER HALL", so its Chinese line is incorrect.
- Required text colors: Tie. Both render their Chinese line in red and the other three lines in black.
- Legibility, spacing, and alignment: Right does better. Its four lines are clearly legible, centered on a common axis, and separated by consistent compact spacing; the left is also centered and legible, but its vertical gaps are less even.
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Design a clean cream-colored vertical event poster. Show exactly four centered text lines and no other text: "MOONLIGHT MARKET", "月光市集", "18 OCT", and "RIVER HALL". Render "月光市集" in red and all other lines in black.
Human anatomy and contact
Better here: Nano BananaLeft better fulfills the anatomy-focused prompt by presenting two more clearly identifiable hands with more coherent finger structure. Both images clearly communicate pottery shaping, but neither makes all ten fingers distinctly countable.
- Exactly two fully visible hands: Left does better. It clearly shows two hands and no extra person or hand; Right appears to show a pale hand plus a second dark, clay-covered hand underneath, but that second hand is heavily occluded and difficult to distinguish fully.
- Each hand has exactly five distinct, naturally formed fingers: Left does better, though neither fully satisfies this criterion. Left's overlapping fingers are not all distinctly countable, while Right's lower clay-covered hand has no clearly countable set of five fingers and the upper hand's thumb is obscured.
- The fingers, joints, and contact with the clay are anatomically plausible: Left does better. Its hands have recognizable joints and coherent contact inside the bowl, although some overlapping fingers look crowded; Right's lower hand appears unusually dark, compressed, and merged around the bowl's rim.
- The clay bowl, spinning wheel, and shaping action are clearly recognizable: Tie. Both clearly depict a clay bowl centered on a pottery wheel with hands contacting it during shaping.
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
A photorealistic close-up of an adult potter shaping a clay bowl on a spinning wheel. Both hands are fully visible, each with five natural fingers touching the clay. No other people or hands. Soft window light.
Counting and attribute binding
Better here: Nano Banana ProBoth images follow the requested count and arrangement very closely. The right image has the edge because the specified materials are more visibly and distinctly rendered, especially the wooden grain and ceramic glaze.
- Object count and placement: Tie. Both images show exactly three red cubes in a row on the left, exactly two blue spheres on the right, and one yellow mug centered behind the foreground objects.
- Color, shape, and material binding: Right does better. Both bind the requested colors and shapes correctly, but the right image shows more clearly visible wood grain on the red cubes, transparent glass in the blue spheres, and a textured glazed-ceramic surface on the mug.
- Mug handle direction: Tie. In both images, the mug handle is clearly visible on the right side.
- No additional objects or text: Tie. Neither image contains any visible extra objects or text.
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
On a matte gray table, exactly three red wooden cubes form a row on the left, exactly two blue glass spheres sit on the right, and one yellow ceramic mug stands centered behind them. The mug handle points right. No other objects or text.
Advertising composition
Better here: Nano Banana ProRight follows the requested ad composition more precisely, most importantly by avoiding the extra "AERO" text and keeping the shoe clearly in the lower-right.
- Exactly one silver shoe and orange trail: Right does better. It shows one silver shoe clearly contained in the lower-right, while an orange trail visibly enters from the bottom-left and curves through the composition. Left also has one silver shoe and a bottom-left orange trail, but the shoe extends substantially across the lower center and left rather than sitting as clearly in the lower-right.
- Only visible text: Right does better. Its visible text is only "RUN LIGHT" and "42 KM", both spelled correctly. Left also renders "RUN LIGHT" and "42 KM" correctly, but adds "AERO" on the side of the shoe, violating the no-other-text requirement.
- Empty top area and headline placement: Tie. Both leave a visibly uncluttered band at the top and place "RUN LIGHT" directly beneath it in the upper-left.
- Visibility and hierarchy: Right does better. The headline, badge, trail, and single shoe are all fully visible and distinctly separated, creating a clear progression through the ad. Left's elements are also visible, but the oversized shoe and overlapping badge make the lower portion more crowded.
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Create a vertical social ad for a fictional running shoe named AERO. Keep the top 15 percent empty. Directly below it, place the headline "RUN LIGHT" in the upper-left. Show exactly one silver shoe in the lower-right, an orange trail curving from the bottom-left, and a round badge reading "42 KM". No other shoes or text.
Structured UI graphic
Better here: Nano Banana ProRIGHT is the stronger result. Both satisfy the title, column, and button requirements, but RIGHT consistently includes all three required row labels in every column and aligns them more evenly. Both add unrequested plan-detail text.
- Title and columns: Tie. Both render the exact title "CHOOSE YOUR PLAN" and exactly three columns labeled "STARTER", "PRO", and "TEAM".
- Rows: Right does better. Right clearly repeats the aligned labels "PROJECTS", "STORAGE", and "SUPPORT" in every column. Left includes those three labels under "STARTER", but under "PRO" its support row only reads "Priority Email", and under "TEAM" it only reads "24/7 Live Chat", omitting the required "SUPPORT" label in both columns.
- Buttons: Tie. Each image shows exactly one blue button labeled "SELECT" in each of its three columns.
- Alignment and additional text: Right does better on alignment: its three columns and repeated row labels are consistently positioned, while Left's support row formatting changes across columns. Both violate the no-additional-text requirement by including plan details beneath or beside the required labels, such as Left's "PROJECTS: 5" and Right's "5 active projects".
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Create a clean horizontal pricing comparison graphic titled "CHOOSE YOUR PLAN". Use exactly three equal columns labeled "STARTER", "PRO", and "TEAM". Under each column, show exactly three aligned rows labeled "PROJECTS", "STORAGE", and "SUPPORT", followed by one blue button labeled "SELECT". White background, dark navy text, no additional columns or text.
Six-reference object binding and edit
Better here: Nano Banana ProThe right output is substantially more faithful to the requested multi-reference edit, especially in preserving the base scene and binding each replacement to the intended position and appearance.
- Criterion 1: Right does better. Its dark navy-blue mug with gold rim retains the base mug's lower-left position and right-facing handle, while the striped napkin occupies the original towel area. Left changes to a top-down camera, places the mug handle on the left, and cuts off much of the napkin at the upper-left edge.
- Criterion 2: Right does better. It replaces the pear with exactly one leaf-topped orange and the blue notebook with a mustard-yellow hardcover notebook with a black elastic band, both near their original base positions; none of the original red mug, white towel, green pear, or blue notebook remain. Left also replaces all four, but substantially changes their positions and orientations with the new overhead composition.
- Criterion 3: Right does better. It shows exactly two lemons to the right of the mug, closely preserving the paired arrangement and single leaf visible in Reference 6. Left also has exactly two lemons to the mug's right, but they are rotated into a looser diagonal arrangement and the leaf placement is less faithful.
- Criterion 4: Right does better. It closely retains Reference 1's oblique camera angle, framing, warm wooden tabletop, visible grain and knots, lighting direction, and overall object layout. Left reconstructs the scene from a near-overhead viewpoint with different framing, wood grain, lighting, shadows, and spatial relationships.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Use Reference 1 as the base tabletop scene. Replace the red mug with the exact dark navy-blue mug from Reference 2 in the same position and orientation. Replace the folded white towel with the exact green-and-white striped napkin from Reference 3 in the same folded area. Replace the green pear with exactly one orange from Reference 4 in the same position. Replace the blue notebook with the exact mustard-yellow hardcover notebook from Reference 5 in the same position. Add exactly the two lemons from Reference 6 to the right of the mug. Preserve the wooden table, camera, framing, wood grain, lighting, shadows, and all other spatial relationships from Reference 1. Do not copy the white product backgrounds from References 2–6, duplicate any asset, or add other objects.
In-image text replacement
Better here: Nano Banana ProBoth outputs replace the wording cleanly, but Right better preserves the original typography and surrounding composition.
- Exact text replacement: Both signs read exactly "NIGHT OWL", with "MORNING BEAN" completely removed.
- No additional or malformed characters: Both sides render only the correct letters in "NIGHT OWL" with no visible artifacts or extra characters.
- Font, spacing, and perspective: Right is closer to the reference; its letter size, inter-letter spacing, and gap between the words better match the original sign typography, while Left has an excessively wide gap between "NIGHT" and "OWL".
- Material, lighting, and scene preservation: Right is slightly closer; the sign's wood grain, cast shadows, storefront proportions, planter, and bench placement align more closely with the reference, though both preserve the scene well.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Replace only the sign text with exactly "NIGHT OWL". Preserve the original font style, spacing, perspective, sign material, lighting, and everything else.
Multi-reference identity and garment transfer
Better here: Nano Banana ProRIGHT is the clear overall winner because it preserves the person more closely and reproduces the jacket's defining red sleeve patch and construction details while maintaining coherent fit and lighting.
- Identity, expression, hair, pose, body proportions, and framing: RIGHT does better. Its face, hairline, neutral expression, shoulder position, hand placement, and crop are visibly closer to Reference 1; LEFT subtly changes the facial proportions and places the subject smaller in the frame.
- Jacket material, color, collar, buttons, pockets, and sleeve patch: RIGHT does better. It retains the light blue denim, cream shearling collar, bronze buttons, paired flap pockets, seam structure, and prominent red sleeve patch from Reference 2. LEFT omits the sleeve patch and substitutes a tiny red side tab, with less faithful pocket and front-panel details.
- Full replacement without mannequin or product background: Both fully replace the black suit jacket and retain the original gray interior background without visible mannequin or white product-background remnants, so this criterion is even.
- Physical coherence of hands, fit, occlusion, shadows, and lighting: RIGHT does better. The sleeves meet the wrists naturally, the hands remain well formed, and the jacket folds and shadows integrate consistently with the scene. LEFT is also plausible, but its asymmetrical front opening and exposed fuzzy inner edge look less like the referenced jacket and less naturally fitted.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Use the portrait in Reference 1 for the person and the isolated jacket in Reference 2 for the garment. Dress the person from Reference 1 in the exact jacket shown in Reference 2. Preserve the person's identity, face, expression, skin, hair, hands, pose, body proportions, background, framing, and lighting from Reference 1. Preserve the jacket's material, color, collar, buttons, pockets, and sleeve patch from Reference 2. Do not copy the ghost mannequin or white product background.
Coherent scene relighting
Better here: Nano Banana ProRight creates a substantially more convincing golden-hour relighting, with stronger source-specific illumination and coherent projected shadows, while preserving the scene's contents reasonably well.
- Warm golden-hour light clearly enters from the left window: Right does better; strong amber sunlight visibly projects from the left window across the wall, sofa, rug, and floor, while Left is warm but the incoming light is less clearly defined.
- Highlights and shadow directions respond coherently to the new light source: Right does better; window-shaped highlights, plant shadows, lamp shadows, and long furniture shadows consistently extend away from the left-side light source. Left has directional floor shadows, but fewer surfaces respond distinctly.
- The result is more than a uniform yellow color filter: Right does better; it adds localized bright sunlight, deep directional shadows, window-frame projections, and varied illumination across surfaces. Left also adds real highlights and shadows, but much of the room has a more uniformly warm cast.
- No furniture or decor is moved, added, removed, or redesigned: Left is slightly closer; both retain the window, plant, sofa, table, rug, and lamp in their original arrangement, but Right shows more noticeable changes to the sofa proportions and cushion shapes.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Change the lighting to warm golden-hour sunlight entering from the left window. Do not move, add, remove, or redesign any object. Update highlights and shadows coherently.
Cross-ratio outpainting
Better here: Nano Banana ProRight wins narrowly. Both create convincing wide beach scenes, but Right has more centered placement and cleaner extension transitions; Left retains the original internal scene slightly better.
- 16:9 landscape with natural new content on both sides: Both outputs have the requested wide landscape framing and extend the sky, ocean, and beach plausibly on each side; they are effectively even here.
- Complete original image centered without cropping or stretching: Right does slightly better because the cabin and original composition sit more precisely at the horizontal center, while Left places the cabin a little left of center. Neither shows obvious stretching or cropping.
- Original cabin, shoreline, and internal composition unchanged: Left is slightly closer to the reference; its cabin proportions and layered shoreline resemble the original more closely, while Right shows somewhat more noticeable changes in the wave shapes and cabin-front details.
- No visible seams, mirrored filler, or repeated objects: Right does better because its sand and sky textures transition more consistently across the frame. Left has a visible change in sand texture toward the lower-left extension that suggests an outpainting boundary. Neither shows obvious mirrored objects.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Expand the canvas to a 16:9 landscape by naturally continuing the beach, ocean, and sky on both sides. Keep the complete original image centered without cropping, stretching, letterboxing, or modifying it.
Product preservation across scene change
Better here: Nano BananaLeft more faithfully preserves the product while still integrating it convincingly into a wet dusk setting. Right establishes the basketball-court scene more clearly, but its reversed camera angle and altered side mark violate the central preservation requirements.
- Wet outdoor basketball court at dusk: Right does better. The painted court lines, broad puddles, fence or post reflections, and orange-purple dusk sky reflection make the setting immediately recognizable; Left reads as wet outdoor pavement or court, but the basketball-court context is less distinct.
- Silhouette, sole geometry, stitching, materials, and camera angle consistency: Left does better. Its heel-left, toe-right side view closely matches the reference, with similar panel seams, collar, toe shape, sole profile, and front textured bumper. Right reverses the shoe orientation and changes the viewing angle, proportions, lace arrangement, and several seam details.
- Black geometric side mark preservation: Left does better. Its mark retains the reference's left horizontal segment, central angular junction, upper-right arm, and lower-right diagonal arm in nearly the same orientation. Right mirrors and restructures the mark, including a different right-side hook and branch arrangement.
- Contact shadow, wet-surface reflection, and dusk lighting coherence: Left does better. The sole has grounded contact along its length, the shadow sits directly beneath and behind it, and the reflected shoe aligns closely with the object. Right has convincing dusk color and puddles, but the very dark region beneath the shoe and partial reflection make the contact read less naturally.
Reference images
Prompt & settings used
Prompt
Place the sneaker on a wet outdoor basketball court at dusk. Preserve the exact sneaker shape, black geometric side mark, materials, stitching, sole geometry, and camera angle. Add physically coherent contact, reflections, and dusk lighting.
Cost & latency
Nano Banana starts at 20 credits, while Nano Banana Pro starts at 80 credits, making Nano Banana the lower-cost option per generation. In this run’s small latency sample, Nano Banana responses ranged from 15971 ms to 36072 ms, while Nano Banana Pro ranged from 39167 ms to 67861 ms; these observations describe this run, not general benchmark performance.
How we compared & disclosure
This comparison used one fixed prompt per scenario with each model, and the selected outputs are published. Public images carry a Banana Pie watermark. The Nano Banana Pro results on this page come from a later run of the same prompt and settings. Banana Pie sells paid access to both Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro.
Banana Pie sells paid access to this model alongside other models in one studio. Our verdicts come from tests run through the same pipeline our users get.