Head to head

GPT-5 Image vs Nano Banana 2.1

Price, context, inputs and filters. No benchmarks theatre.

Swap sides

Nano Banana 2.1 costs 5× less per message.

GPT-5 Image holds 6.1× more context.

Fact

GPT-5 ImageOpenAI

MainstreamChat with GPT-5 Image

Nano Banana 2.1Google

MainstreamChat with Nano Banana 2.1

Made by

OpenAI

Google

Content tier

Mainstream

Intelligence

Smart & Cheap

Estimated price per message

~22.75 credits≈ 4 messages for $1

~4.59 credits≈ 21 messages for $1

Context window

400K tokens≈ 615 pages of text in one go

66K tokens≈ 101 pages of text in one go

Reads

Text, Images

Writes

Text, Images

Tool use

No - plain chat

Served via

OpenRouter, Unbottled AI

OpenRouter

Status

Legacy

Current

A typical message: 16K tokens in, 1.5K out. Short replies cost less. Models served via OpenRouter bill the real provider cost plus our markup, so actual charges vary. 1 credit = $0.01.

GPT-5 Image details Nano Banana 2.1 details