Nano Banana 2: what an image costs
and when 512px is enough
A 512px draft for 20 credits is the cheapest Nano Banana render on Playcut, and only Nano Banana 2 offers it. Above that, Google's Gemini 3.1 Flash Image model costs 34 at 1K or 2K and 43 at 4K, roughly half of Nano Banana Pro at every size they share. Use it for drafts, volume and thumbnails; Pro stays the default for images that ship.
Nano Banana 2 pricing is settled by two things the rate card leaves out: how many drafts you discard before a keeper, and which limits your brief runs into. Both are worked out below in credits, plan by plan.
Rates in credits · paid plans from $9/mo · you pick the model per generation
Nano Banana 2 pricing, tier by tier
Four sizes, three prices. Text-to-image and reference-to-image cost the same, so attaching reference images adds nothing to the bill. Every figure is in Playcut credits, the unit your balance is debited in.
The third column turns each rate into finished images on the Pro plan's 2,000 monthly credits. Plan prices are on the pricing page.
Why 1K and 2K cost the same, and 512px does not follow the pattern
Playcut prices images from a baseline per resolution tier, then applies a per-model multiplier. 1K and 2K share one baseline, so on Nano Banana 2 both land at 34 credits and a smaller file saves bytes, never credits. 4K sits on a higher baseline, which is why it is the one standard size that moves the number.
The 512px tier is a flat 20 credits with no model multiplier, a price set for the tier rather than derived from it. That is 14 credits under 1K, about 41% less, for roughly a quarter of the pixels. What 2K and 4K mean in pixels, and which of our models reach each, is laid out in the 2.5K and 4K resolution guide.
What a month of credits buys on Nano Banana 2
Divide a plan's monthly credits by the tier rate and you get finished images before any re-rolls. Credits reset monthly, on annual billing too. One balance covers every model, so image work shares the pool with any video, music or voice you run.
Paid plans start at $9 a month, and every plan bills from day one. Credit packs never expire and stack on the monthly allowance in 600, 2,500, 5,000 credit sizes, which is 17, 73, 147 Nano Banana 2 images at 1K or 2K. Seats and plan prices are on the plans page.
When 512px is enough, and when it is not
The 512px tier exists only on Nano Banana 2. Switch to Nano Banana Pro or Grok Imagine with 512px selected and the studio moves the size to 1K, while the API refuses 512px on Pro before any credits are held. It renders all ten aspect ratios at roughly half the width and height of a 1K image, which makes it a working size rather than a finished one.
512px is enough for
- Choosing a direction: several quick takes on one idea before any of them earns a full-size render.
- Moodboards and internal reviews, where the question is colour, layout and subject rather than detail.
- Placeholders in a deck, wireframe or storyboard that will be swapped out later.
- Checking that a reference set does what you expect before paying the 1K rate across a batch.
Render at 2K or 4K for
- Anything a client, a printer or an ad platform receives.
- Small text that has to be read: labels, interface copy, packaging fine print.
- Images you plan to crop, because a crop discards pixels the render never had.
- A hero or banner slot, where the image is the largest thing on the page.
The break-even is three drafts per final image
A 512px draft saves 14 credits, but the image you keep still has to be rendered at full size. Two 512px drafts plus a 2K final cost 74 credits, while two drafts at 2K cost 68 and one of them already is the final. At three drafts the order flips: 94 credits through 512px against 102 at 2K.
So draft at 512px when you expect to throw most drafts away, and at 2K when one in two is usually good enough to keep. For 12 blog headers at 4 drafts each, that is 1,368 credits through 512px against 1,632 drafted at 2K, a saving of 264.
Keeping the draft you liked
A 512px draft settles a direction, not a final frame. Re-running the same prompt at 2K is a new generation rather than an enlargement, so expect the result to differ from the draft you picked.
The fix costs nothing extra. Attach the chosen draft as a reference image on the 2K run, since reference-to-image bills the same 34 credits as text-to-image, and the model has the draft to steer toward. It uses one of the 14 reference slots.
The grid alternative to a stack of drafts
One request can also return a grid of 2, 4, 9 or 16 panels inside a single image, billed as one image. A square 4x4 grid at 2K is 16 panels of roughly 512 pixels each for 34 credits, where 16 separate 512px renders cost 320.
The trade is control. The panels are one image rather than 16 files, you pick a Variation or Story layout rather than steering each panel, and one weak panel re-runs the whole sheet.
How to use Nano Banana 2 in Playcut
Nano Banana 2 is never the default. Nano Banana Pro renders unless you pick otherwise, so choosing the model is the one step that matters. Everything after that is set per generation, and nothing moves your job to a different model or rate.
-
Pick Nano Banana 2 in the model picker
Open the image app and choose Nano Banana 2 from the model picker in the prompt box. The picker shows the credit cost next to each model, so you see the rate before you submit.
-
Choose the size before the prompt
Pick 512, 1K, 2K or 4K. Undecided between 1K and 2K? Take 2K, because both cost 34 credits.
-
Set one of the ten aspect ratios
1:1, 2:3, 3:2, 3:4, 4:3, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16, 16:9 or 21:9. Nothing wider than 21:9 exists upstream, so a 4:1 banner is a crop.
-
Attach references if a look has to hold
Up to 14 images, sent to Google in the order you attach them. There is no tag syntax, so put the most important reference first and say in the prompt what each one is for.
-
Save the prompt that worked
Save it to your prompt library, then type / at the start of an empty prompt box to insert it next time. That is also how a finished prompt moves to Nano Banana Pro unchanged.
To turn a ratio into pixel dimensions for a layout, the aspect ratio calculator does the arithmetic. The wider set of image flows, from product shots to actor stills, is on the AI image generator page. Starting points are collected in Nano Banana prompts, tagged Pro or 2.
From Claude, Cursor or your own code
Both image tools accept Nano Banana 2 over MCP and the REST API. Pass model: "gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview" to generate-image-from-text or generate-image-from-reference, and imageSize: "512" for the budget tier.
The tools cap prompts at 8,000 characters and return a task id to poll rather than a file. Keys, tool names and client setup are on the MCP server and REST API page.
Nine Nano Banana 2 limits to check before a batch
These are the limits that change a budget or a result. Size, ratio, model and reference count are checked before credits are held, so tripping one costs nothing, and a failed or cancelled job is refunded in full.
- No multi-region edit
- The flat 25-credit edit that repaints up to eight marked areas always runs on Nano Banana Pro. Nano Banana 2 has no edit mode of its own.
- Style references are documented for Pro only
- Its 14 reference slots are guided for objects and characters. Google documents the style-reference kind for Nano Banana Pro only, so a brief that hinges on matching a visual style belongs there.
- Leave out the model field and you pay Pro rates
- Nano Banana Pro is the default in the studio and on both API tools. A script that omits the model is billed 67 credits at 1K instead of 34, which is the correct price for the model it ran.
- A broken reference is still a billed render
- If a reference image fails to load, the job carries on without it, text-only if every reference fails. You still pay 34 credits for an image that ignored part of the brief, so check asset ids before a batch.
- One image per request
- Each call returns a single image. Grid panels live inside that image rather than as separate files, so four finished options are four requests and four holds.
- Faster than Pro, but not instant
- Google's thinking step cannot be switched off on this model. Expect a real wait per image rather than a live preview.
- No ultrawide strips
- Ten ratios, and 21:9 is the widest. Requests like 4:1 or 8:1 do not exist upstream and are rejected before dispatch, at no cost.
- SynthID is in every image
- Google embeds an invisible SynthID watermark in everything this model generates, and it cannot be removed. Playcut adds no visible watermark on any plan, and every plan includes a commercial license.
- Text-heavy work leans Pro
- Both models can render text, but our picker recommends Nano Banana Pro for images built around it: signs, posters and packaging.
Nano Banana 2 beside Pro and Grok Imagine Image
Three image models share one credit balance and one picker, and Nano Banana 2 sits in the middle on price.
Nano Banana Pro, the default
Pro costs 67 credits at 1K and 2K and 84 at 4K, about twice Nano Banana 2 at every shared size. The extra buys multi-region edit, the style-reference kind and the model our picker recommends for text. It has no 512px tier.
The short rule is to draft and batch here, then re-run the frames that ship on Pro. The break-even and a worked batch are in the Nano Banana 2 vs Pro decision in credits, and the edit is covered on the Nano Banana Pro page.
Grok Imagine Image, the cheapest image we run
At 10 credits for text-to-image, Grok Imagine Image costs less than even the 512px tier, and it takes fourteen aspect ratios including an auto mode. It stops at 2K, accepts two reference images and runs in the studio only.
Grok is the cheaper look-see pass; Nano Banana 2 is the cheaper of our two Google models, with 4K, 14 references and API access. Rates and ceilings are on the Grok Imagine pricing page.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Image: the model behind the name
Nano Banana 2 is Google's name for Gemini 3.1 Flash Image, released in February 2026, and Playcut calls it by the model id gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview. It is the full Flash image model, not the Lite variant Google also offers. We do not run Lite.
Google introduced the model in its Nano Banana 2 launch post, and its image generation documentation is the authority on how the model itself behaves.
Our catalog marks Nano Banana 2 as preview and Nano Banana Pro as stable. The picker's in-house preview ratings put Nano Banana 2 above Pro on speed and a step below on quality and instruction-following. Those are our own starting opinions, not a published benchmark.
Request fields and error codes live in the docs
This page is for deciding which size to run and whether the limits fit your brief. Request fields, error codes and the full parameter list live in the Nano Banana 2 API reference. Every video, music and voice rate we charge sits on the model comparison hub.
Common questions
Is Nano Banana 2 free on Playcut? +
No. Playcut is a paid product with plans from $9 a month, and every plan bills from day one. Nano Banana 2 is included on every plan at 20 to 43 credits an image, with no per-model unlock.
How much does Nano Banana 2 cost per image? +
20 credits at 512px, 34 at 1K or 2K, and 43 at 4K. Reference-to-image costs the same as text-to-image. On the Pro plan's 2,000 monthly credits that is 58 images at 1K or 2K, or 100 at 512px.
Is Nano Banana 2 the same as Gemini 3.1 Flash Image? +
Yes. Nano Banana 2 is Google's name for its Gemini 3.1 Flash Image model, and Playcut sends the model id gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview. It is not the Lite variant, which Playcut does not offer.
How many reference images does Nano Banana 2 take? +
Up to 14 per generation, on every plan. Google's guidance for this model is up to 10 object images and 4 character images, and Google documents style references for Nano Banana Pro only. A request with more than 14 is rejected before any credits are held.
Can Nano Banana 2 make 4K images? +
Yes, at 43 credits, which is 9 more than 2K. Every paid plan includes 4K image output, and a square 4K render is 4,096 pixels on a side.
Can I use Nano Banana 2 over the API or MCP? +
Yes. Both image tools, generate-image-from-text and generate-image-from-reference, accept it when you pass the model gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview, including the 512px tier through imageSize. Omit the model and the job runs on Nano Banana Pro instead.
Keep reading
- Nano Banana 2 or Pro?The head-to-head decision, with the break-even in credits.
- Every model Playcut runsAll 13 surfaces on one price list.
- Plans and credit packsMonthly allowances, seats and top-ups that never expire.
- AI image generatorThe production flows these three image models sit inside.
Ready to make something cinematic?
Pick a plan. Every plan bills at checkout — cancel anytime.