Nano Banana 2.1 vs Nano Banana 2 vs Nano Banana Pro: Same-Prompt Test

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Quick answer: Nano Banana 2.1, the default model in Fuser's Gemini Image node, won two of our five same-prompt tests against Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro and tied two. It was the only model to follow the lighting brief in both the photo and product tests, and it added no text or logos we didn't ask for. Nano Banana Pro won the character test: it was the closest match to the reference face and the only model with readable shop signs. Google lists Nano Banana 2.1's images at half Nano Banana 2's price and Pro's 2K images at more than two and a half times 2.1's, so 2.1 is the everyday pick and Pro is the model to switch to for likeness and in-scene text. All three are options in the same node.

How we ran it

• Models: Nano Banana 2.1 (gemini-nano-banana-2.1), Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) and Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), all options in Fuser's Gemini Image node. In Fuser the node calls Google directly; for this test we generated with the same model versions (Nano Banana 2.1, and the Gemini 3.1 Flash Image and Gemini 3 Pro Image previews).

• Settings: the node's 2K default, PNG output, one run per model per task, no retries. Aspect ratio per task: 3:2 for the photo and product tests, 2:3 for the poster and character tests, and "auto" for the edit. Every model returned the same pixel size: 2528 × 1696, 1696 × 2528 or 2048 × 2048.

• Prompts and inputs: the five tasks from our Nano Banana 2 vs GPT Image 2.5 test, word for word, with the same input images (made with FLUX.2 [pro], so no model edited its own output).

• Judging: we compared full-resolution crops of hands, faces, labels and small type, and checked every letter of the requested text.

Test 1: photoreal scene

Prompt: "A photorealistic candid photograph of an elderly fisherman mending a bright orange net on a weathered wooden dock at dawn. Mist hangs over the harbour behind him, his calloused hands are in sharp focus, and the background falls off into soft blur. Natural light, 50mm lens look, muted colours."

• Nano Banana 2.1 delivered the brief: the whole man on a crate, a cool misty harbour, a muted palette, sharp knuckles and a netting needle. Nothing in the frame carries text.

• Nano Banana 2 made a warmer, brighter scene with a more saturated net and a detailed face. It also painted "SEA BREEZE" on a boat, just as it added boat names in our September test.

• Nano Banana Pro made the most striking hand detail, but cropped in to just the hands and the net. The fisherman's face is out of frame.

Verdict: Nano Banana 2.1. It is the only one of the three that kept the mood, the full subject and a clean frame.

Test 2: text on a poster

Prompt: a minimalist screen-printed concert poster on off-white paper with a deep-blue wave filling the top half, then four exact lines: "NIGHT TIDE" in a bold condensed sans-serif, "Live at Harbour Hall" in a lighter weight, "Friday 14 November · Doors 8 PM", and "harbourhall.com/nighttide" in small type, with "No other text."

• All three spelled every line correctly, including the middle dot and the URL, and set the headline condensed and the second line lighter.

• Nano Banana 2.1 presented the poster as a sheet lying on a pale surface with a soft shadow.

• Nano Banana 2 again showed it as a deckle-edged print on brown board.

• Nano Banana Pro was the only one to return flat, full-bleed artwork you could send to a printer.

Verdict: a three-way tie on accuracy. Pick Pro when you need the artwork itself rather than a photo of it. Google lists "enhanced text rendering and infographic layout accuracy" among 2.1's updates (Gemini API). More models on text: best AI models for text in images.

Test 3: product shot with copy space

Prompt: "Studio product photograph of a matte sage-green ceramic pour-over coffee dripper sitting on a pale oak board. Soft window light from the left, a gentle shadow to the right, clean off-white background, with empty space on the right third of the frame for ad copy. Real photograph, no props."

• Nano Banana 2.1 followed every instruction: light from the left, a shadow falling right across the board, a clean dripper and open space on the right.

• Nano Banana 2 kept the product clean this time (it stamped an invented maker's mark on the base in September), but split the frame with a blank white panel on the right and lit the scene so evenly that the shadow barely reads.

• Nano Banana Pro made a convincing hand-thrown dripper without a handle, but lit it from the right, so the shadow falls left: the opposite of the brief.

Verdict: Nano Banana 2.1, the only usable-as-is result. More product workflows: best AI product photography tools.

Test 4: edit the setting, keep the product

Input: a studio packshot of an amber serum bottle labelled "LUMA 02". Prompt: "Place this exact bottle on a wet, moss-covered river stone outdoors in soft morning sunlight, with a blurred forest stream behind it. Change only the setting and lighting. Keep the bottle's shape, amber glass, black dropper cap and the label text "LUMA 02" exactly as they are."

• All three kept the bottle's shape, amber glass, dropper bulb and the "LUMA 02" label. None kept the cap exactly: each swapped its smooth, glossy collar for a ribbed one.

• Nano Banana 2.1 pulled back to a wider scene with harder sunlight and a rushing stream that is only partly blurred. Its label stayed clean.

• Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro framed the bottle larger against a soft, sun-flared stream, closer to "blurred", and both added water droplets across the label.

Verdict: a tie. All three carried the product into the new scene, and all three restyled the cap collar the prompt asked them to keep, so check small hardware details before using any of these edits. Choose by framing. Compare more editors in best AI image editing models.

Test 5: same person, new scene

Input: a head-and-shoulders portrait of a woman with curly copper-red hair, freckles and round tortoiseshell glasses. Prompt: "Show the woman from the reference image riding a bicycle down a rainy city street at night, lit by neon shop signs, wearing a yellow raincoat with the hood down. Keep the same face, curly copper-red hair, freckles and round tortoiseshell glasses. Full-body shot, photorealistic."

• Nano Banana Pro made the closest likeness: face shape, curls, freckles and a neutral expression all carried over. Its neon signs read "RAMEN BAR", "OPEN LATE" and "CAFÉ".

• Nano Banana 2 kept the curls and glasses but gave her a broad smile the reference doesn't have. Its signs are partly legible ("BARK BARS") and partly gibberish.

• Nano Banana 2.1 framed a natural full-body shot, but loosened the curls, thinned the glasses and faded the freckles. Its shop signs are illegible.

Verdict: Nano Banana Pro. For character work across several images, Google rates Nano Banana 2.1 for consistency across up to four characters (Gemini API), and its prompt guide recommends naming each character (Google DeepMind). See consistent characters with AI for a multi-image workflow.

Which to choose

• Nano Banana 2.1 for everyday generation and edits: it followed the brief most often, added nothing unrequested, and Google prices it at half Nano Banana 2's rate. Google recommends it over Nano Banana 2 for all new projects (Gemini API).

• Nano Banana Pro when a face has to match a reference or signs and labels inside a scene must read correctly. Google positions it as the premium model for the most complex visual work (Gemini API).

• Nano Banana 2 only for existing canvases you haven't switched yet: Google shuts it down on 29 October 2026 (release notes).

To run your own brief through all three, put the prompt in a text node, wire it into three Gemini Image nodes, set one to each model and compare the results side by side on the canvas, as in the image at the top. The Nano Banana 2.1 guide covers what changed in 2.1, and the Nano Banana prompt guide covers prompting.