The cheapest AI image generation API in 2026, model by model

The short answer

• Nano Banana Pro: $0.04 an image on Revana at 1K, 2K and 4K, the lowest price we found at every size, 83% below Google's own $0.24 at 4K.
• Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana: Nano Banana 2 is $0.03 at 2K against Google's $0.101; the original Nano Banana is $0.03 against $0.039 at Google and Replicate.
• Seedream, Ideogram and Flux: Seedream 5.0 Pro at 2K is $0.04, 56% below Replicate; Ideogram V3 Quality is $0.07, 22% below Replicate; Flux Kontext Max is $0.07, 12% below Replicate.
• Cheapest image of all: Z Image at $0.01 an image, so 1,000 images cost $10.00.
• Every model takes the same request on Revana, and failed images are not charged. Every price is on the pricing page and every model in the catalogue.

Where Revana is cheapest

List prices per image checked on 26 October 2026, against Google's own API, fal, Replicate, Atlas Cloud and EvoLink:

The cheapest image models

If the model does not matter and the price does, these cost the least per image on Revana:

Which one to use

Nano Banana Pro is the strongest at text in images and editing with several reference images, and on Revana it costs the same at 4K as at 1K. Nano Banana 2 is the faster, cheaper Gemini image model. Seedream 5.0 Pro suits photographic and product work at up to 2K. Ideogram V3 is built for typography and posters. For drafts and volume, Z-Image and Seedream 5.0 Flash cost a cent or two. The Nano Banana Pro price comparison and the GPT Image 2 guide go deeper on those two.

Making an image request

Create a key on the sign-up page and send one JSON request; the docs list every field. For Nano Banana Pro at 4K:

curl https://api.revana.si/v1/generations \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $REVANA_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "nano-banana-pro",
    "input": {
      "prompt": "A ceramic coffee cup on a linen tablecloth by a window, morning light, the word MONDAY printed on the cup",
      "resolution": "4K",
      "aspect_ratio": "1:1"
    },
    "max_cost_usd": 0.1
  }'

The finished job carries the image link and cost_usd, the exact amount charged.

How we compared

Every figure is the seller's own list price on 26 October 2026: Google's Gemini API pricing, and the Replicate model pages for Nano Banana, Ideogram V3, Flux Kontext Max, Flux 2 Flex and Seedream 5.0 Lite. The Nano Banana Pro and Nano Banana 2 sources are in their own comparison. Every figure is also in market-prices.json with the date it was checked. Some models cost the same or less elsewhere: Imagen 4 and Qwen Image are cheaper on Replicate, and Flux Kontext Pro and Seedream 4.0 are level.