Google’s new flagship Nano Banana 2 Lite is super high-end and super affordable

There are many types of AI graphics today, but the ones that can produce good results are slow and expensive. Google DeepMind says its new prototype, called Nano Banana 2 Lite, offers better performance and speed. It’s available today throughout the Google ecosystem, and it’s creating images in less time than it takes Google beefier samples.

This new version is part of the Gemini 3.1 family — it’s called Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image. On the one hand, Google says so This model is ideal for researching ideas and “rapid-fire” prototyping, work that quality can take back. However, the company has also provided samples showing how the Nano Banana 2 Lite can reach the quality of its other displays.

Comparison of Nano Banana 2 Lite and non-Lite version.

Credit: Google

In addition to the samples, Google also has Elo scores from Arena.ai ready to go, showing that users rate the results of the Nano Banana 2 Lite almost the same as the non-Lite models. However, vibemarking doesn’t always look for details that can make AI images look silly when you look closely. Google says that the Nano Banana 2 Lite tends to have trouble writing, especially if it’s too small, and infographics can include incorrect information. Behaviors and people can also show repetitive consistency.

But it is to eat. You can go from text to image in about 4 seconds in low frame rate mode. Creating the same images in the Nano Banana format takes about 20 seconds. The speed and efficiency means that developers accessing Nano Banana 2 Lite through the API will pay very little. Google says about $0.034 per 1K image. API prices are $0.25 for 1M input tokens and $1.50 for 1M output tokens. It is half the level of Nano Banana 2. For Nano Banana Pro, the input signals are a little lower at $ 2 for 1M, but the price is $ 12 (eight times).