I Tested Nano banana 2.1 vs GPT 2.5 (No Hype)
Nano Banana 2.1 just came out, and Google says it's better across the board and cheaper. OpenAI says the same kind of thing about GPT Image 2.5 Flare. So I looked at their own charts, checked an independent leaderboard, and then ran both models through 8 real tests: realism, light, a complicated scene, text, my own AI character, editing a photo, removing people and fixing an old damaged photo. Same prompt, 1 try each, no re-rolls 👇 🙅 Not sponsored. I've had sponsor emails, but it's not right for me right now, and most of what those tools do can be done for free. 📈 What they claim Google (Oct 6): Nano Banana 2.1 is better across the board: quality, text and keeping the same character. On Google's API it costs about half of the previous model (3.36¢ vs 6.70¢ per 1K image). Google's own chart (Overall Preference): Nano Banana 2.1 scores 1050, Nano Banana 2 scores 990, Nano Banana Pro scores 935. Every model on that chart is a Google model. GPT isn't on it. OpenAI (Sep 8): GPT Image 2.5 has more natural lighting and richer textures, keeps the people from your reference photos, follows edits more reliably over multiple turns, and cuts generation time by up to 50% compared with Images 2.0. It comes in 2 versions: Flare (the fast one, the one I tested) and Sunburst (slower, more detail). 🏆 What Arena says Arena is a public leaderboard where people vote between 2 images without knowing which model made them (page from Oct 6). Making images: #1 GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (1425), #2 GPT Image 2.5 Flare (1398), #5 Nano Banana 2.1 (1328). Editing images: #1 Sunburst, #2 Flare, #6 Nano Banana 2.1. To be fair, Nano Banana 2.1 is brand new: about 5,000 votes so far vs about 16,000 for Flare, so it can still move. 🧪 How I tested Everything ran on Higgsfield. Same prompt for both models, same settings (2K, medium quality), 1 try each, no re-rolls. What you see is exactly what came out. Price on Higgsfield: Nano Banana 2.1 = 2 credits per image, GPT Image 2.5 Flare = 1 credit. 📊 The 8 tests 1️⃣ A real phone photo: GPT. It really looks like a friend took it with the flash on: blown-out faces, grainy background, motion blur. Nano Banana looks like a photographer lit it. 2️⃣ Light and detail: GPT, barely. GPT looks like a movie and you can see the lake and the church out the window, but the face is way too sharp. Nano Banana followed "no over-sharpening", but the window is just white. I went back and forth on this one. 3️⃣ A complicated scene (ramen stall in Tokyo): GPT, really close. Both menus and prices are right. GPT put the cook left of center and drew exactly 3 bowls. Nano Banana put the cook in the middle and drew 4. 4️⃣ Text: both got every word right, so the text itself is a tie. GPT gets the point because Nano Banana's tin stands on its edge like a wheel. 5️⃣ My character: GPT. I first gave it to Nano Banana, then looked again: GPT's version looks more like me. 6️⃣ Edit it, keep my face (leather jacket + night): tie. Both kept my face. 7️⃣ Remove the people: GPT. It filled the space with trees. Nano Banana turned the people into more rock and left a white lump. 8️⃣ Fix an old photo: GPT. Both fixed it, but GPT's looks more real and less like a filter. Final score: GPT Image 2.5 Flare 7, tie 1, Nano Banana 2.1 0. And on Higgsfield, GPT is also half the price. ⏱️ Chapters 0:00 Nano Banana 2.1 vs GPT Image 2.5 1:31 What they claim 3:10 How I tested 3:34 Test 1: a real phone photo 4:33 Test 2: light and detail 5:23 Test 3: a complicated scene 6:16 Test 4: text 6:49 Test 5: my character 7:38 Test 6: edit it, keep my face 8:24 Test 7: remove the people 9:06 Test 8: fix an old photo 9:59 The score 10:35 What surprised me 11:04 What's next 🎠 Next video: the carousel version of this test. In the meantime, watch the 6 types of viral carousels: https://youtu.be/N4Fiv1TbVwY 🎁 My free skills (motion graphics, and carousels with motion graphics): https://www.skool.com/nextphase-5790 🙏 Thank you to everyone who subscribed these last 3 days. I'll keep making skills and handing them over for free. 💬 Tell me in the comments: which one would you use, Nano Banana 2.1 or GPT Image 2.5? 🔔 Subscribe for more honest, not-sponsored AI tests. #nanobanana #chatgpt #aiimages TAGS (paste into YouTube's Tags box): nano banana 2.1, gpt image 2.5, nano banana 2.1 vs gpt image 2.5, nano banana vs chatgpt, gpt image 2.5 flare, chatgpt images 2.5, gpt image 2.5 sunburst, google nano banana, nano banana pro, gemini image, best ai image generator, ai image generator comparison, ai image test, higgsfield, arena leaderboard, ai photo restoration, remove people from photo, ai photo editing, ai character consistency, openai, google gemini HASHTAGS for Shorts / Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn: #nanobanana #chatgpt #aiimages #gptimage #gemini #google #openai #higgsfield #aitools #aiart #ainews #artificialintelligence
