Google

Nano Banana 2

Google Nano Banana 2 is the flagship Gemini Image lineup — built on Gemini 3.1 Flash Image and Gemini 3 Pro Image — delivering native up-to-4K generation, opt-in web search grounding, and best-in-class text rendering, character consistency, and multi-image composition.

Nano Banana 2 is Astorie's hosted name for Google's flagship Gemini Image lineup, rolled out worldwide on February 26, 2026. The base Nano Banana 2 model is built on Gemini 3.1 Flash Image and supports text-to-image plus image-to-image with up to 10 reference inputs; Nano Banana Pro upgrades to Gemini 3 Pro Image, accepting up to 14 reference images and maintaining character identity for up to 5 people in a single composition. All four variants generate natively at 1K, 2K, or 4K — pick higher resolutions for hero deliverables and lower ones for fast iteration. Premium tiers add roughly double the compute budget for faster turnaround on identical quality. Web search grounding is opt-in, letting the model pull live facts and references from Google Search when rendering real places, products, public figures, or current events. Output ships as JPEG or PNG across 15 aspect ratios — including portrait, landscape, square, panoramic 21:9, and ultrawide 8:1 / 1:8 strips. On Astorie, drop a Nano Banana 2 node onto the canvas, wire reference images in directly, and chain outputs into FLUX Kontext for character consistency, Imagen 4 for lightweight drafts, or any video / audio node to build complete multimodal pipelines without leaving the canvas.

Illustrative sample of Google Nano Banana 2 multi-reference composition on the Astorie canvas — several people composited into one cohesive 4K scene with consistent identity
Illustrative sample — representative output, not a verbatim model render

Nano Banana 2 Variants

VariantDescription
Nano Banana 2Flagship Gemini 3.1 Flash Image variant: T2I + I2I with up to 10 reference images, 1K/2K/4K output, opt-in web search grounding.
Nano Banana 2 PremiumPremium tier with roughly double the compute budget for faster turnaround and batch counts up to 4. Same Gemini 3.1 Flash Image quality across 1K/2K/4K.
Nano Banana ProGemini 3 Pro Image with batch generation, up to 8 reference images, and state-of-the-art text rendering across 1K/2K/4K resolutions.
Nano Banana Pro PremiumTop-of-line Gemini 3 Pro Image: up to 14 reference images, 5-person character consistency, premium async compute for fastest Pro turnaround.

Capabilities

Text-to-Image
Image-to-Image
Image Editing
Reference Images
Multiple Images
Tagging

Best For

  • High-fidelity text-in-image rendering for posters, ads, and infographics
  • Multi-reference compositions blending up to 14 images and 5 people (Pro Premium)
  • Real-world accuracy via web search grounding — products, places, public figures, current events
  • Native 4K output for print, large displays, and editorial photography
  • Conversational image editing with up to 10 input images for iterative refinement

Strengths

  • State-of-the-art text rendering — leading benchmarks for legible long-form text in images
  • Strongest multi-image composition: up to 14 references and 5-person character consistency on Pro Premium
  • Web search grounding pulls live data from Google Search for real-world factuality
  • Native 1K / 2K / 4K resolution without external upscaling
  • 15 aspect ratios including ultrawide 21:9 and panoramic 8:1 / 1:8 strips
  • Premium tiers ship double compute for faster turnaround on identical quality

Limitations

  • Premium tiers use roughly 2× the compute of standard tiers — reserve for time-sensitive jobs
  • 4K + web search on premium tiers is the heaviest configuration — pick standard tiers when iteration speed matters
  • GPT Image 2 currently leads LMArena Image (Elo ~1512 vs Nano Banana Pro ~1270 as of April 2026) for first-pass commercial design fidelity
  • Character consistency is excellent but not 100% — fine details on the same subject can still drift across long sessions

Tips & Best Practices

Use Nano Banana 2 (standard) at 2K for the best balance of quality and turnaround on day-to-day work.
Switch to Nano Banana Pro when you need legible long-form text in the image, multi-image fusion, or 5-person consistency.
Enable web search grounding only when generating real subjects — skip it for stylized art so the model stays focused on aesthetic prompts.
For multi-character scenes, use Nano Banana Pro Premium with up to 14 reference inputs and lock identities for up to 5 people.
For lightweight drafts, prototype with Imagen 4 (in the Imagen 4 family), then upgrade winning prompts to Nano Banana 2 at 2K for finals.
Pair with Astorie's image-to-video nodes (Runway Gen4, Veo, Kling) to animate Nano Banana 2 stills into clips on the same canvas.

Use Nano Banana 2 on Astorie

Connect Nano Banana 2 with other AI models on Astorie's infinite canvas. No GPU required — start free.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How is Nano Banana 2 different from Google Imagen 4?

Nano Banana 2 is Astorie's hosted name for Google's flagship Gemini Image lineup (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image and Gemini 3 Pro Image), released February 26, 2026. It adds native 4K, opt-in web search grounding, multi-image composition (up to 14 references on Pro Premium), and 5-person character consistency. The separate Astorie Imagen 4 family covers the standard Imagen 4 model and the legacy Nano Banana model — useful for lightweight drafts, but without web grounding or the new 4K / multi-image features.

When should I use the Premium tiers?

Premium tiers (Nano Banana 2 Premium, Nano Banana Pro Premium) double the compute budget for faster turnaround. Use them for time-sensitive deliverables, batch jobs (counts of 2–4 per request), or when you need the maximum 14 reference inputs available only on Pro Premium. For exploratory work, the standard tiers ship the same model quality.

What does web search grounding actually do, and when is it worth enabling?

Grounding lets the model pull live information from Google Search while rendering — useful for real places, products, public figures, current events, brand assets, or anything that benefits from real-world references. For stylized art, fantasy, or generic compositions, leave it off; for editorial, news, e-commerce, or location-accurate scenes, enabling it usually pays off in factual accuracy.

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