Two products share a name. Google documents both, and its pages settle the question that matters: which model is still the default, and which you now pick on purpose.
Nano Banana Pro vs Nano Banana: the short answer
Sort by what the image has to survive. Copy that must be spelled correctly, or a composition built from several reference photos, points to Nano Banana Pro. Casual editing in the Gemini app points to the original Nano Banana — and since February 2026, what runs there by default is Nano Banana 2, not Pro.
Two names, two official models
Nano Banana is a family name, with three models shipped under it.
The launch post names the original: “we released Nano Banana, our Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model.” It arrived on August 26, 2025, focused on keeping people and pets looking like themselves.
Nano Banana Pro followed on November 20, 2025. Its model page opens with the identity: “Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) is an image generation and editing model,” built on Gemini 3.
Comparison pages keep merging the two; one calls Pro “a.k.a Nano Banana 2”. The model names are the proof they are separate.
Side-by-side comparison table
| What differs | Nano Banana (original) | Nano Banana Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Official model name | Gemini 2.5 Flash Image | Gemini 3 Pro Image |
| Announced | August 26, 2025 | November 20, 2025 |
| Built on | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Gemini 3 Pro |
| Text inside images | Not listed at launch | Clear text for posters and diagrams, plus translation |
| Resolution | Official figure not published | 1K, 2K or 4K output |
| Reference inputs | Blend photos, edit in turns | Up to five characters and fourteen objects |
| World knowledge | Not described | Reasoning plus search grounding |
| Editing | Describe the change | Describe the change, including day to night |
| Cost and quota | Free quotas revert here | Free quotas, higher for subscribers; API in paid preview |
| Provenance | Visible watermark, SynthID | SynthID on everything; sparkle removed for Ultra |
What the table cannot settle
Neither page publishes a per-image price. The developer post says only that Gemini 2.5 Flash Image covers “faster, lower cost image generation”, while 3 Pro Image means “higher quality image generation, with higher cost and latency.” The cost row stays empty rather than borrowing a figure.
What the official wording actually says
Three sentences from Google carry more weight than any benchmark table.
The choice, from the Pro announcement: “the original Nano Banana for fast, fun editing, or Nano Banana Pro for complex compositions requiring the highest quality and visually sophisticated results.”
The upgrade, from the developer post: Gemini 3 Pro Image is “a significant leap forward from 2.5 Flash Image” that “delivers state-of-the-art text rendering”.
The quota behaviour, from the Pro announcement again: “Our free-tier users will receive limited free quotas, after which they will revert to the original Nano Banana model.”
That last line is the part comparisons skip. On a free plan, the two models are one button.
What changed after February 2026
On February 26, 2026 Google shipped Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), and the announcement contains the sentence that dates every older comparison: “Nano Banana 2 will replace Nano Banana Pro across the Fast, Thinking and Pro models.”
Pro did not vanish. Subscribers “will keep access to Nano Banana Pro for specialized tasks by regenerating images via the three-dot menu”. Google’s routing summary is blunt: Pro for “high-fidelity tasks requiring maximum factual accuracy”, Nano Banana 2 for “rapid generation, precise instruction following and integrated image-search grounding”.
The question has moved. It is no longer whether to switch from the original to Pro, but whether any work still needs Pro.
Worked example: the same brief on both models
Two briefs, written twice, following the example prompts on Google’s model page. Each spells out what changes and what must be locked.
Example one: a label whose copy has to be spelled right
The brief: a limited-run drink can, two lines of copy, for print.
On Nano Banana Pro: “A brushed aluminium can on a matte concrete plinth. One line across the upper third reading ‘CITRUS No.4’ in a heavy grotesque, ‘Cold-pressed, unfiltered’ in small caps beneath it. Keep both lines sharp and correctly spelled, keep the can exactly the same as the reference.”
Pro’s resolution options run to 4K, and its page records spelling and fine details as standing weak spots.
On the original Nano Banana, the launch post covers costume changes, photo blending, multi-turn editing and style transfer. Text rendering is not listed, and no output resolution is published.
Example two: a photo that needs new light, not a new subject
The brief: an existing studio shot of a ceramic mug, re-lit for a winter campaign.
On Nano Banana Pro: “Keep the mug exactly as it is: shape, glaze, handle and the two chips on the rim. Change only the setting and the light: dark slate surface, warm light from the upper right, cool rim light on the left edge. Change the shot from day to night.”
Pro’s page lists those moves as supported, and lists the failure mode: masked editing, major lighting changes and image blending “may sometimes produce unnatural results, visual artifacts, or disjointed scenes.”
On the original, the launch post documents multi-turn edits that alter specific parts while preserving the rest.
Do you actually need to upgrade
Three checks. Does anything in the image have to be spelled correctly, or does the composition take more than a couple of reference photos? Then Pro is the documented answer. Are you on a free plan? You already have Pro until the quota runs out. Is the work high-volume, the kind where most frames get thrown away? Google now points that work at Nano Banana 2.
If you write the prompts rather than the budget, start with the Nano Banana Pro prompt guide, then the how-to guide for entry points and the API guide for why no price is quoted. The comparison with Midjourney covers a different axis.
Frequently asked questions
Is Nano Banana Pro a newer version of Nano Banana? They are officially different models. Nano Banana is Gemini 2.5 Flash Image; Pro is Gemini 3 Pro Image.
Is Nano Banana Pro the same as Nano Banana 2? No. Nano Banana 2 is Gemini 3.1 Flash Image, announced on February 26, 2026.
What happens when a free quota runs out? Google states that free-tier users revert to the original Nano Banana model.
How much does Pro cost per image? Not published on the pages reviewed here, so no figure is quoted.
Pick by the task, not by the version number.