Nano Banana vs Nano Banana Edit: Which Google Image Model to Use

Nano Banana and Nano Banana Edit are the same Google image model aimed at two different jobs: Nano Banana builds a brand-new image from a text prompt for 6 credits, while Nano Banana Edit rewrites images you already have — up to 10 reference images in one request — for 5 credits. On VdoBloom both run at the same quality rating (4.2) and share the same 10 aspect ratios, so the only real question is whether you are starting from a blank page or from a photo. If you have an image in hand, Edit is both the right tool and the cheaper one.

The difference in one line

Nano Banana takes words in and gives pixels out. Nano Banana Edit takes words plus your images in and gives pixels out. That is the whole split. There is no separate quality tier, no hidden resolution setting, and no different content policy between them — both sit in the strict-filter group on VdoBloom, which means they are excellent at product, portrait, packaging and lifestyle work and will refuse the swimwear, dance and fitness material that our flexible-tier models handle.

Side-by-side specs and credit cost

Spec	Nano Banana	Nano Banana Edit
Job	Text to image	Image editing with references
Model id	google/nano-banana	google/nano-banana-edit
Credits per image	6	5
Dollar cost at Lite rates	$0.30	$0.25
Reference images accepted	None — prompt only	1 to 10 per request
Aspect ratios	1:1, 2:3, 3:2, 3:4, 4:3, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16, 16:9, 21:9	Same 10 ratios
Resolution control	No — fixed output	No — fixed output
Model rating	4.2	4.2
Content filter	Strict	Strict
Where it runs	Text to Image	Image Edit

The dollar figures come from the Lite plan, where $15 buys 300 credits, so one credit is $0.05. Every credit price on VdoBloom is a single pooled currency — the same balance that pays for video also pays for these images — and the 10 free credits a new account gets with no card cover one Nano Banana generation plus a little change, or two Nano Banana Edit passes. Full plan tiers are on the pricing page.

Why the editor is cheaper than the generator

It looks backwards, and people ask about it. Editing is priced at 5 credits because it is the higher-value entry point for most of our users: they arrive with a photo of a product, a room or a person and want it changed, not invented. Generation sits at 6 because a from-scratch image usually needs a couple of attempts to land the composition. In practice this means an edit-first workflow is the cheaper workflow. Generate one hero image at 6 credits, then produce eight variations through Edit at 5 credits each, rather than re-rolling the generator and hoping the subject stays consistent.

What each one is genuinely good at

Nano Banana, the generator

Best at clean, well-lit, commercially usable single-subject images: product on a seamless background, food styling, flat lays, simple character portraits, thumbnail art, social tiles. It is strong on typography compared with older diffusion models and it respects aspect ratio instructions accurately, which is why the 21:9 and 9:16 options actually matter here. It is weaker on dense crowd scenes, complex multi-object interaction and anything needing exact brand-asset fidelity — for that you want Edit with the asset supplied as a reference. Start it from Text to Image.

Nano Banana Edit, the editor

This is the one most people should be using. Feed it between one and ten images and it will hold identity, product shape, logo placement and lighting far better than any prompt-only approach. Typical jobs it handles in a single pass: swap a background, change the season or time of day, put a product held in one photo into a scene from another, restyle a garment, clean up a cluttered shot, or merge a person and a location that were never photographed together. Run it from Image Edit. If you upload a photograph of a real person, you must have that person’s consent before generating with it.

How to prompt each of them well

For the generator, describe the shot the way a photographer would brief it: subject, then material and colour, then lighting, then lens or framing, then background. “Matte black ceramic coffee mug, steam rising, warm side light from the left, shallow depth of field, on a walnut table, soft grey backdrop” outperforms a list of adjectives every time. Set the aspect ratio in the picker rather than asking for it in words.

For the editor, name the images. It reads instructions like “keep the bottle from image 1 exactly as it is, place it on the marble counter from image 2, match the lighting to image 2” much better than a vague “combine these.” Say explicitly what must not change — label text, face, logo, proportions — because an unmentioned element is treated as fair game. Supply the cleanest, highest-resolution version of each reference you have; the model inherits the flaws of blurry inputs.

A worked example

Say you are launching a skincare serum and need a hero image plus five channel variants. Generate the hero scene with Nano Banana at 6 credits. Then upload the hero plus your real bottle photograph to Nano Banana Edit and run five passes at 5 credits each — square for the feed, 9:16 for stories, 16:9 for the site banner, one with a seasonal background, one with a hand holding the bottle. Total: 31 credits, $1.55 at Lite rates, and the bottle looks identical in every frame because the real photograph was a reference in all five passes. Doing that through the generator alone would cost less per image but would give you five slightly different bottles, which is worse than useless for a product launch.

When to pick a different Nano Banana

The pair above has no resolution control. If you need print-size output or a longer, more detailed brief, step up: Nano Banana Pro costs 18 credits at 1K and 2K and 24 credits at 4K, takes up to 8 reference images, and adds PNG or JPG output selection. Nano Banana 2 is 15 credits, accepts up to 14 reference images, adds an auto aspect option and 1K/2K/4K, and takes prompts up to 20,000 characters. Nano Banana 2 Lite is the middle ground at 8 credits with up to 10 references and no resolution picker. Compare the base pages directly at Nano Banana and Nano Banana Edit.

The verdict by use case

Starting from nothing: Nano Banana, 6 credits. Starting from any photo you own: Nano Banana Edit, 5 credits — it is cheaper and it is the only one of the two that can preserve a real subject. Need 4K, print output or more than 10 references: neither — move up to Nano Banana Pro or Nano Banana 2. Need swimwear, dance or fitness content: neither — both are strict-filter models, so use a flexible-tier model instead.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nano Banana Edit a different model from Nano Banana?

They are two endpoints of the same Google model family. Edit requires at least one input image and accepts up to ten; the base model takes no images at all. Quality rating, aspect ratios and content filtering are identical.

Why does editing cost fewer credits than generating?

Edit is priced at 5 credits and generation at 6 on VdoBloom. Editing is deliberately the cheaper entry point because it is where most real work happens, so an edit-led workflow saves credits over repeatedly re-rolling the generator.

Can I choose 4K output on either of them?

No. Neither the base generator nor the editor exposes a resolution setting. For 1K, 2K or 4K selection use Nano Banana Pro at 18, 18 and 24 credits, or Nano Banana 2 at 15 credits.

How many reference images can Nano Banana Edit take?

Up to 10 in a single request. Sending an eleventh is rejected before any credits are spent.

Do my images carry a watermark?

Free-plan output is watermarked. Any paid plan, from Lite at $15 a month for 300 credits, downloads watermark-free with commercial rights.

Do unused credits expire?

Subscription credits reset each month. One-time credit packs start at $2.49 for 75 credits and never expire, which makes them a sensible top-up for occasional image work.