Google made Gemini Nano Banana 2.1 generally available on the Gemini API on 6 October 2026, according to its changelog, and deprecated the model it updates, Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image). Google’s pricing page prices 2.1’s image output at $30 per 1M tokens on the standard paid tier, half the $60 listed for Nano Banana 2.
The same page lists higher prices elsewhere: input at $1.50 per 1M tokens against $0.50 for Nano Banana 2, and text and thinking output at $7.50 against $3.
Business Pill · PAYING FOR WORK, NOT SEATS
A one-minute explainer of usage-based pricing: the customer pays for each unit of work done rather than a flat fee, so the bill moves with how the product is used. It teaches the general idea only and says nothing about any company in this story.
The key insight: As we read it, Google moved the price from the picture to the prompt. On its pricing page the image itself costs half as much per token, while every token sent in costs three times as much and text and thinking output two and a half times as much.
The pricing page converts the token price into a per-image figure. For Nano Banana 2.1 it lists $0.0336 per 1K image, $0.0504 per 2K image and $0.113 per 4K image. For Nano Banana 2 it lists $0.067 per 1K image, $0.101 per 2K image and $0.151 per 4K image.
The page says image output for 2.1 is priced at $30 per 1,000,000 tokens on the standard tier and $15 on the Batch tier, and that a 1K image consumes 1,120 tokens.
On our arithmetic from those figures, the per-image price falls by about half at 1K and 2K and by about a quarter at 4K.
Price per generated image on the Gemini API standard paid tier, from Google’s pricing page read on 7 October 2026: Nano Banana 2 at 6.7, 10.1 and 15.1 US cents for 1K, 2K and 4K images; Nano Banana 2.1 at 3.36, 5.04 and 11.3 cents.Input and text-and-thinking output prices per 1M tokens on the Gemini API standard paid tier, from Google’s pricing page read on 7 October 2026: Nano Banana 2 at $0.50 and $3; Nano Banana 2.1 at $1.50 and $7.50.
What Google Says Changed in the Model
The model page describes 2.1 as an update to Nano Banana 2 that keeps Flash-level speed and cost efficiency while improving visual quality, prompt adherence, multi-turn character consistency and text rendering. It lists fixed tiling artifacts on wide and panoramic aspect ratios at 2K and 4K, multi-image fusion with up to 14 reference images, and configurable thinking levels.
The DeepMind model card says Nano Banana 2.1 is based on Gemini 3.6 Flash.
The Migration
The changelog says the gemini-3.1-flash-image model is deprecated and tells developers to migrate to gemini-nano-banana-2.1. It says no shutdown date has been announced, and the deprecations page lists the model with “No shutdown date announced.”
The Structural Read
The per-image figures fall most at lower resolutions. Google’s page puts a 1K image at $0.0336 against $0.067 and a 4K image at $0.113 against $0.151; on our arithmetic that is about half at 1K and about a quarter at 4K.
Long prompts carry more weight. With input at $1.50 per 1M tokens instead of $0.50, workloads that send many reference images, video or long instructions pay more per call for the input side, on our reading of the price list.
The old model has no end date yet. The changelog deprecates gemini-3.1-flash-image and points to 2.1, but says no shutdown date has been announced.
Google, Gemini API changelog, 6 October 2026
“The `gemini-3.1-flash-image` model is deprecated (no shutdown date announced).”
Three Implications
IMAGES CHEAPER PER TOKENGoogle’s pricing page lists image output at $30 per 1M tokens for 2.1 against $60 for Nano Banana 2.
INPUTS AND TEXT COST MORE Input rises to $1.50 per 1M tokens from $0.50, and text and thinking output to $7.50 from $3, on the same page.
MIGRATION WITHOUT A DEADLINE Nano Banana 2 is deprecated, and Google’s pages list no shutdown date.
The framework’s starting point: “It is simultaneously the unit of cognition the model produces, the unit of compute the data center serves, the unit of price the lab charges, and the unit of value the enterprise extracts.”
As we read it, Nano Banana 2.1 prices those roles differently: the output token that is an image gets cheaper, while the input and thinking tokens that steer it get dearer, so the bill now depends on how a customer splits its tokens between the two.
What Is Not Established
We read the pricing page, changelog, deprecations page, model page and model card. We have not tested the model, and the quality improvements are Google’s description. We did not contact Google.
Whether a given workload costs more or less on 2.1 depends on its mix of input, text output and image output; the pages we read give unit prices, not totals for any workload.
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Google’s pricing page halves the image-output price for Nano Banana 2.1 to $30 per 1M tokens, about $0.0336 per 1K image, while tripling the input price to $1.50 and raising text and thinking output to $7.50. Nano Banana 2 is deprecated, with no shutdown date announced.
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A note on sourcing. We read Google’s Gemini API pricing page, changelog, deprecations page and Nano Banana 2.1 model page, and the DeepMind model card, on 7 October 2026. Prices are Google’s list prices; the percentage changes are our arithmetic. We did not test the model or contact Google. Nothing here is a forecast, and nothing here is financial or investment advice.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
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