Nano Banana Lite Image Gen/Editing

Google’s fastest, most efficient image model Nano Banana 2 Lite (gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image) - ~4s per image, ~2.7x faster than Nano Banana 2, focused on the 1K canvas + 14 aspect ratios. APIYI token-based averages ~$0.018/call in practice (40$0.025.

Overview

Nano Banana 2 Lite (shortened to Nano Banana Lite in this section) is a Google image model released on June 30, 2026, with model ID gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image. It is the lightweight, economical version of Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image), focused on speed and cost: ~4s per image, ~2.7x faster than Nano Banana 2, making it the fastest and cheapest tier of the Nano Banana series.

🍌 Released June 30, 2026: Nano Banana 2 Lite is live! ~4s per image, ~2.7x faster than Nano Banana 2, focused on the 1K canvas + 14 aspect ratios, with a built-in SynthID invisible watermark. APIYI brought it online immediately — token-based averages ~$0.018/call in practice (40% of Google’s rate), per-call $0.025 — built for high concurrency, low cost, and rapid iteration.

Provisional pricing: The model just launched and the current price is provisional; the final price may be adjusted later. We’ll announce any change — please refer to the live price on the platform.

All image APIs are synchronous — there is no task ID to poll, and if your client disconnects the result is lost while the request is still billed. Set a generous timeout for this model; see Image API Essentials & Best Practices.

Text-to-Image API

Generate images from text prompts. Includes an interactive playground for online testing.

Image Editing API

Upload an image + edit instructions to generate new images. Includes an interactive playground.

Let an AI Agent Do the Integration

If you build with Codex / Claude Code / Cursor, copy the prompt below and hand it to your agent. It first fetches the plain-text version of this page (append .md to any docs URL), then writes code in your project’s own stack — timeout, defensive parts parsing, upload compression and the fact that Lite is 1K-only are already baked into the requirements.

Have a coding agent integrate or troubleshoot Nano Banana Lite text-to-image and image editing. Copy and paste into Codex, Claude Code, Cursor and similar tools.

CopiedCopy prompt

What this prompt saves you from

Requirement	Pitfall it prevents
imageSize set to 1K only	Lite has a single tier; porting from Nano Banana 2 and leaving 2K / 4K in place errors out
Never hardcode a parts index	Length and order are not guaranteed, so a fixed index fails intermittently. See Nano Banana Developer Guide
Timeout still set to 300s	A 4-second typical latency tempts you into a tiny timeout, which then fires spuriously under peak congestion — and a disconnected request is still billed. See Image API Essentials & Best Practices
Compress before upload	Base64 encoding inflates payloads by roughly a third, so raw phone photos slow every request. See Image Compression & Output Resolution
Auto-retry on IMAGE_SAFETY	A moderation block returns 200 with no image and is not billed; an identical retry often passes. See Gemini Image Error Handling

Why APIYI’s Nano Banana Lite?

Nano Banana Pro / 2 is the #1 model by usage volume on APIYI — stable, reliable, and fast. The Lite tier pushes “fast” and “cheap” to a new level, ideal for high-throughput scenarios. APIYI deeply optimizes the experience across reliability, cost, and integration:

Official Channel · Same as Gemini

100% compatible with Google’s native Gemini API (/v1beta/models/.../generateContent) and the OpenAI SDK pattern — same request body, response fields, and error codes. Zero-code migration.

No Concurrency Limits

Not bound by Google AI Studio’s RPM/RPD ceilings. Enterprise-scale batch generation and peak traffic scale linearly without quota interruptions.

Token-based ~\$0.018/call

Token-based averages ~$0.018/call in practice (40% of Google’s rate: input $0.10 / output $12 per 1M tokens), cheaper than per-call $0.025/image (vs Google ~$0.034). Stack with top-up bonuses for even lower cost.

Global Zero-Barrier Access

No overseas server or proxy required — connect directly to api.apiyi.com from mainland data centers, residential networks, or overseas nodes. Stable latency, no cross-border re-architecture.

Full Model Lineup

Same series covers Nano Banana Pro (ultimate quality), Nano Banana 2 (quality + speed), and Nano Banana 2 Lite (fastest, cheapest) — mix and match per scenario.

Professional Enterprise Support

Our team specializes in production image-generation deployments, with deep experience in model selection, tuning, and integration — end-to-end support from PoC to production.

Core Features

~4s per Image

~4s per image, ~2.7x faster than Nano Banana 2 — built for high concurrency and rapid iteration

Low Cost

Token-based averages ~$0.018/call in practice (40% of Google’s rate), cheaper than per-call $0.025 — ideal for cost-sensitive per-image workloads

14 Aspect Ratios

Covers 14 ratios including 1:1, 4:1, 1:4, 16:9, 9:16 — fits many layouts

SynthID Watermark

Output carries a SynthID invisible digital watermark — invisible to the naked eye, doesn’t affect usage

Version Comparison

Feature	Nano Banana 2 Lite	Nano Banana 2	Nano Banana Pro
Model ID	gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image	gemini-3.1-flash-image	gemini-3-pro-image
Positioning	Fastest / cheapest	Quality + speed	Ultimate quality
Quality	⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Pro-level	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highest
Speed	🚀 ~4s	⚡ Fast	🐢 Slower
Max Resolution	1K	4K	4K
Aspect Ratios	14	14	10
APIYI Pricing	$0.025/image	$0.055/image	$0.09/image

Selection Guide:

• ⚡ Best value / fast batch generation → Nano Banana 2 Lite (~4s per image, $0.025 per-call)
• 🔥 Need 2K/4K HD or stronger quality → Nano Banana 2 (Pro-level quality + Flash-tier speed)
• 🎨 Ultimate quality → Nano Banana Pro (highest fidelity)

Pricing

Billing Mode Selection: Nano Banana 2 Lite supports two billing modes, selected via the “Billing model” setting when creating your API token:

• Select Pay-as-you-go or Pay-as-you-go Priority → Token-based billing
• Select Pay-per-request or Pay-per-request Priority → Per-call billing
• ⚠️ Do NOT select Hybrid billing

Token-based Billing (Recommended · 40％ of Google’s Rate)

Billing Item	Google Official	APIYI	Discount
Input	$0.25/M tokens	$0.10/M tokens	40%
Output	$30.00/M tokens	$12.00/M tokens	40%

Predictable real-world unit price: under token-based (per-token) billing, a 1K image averages ~$0.018/call in practice (typical range ~$0.016–$0.019, driven by output tokens). That’s cheaper than the flat per-call $0.025/image, with a stable, predictable unit price.

Per-call Billing

Model	APIYI Pricing	Google Official	Note
Nano Banana 2 Lite gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image	$0.025/image	~$0.034/image	Flat rate; may be lowered later but unchanged for now

💰 Which billing mode? Prefer Pay-as-you-go Priority. Token-based (per-token) billing runs ~$0.018/call in practice — cheaper than per-call $0.025 with a predictable unit price; and with the token’s billing model set to Pay-as-you-go Priority, one token also covers Nano Banana Pro / 2’s per-call billing — run the whole series with one token. The per-call $0.025/image is a flat rate that may be lowered later but is unchanged for now — refer to the live price on the platform. Combined with top-up bonuses, actual costs are even lower.

The model just launched and the current price is provisional; the final price may be adjusted later (the per-call $0.025/image may be lowered later). We’ll announce any change — please refer to the live price on the platform.

Group Setup

Nano Banana 2 Lite works on APIYI’s default channel — no dedicated group required:

Group	Rate	When to use
Default	1.0x	Base lane, matches the price table; recommended default

Recommended Billing model: pick Pay-as-you-go Priority by default. Three reasons: ① token-based (per-token) billing runs ~$0.018/call in practice, cheaper than per-call $0.025; ② the unit price is stable and predictable; ③ one token covers Lite / Nano Banana 2 token-based billing AND Nano Banana Pro per-call billing — run the whole series with one token.

Supported Resolutions & Aspect Ratios

Output Resolutions

Resolution	Description	Recommended Use
1K	The only tier (no 2K/4K)	Social images, thumbnails, draft previews, web display

Nano Banana 2 Lite is focused on the 1K canvas and does not support 2K/4K. For higher resolution or stronger quality, switch to Nano Banana 2 (up to 4K) or Nano Banana Pro.

Supported Aspect Ratios (14 total)

1:1, 1:4, 4:1, 1:8, 8:1, 2:3, 3:2, 3:4, 4:3, 4:5, 5:4, 9:16, 16:9, 21:9

Output Dimensions per Aspect Ratio (1K, pixels)

In your request, set aspectRatio for the ratio and keep imageSize at 1K:

Aspect Ratio	1K Output
1:1	1024×1024
1:4	512×2048
1:8	384×3072
2:3	848×1264
3:2	1264×848
3:4	896×1200
4:1	2048×512
4:3	1200×896
4:5	928×1152
5:4	1152×928
8:1	3072×384
9:16	768×1376
16:9	1376×768
21:9	1584×672

FAQ

What's the difference between Nano Banana 2 Lite and Nano Banana 2?

Both are based on Google’s Gemini 3.1 Flash series; Lite is the lightweight, economical version:

• ✅ Speed: Lite generates in ~4s, ~2.7x faster than Nano Banana 2
• ✅ Price: Lite token-based averages ~$0.018/call in practice (40% of Google’s rate), per-call $0.025 — better for volume
• ⚠️ Resolution: Lite supports 1K only; Nano Banana 2 goes up to 4K
• ⚠️ Quality ceiling: for ultimate quality, Nano Banana 2 / Pro are better

Migrating from Nano Banana 2 just needs a model-name change (note Lite is 1K only): swap gemini-3.1-flash-image for gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image.

Should I choose Lite or Nano Banana 2?

• Best value / fast batch generation / 1K is enough → choose Lite (~4s, $0.025 per-call)
• Need 2K/4K HD, or higher quality → choose Nano Banana 2 (up to 4K, Pro-level quality)

The code is identical between the two — only the model name differs, so you can switch and test anytime.

How long does it take to generate an image?

Nano Banana 2 Lite is built for speed — ~4s at 1K resolution. Still, set a longer client timeout (e.g. 300 seconds) to handle occasional delays and peak congestion.

Is there a concurrency limit?

The API has no concurrency limit and does not process serially. You can safely fire concurrent requests yourself — requests don’t queue or block each other. Unlike Google AI Studio, the APIYI channel has no hard RPM/RPD limits, so enterprise batch generation and peak traffic scale linearly.

What actually matters is the timeout — though Lite is fast, a single request can still slow down during peak congestion, so set your client timeout to 300 seconds.

What input image formats are supported?

For image editing, image/png and image/jpeg are supported via base64 encoding. See the Image Editing API Reference.

Do output images have watermarks?

All output images carry SynthID invisible digital watermarks (Google’s AI-generated content identification technology) — invisible to the naked eye and doesn’t affect usage.

Related Documentation

• Nano Banana 2 Image Generation - Quality + speed tier, up to 4K
• Nano Banana Pro Image Generation - Ultimate-quality flagship
• Image Generation Comparison Testing
• API Usage Manual

Nano Banana 2 Lite just launched. Features and pricing may be adjusted. Please follow documentation updates for the latest information.