Nano Banana API Free: Integration Guide, Pricing & Code

The short answer: your key is free — the model is not

You can create a Nano Banana API key free in Google AI Studio today, and the key itself will never cost you anything. What is not free is the model behind it. Google’s pricing page currently marks every Nano Banana image model — Pro, 2, 2 Lite, and the original — with Free Tier: Not available. That includes Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image), which earlier tutorials still describe as having a free tier; the pricing page was updated on August 13, 2026, and it no longer lists one.

That split — free credential, paid model — is why this query produces such contradictory results. GitHub repos promise “100% free Nano Banana API,” aggregators advertise free trial credits, YouTube videos claim “completely free access,” and Google’s own docs say none of the image models have a free tier. All of these can be true at once, because “free” applies to different layers:

Layer	Free?	What it means
API key creation	✅ Free	AI Studio creates a key with no payment method
AI Studio playground	✅ Free	Test prompts in the web UI without hitting the API
Official API model access	❌ Not free	No free tier on any Nano Banana image model — paid tier starts at a $10 prepay
Third-party “free” offers	⚠️ Depends	Trial credits (real but capped) or User-Pays (billing pushed to your users)

This guide walks each route with current prices and code you can copy. All numbers were read from the providers’ own pages on August 19, 2026 — model IDs, free tiers, and billing rules change frequently, so treat this as a dated snapshot and re-check the linked pages before you build.

What “free” actually means for the Nano Banana API right now

The confusion is structural: Google separates the credential layer from the model entitlement layer, and most tutorials flatten them into one answer.

The key is free. Google’s API key documentation routes new users to Google AI Studio, where accepting the terms creates a default Google Cloud project and an API key automatically. No payment method is requested at that step. One nuance worth knowing: new keys are now authorization (auth) keys by default, and unrestricted standard keys are already rejected; Google says the Gemini API will reject requests from all standard keys starting September 2026 — migrate any older standard keys before then.

No Nano Banana image model is free on the API. The official pricing page lists Free Tier: Not available for gemini-3-pro-image, gemini-3.1-flash-image, gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image, and gemini-2.5-flash-image alike. The free tier that new accounts start on covers certain models — image generation is not one of them. This is the single fact most “free Nano Banana API” tutorials get wrong, because they were written before the current billing rules, or they describe the AI Studio playground (free) as if it were the API (not).

Billing lives above the key. Every Gemini API key is tied to a Google Cloud project, and tiers, rate limits, and billing caps are set at the billing-account level. The billing FAQ describes the tier system: Free, Tier 1 (link a billing account, $250 cap), Tier 2 (paid $100 + 3 days, $2,000 cap), Tier 3 (paid $1,000 + 30 days, $20,000–$100,000+ cap). Upgrading means linking a billing account and prepaying a minimum of $10. New users default to the Prepay plan: unused credits expire after 12 months, and when the balance hits $0, all API keys on that billing account stop working at the same time. The “$300 welcome credits” that older articles promise no longer apply to new accounts.

The three meanings of “free” in the Nano Banana API: the credential is free, trial credits are real but capped, and the official image models have no free tier. Generated for this guide on August 19, 2026.

Nano Banana API pricing: official rates, batch, and what an aggregator charges

There are four Nano Banana image models, and their prices differ by an order of magnitude. The table below is the current official picture (standard and Batch/Flex rates from the pricing page) plus what a unified API currently charges per image:

Model (official ID)	Official standard (1K image)	Official Batch (1K image)	Unified API (1K/2K)
Nano Banana (gemini-2.5-flash-image)	$0.039	$0.0195	$0.0336
Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image)	$0.067	$0.034	$0.0403
Nano Banana 2 Lite (gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image)	$0.0336	$0.0168	$0.0274
Nano Banana Pro (gemini-3-pro-image)	$0.134	$0.067	$0.1265

Notes on this table:

• Per-image math: Google bills image output per token, so the per-image price is derived from tokens per size. The figures above are for 1K images; 4K roughly doubles the price (Pro standard $0.24, Batch $0.12).
• Nano Banana 2 has no free tier as of the August 13, 2026 pricing update — an earlier version of our Nano Banana Pro API key free guide said otherwise; this page supersedes that claim with the current official page.
• The original Nano Banana is being retired. Google’s deprecations page sets gemini-2.5-flash-image for shutdown on October 2, 2026 (migrate to gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview). Imagen 4 models were already shut down on August 17, 2026. Any 2025-era “free Nano Banana API” tutorial that references gemini-2.5-flash as the model is describing a model that will soon be gone.
• Unified-API prices are read from the live model pages: Nano Banana ($0.0336/img), Nano Banana 2 ($0.0403–$0.1248 depending on size), Nano Banana 2 Lite ($0.0274/img), Nano Banana Pro ($0.1265–$0.2093). A $10–30 free credit on signup needs no card.

The honest summary: Google’s Batch tier is cheaper per image than any standard route, the official standard rate and the unified per-image rate are close for 1K, and neither is universally lowest. Pick the route by your billing preference and integration needs, not by a headline.

Route 1 — Google’s official API: free key, token billing

This is the route the word “official” refers to. You authenticate with a Gemini API key, call the model through the Gemini API (Google’s current docs recommend the Interactions API), and control size and aspect ratio with a response_format block.

Step 1 — Create the key. Go to Google AI Studio, accept the terms, and let it create your default project and key (or import an existing Google Cloud project). Copy the key once — it is stored as a secret from then on. New keys are auth keys bound to a service account; keep them server-side. Key creation, rotation, storage, and the 401/402 error paths are covered in the Nano Banana API key guide.

Step 2 — Call the model. The official image-generation docs now lead with the Interactions API; the example below uses the classic generateContent entry point, which still supports image output through the same response_format block — swap in the Interactions sample if you are starting a new integration:

from google import genai

client = genai.Client(api_key="YOUR_GEMINI_API_KEY")
response = client.models.generate_content(
    model="gemini-3.1-flash-image",  # or gemini-3-pro-image / gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image
    contents="A clean product shot of a coffee bag with the brand 'MODELIX' on a matte label, studio lighting",
    config={
        "response_modalities": ["IMAGE"],
        "response_format": {
            "type": "image",
            "image_size": "1K",
            "aspect_ratio": "4:3",
        },
    },
)
image_bytes = response.candidates[0].content.parts[0].inline_data.data

Step 3 — Understand the billing unit. Google bills image output per token: Pro image output is $120 per 1M tokens, and a 1K image consumes 1,120 tokens ($0.134); Nano Banana 2 output is $60 per 1M tokens ($0.067 per 1K image). Input images add roughly $0.001 each. Batch/Flex mode roughly halves the output price. None of this is available on the free tier — you must link a billing account and prepay at least $10 before the first image call succeeds. Google’s rate-limit documentation also warns that public limits are not guaranteed for every account; check your live quota in AI Studio before planning throughput.

Route 2 — A unified API: one key, per-image pricing, free credit to start

A unified API keeps the same models but changes the contract: one key for 210+ image and video models, billing per image instead of per token, and a free allowance you can actually spend on image generation.

Modellix is one such aggregator, and we have a commercial interest in this comparison. It fronts the same Google models, so image quality is identical to Route 1 — the differences are billing unit, free credit, and workflow. Because the platform carries 210+ image and video models on one key, the same async task loop you see below also drives video generation and every other Google model. The integration shape is a uniform asynchronous task, which every image and video model on the platform shares (the API docs describe the full contract):

# 1) Submit the Nano Banana task (model = path segment; swap it for any other model)
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.modellix.ai/api/v1/google/nano-banana-2/async \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer ***' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "prompt": "A clean product shot of a coffee bag labeled MODELIX, studio lighting",
    "aspectRatio": "4:3",
    "imageSize": "1K"
  }'

# Response: {"code":0,"data":{"status":"pending","task_id":"task-abc123","get_result":{"url":"https://api.modellix.ai/api/v1/tasks/task-abc123"}}}

# 2) Poll until status == "success", then read data.result.resources[].url
curl --request GET \
  --url https://api.modellix.ai/api/v1/tasks/task-abc123 \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer ***'

Because the model is just a string in the path, the identical loop runs Nano Banana Pro, Veo, Kling, or any other model by swapping that one segment — that is the operational argument for the unified route, not a claim that it is always cheaper. The full Nano Banana Pro integration guide covers the parameter table, webhook headers, 7-day result retention, and the 400/401/402/429/500 error semantics; the unified AI API guide explains the aggregator model more broadly.

Route 3 — “Free” wrappers and GitHub repos: what the promise actually is

The SERP for this query is full of “free Nano Banana API” claims — GitHub repositories, wrapper landing pages, and Reddit threads pointing at them. They are not all scams, but they are all different contracts, and none of them change the official answer. In practice they fall into four buckets:

1. Wrappers around the official route — they hold their own Google keys and resell access. “Free” usually means a small trial or ad-supported tier, with your usage on someone else’s account.
2. Relays with their own billing — the model is exposed through the wrapper’s credits or points. The per-image cost is often hidden until you read the fine print.
3. Stale tutorials — articles written before the August 2026 billing changes, referencing gemini-2.5-flash as “the” Nano Banana model or promising credits that no longer exist. High-quality but outdated.
4. Pure marketing — a landing page whose only product is the promise. The giveaway is a missing model ID, missing pricing, or a “free unlimited” claim with no stated limit.

One legitimate model deserves a distinct mention: User-Pays platforms (e.g., Puter.js) let your app’s end users authenticate with their own accounts and cover their own AI costs, so you pay nothing. That is a real architecture, but it is not “free Nano Banana API” — it moves the bill to your users, and you depend on a third-party runtime.

A practical verification checklist before you trust any “free API” offer: does it name the exact model ID (gemini-3.1-flash-image)? Does it show a price per image or per token? Who owns the billing account your requests run on? What happens to your app when the free tier ends or the wrapper disappears? If the answer to any of these is unclear, the official route or a transparent aggregator is the safer default.

What a free test actually costs

“Free” only gets you so far, so here is the arithmetic for the cheapest real test of the Nano Banana API, using the numbers above.

Calculated from official and unified-API per-image rates as of August 19, 2026. Batch uses Google’s published half-price Batch/Flex figures; unified-API figures use displayed 1K/2K rates.

$10 prepay, 1K images	Official standard	Official Batch	Unified API
Nano Banana (gemini-2.5-flash-image)	~256	~512	~297
Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image)	~149	~294	~248
Nano Banana 2 Lite (gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image)	~297	~595	~365
Nano Banana Pro (gemini-3-pro-image)	~74	~149	~79

The numbers are simple divisions of a balance by a per-image rate — not a promise about latency or rate limits. What they show: a real Nano Banana test is affordable on every route, and the only route where you can test before adding a payment method is the unified-API credit path. A $10–30 free credit at the unified API’s Lite rate, for example, covers roughly 360–1,090 images at 1K. If you only need to verify that your prompt pipeline works end-to-end, that credit is a cheaper first step than Google’s $10 prepay — and it works for Nano Banana 2, Pro, and the video models too.

Which route should you pick?

Your main reason	Start with
You want Google’s own contract and don’t mind token math	Official API (Route 1) — accept the $10 prepay and Batch pricing
You want predictable per-image cost and a free test before paying	Unified API (Route 2) — spend the free credit on real calls
You’re building a product that will switch between image/video models	Unified API (Route 2) — one integration, model as a path segment
Your users pay their own AI costs	User-Pays platform — but read it as a separate contract
You saw “100% free” in a GitHub repo	Run the verification checklist in Route 3 before wiring it in

Whatever you pick, run the same prompt through the route you’re considering and compare the actual billed amount before committing — the per-image figures here are dated snapshots, and the decision that matters is the one on your own invoice.

FAQ

Can I use the Nano Banana API for free?

Not the models. The API key is free to create in AI Studio, but every Nano Banana image model — Pro, 2, 2 Lite, and the original — is marked Free Tier: Not available on the official pricing page. You can test prompts free in the AI Studio playground; API calls require a paid tier (from a $10 prepay).

Is there a free version of Nano Banana?

No official free tier exists for any Nano Banana image model on the API as of August 19, 2026. “Free” offers you see are third-party contracts: trial credits (real, capped), ad-supported wrappers, or User-Pays platforms where your users cover the cost. Evaluate those as separate products, not as evidence that the official model is free.

Is there a GitHub project for the free Nano Banana API?

Several repos exist, but they are wrappers that resell access to Google’s paid API — check whether the repo names an exact model ID, shows per-image pricing, and states who owns the billing account. Google’s own nano-banana-hackathon-kit is a legitimate starting point for building with the official API.

How do I test Nano Banana free (or on a minimal budget)?

Create the key free in AI Studio, then pick a route with a low entry cost: a unified API’s free credit needs no card ($10–30, spendable on Nano Banana 2 or Pro), or prepay $10 on the official route (about 149 Nano Banana 2 images at 1K standard, ~294 on Batch).

What is the difference between Nano Banana and Nano Banana 2?

Nano Banana (gemini-2.5-flash-image) is the original 2025 model and is being shut down on October 2, 2026. Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image) is its replacement — faster and higher-resolution, with a cheaper Lite variant (gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image). Nano Banana Pro (gemini-3-pro-image) is the high-fidelity tier for legible in-image text and 4K output. The higher version number on Nano Banana 2 is a generation label, not a capability ranking.

Do I need a paid Google Cloud account to use the Nano Banana API?

Not to create the key, but yes to generate images on the official route: linking a billing account and prepaying at least $10 moves you off the free tier. The unified-API route lets you test with a free credit first, no card required.

Why does my key work but image calls fail?

The key authenticates the request, but entitlement lives at the project and billing-account layer. Check three things in order: the model’s free-tier status on the pricing page, your billing-account state (Prepay balance, plan assignment), and your live quota in AI Studio. Creating another key rarely fixes a billing-layer problem. The Nano Banana API key guide walks through the 401/402 paths specifically.

---

Provider details and pricing reflect public information as of August 19, 2026, and change frequently. Validate against each provider’s live pricing before committing. For the full Nano Banana model family, see the series hub. Access image and video models through a single API key at modellix.ai.