Image generation, priced.
OpenAI bills tokens, Google prints per-image equivalents, Kling sells units, Stability sells credits — and one 1K image costs from $0.0035 to $0.211 depending on the model. Enter your volume and size and get every major image API ranked by what it would bill, discarded takes included.
Each model is priced at its smallest priced size at or above your pick — a model whose vendor prints no price at that size drops out rather than being guessed. Takes per keeper counts the variations you generate and throw away. Tier follows each vendor's own naming (lite, flash, low → budget; pro, ultra, high → premium).
- MiniMax image-01$0.0035 budget $3.50/mo
- OpenAI GPT Image 1 Mini · low$0.005 budget $5.00/mo
- OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · low$0.00588 budget $5.88/mo
- Recraft V4.1 Flash$0.007 budget $7.00/mo
- OpenAI GPT Image 1 Mini · medium$0.011 standard $11.00/mo
- OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · medium$0.0132 standard $13.17/mo
- Black Forest Labs FLUX.2 [klein] 4B$0.014 budget $14.00/mo
- Kling Image 2.1 · 1K, 2K$0.014 budget $14.00/mo
API list prices verified on vendor pages 2026-10-13. Edits, reference-image inputs, upscales, prepaid packs and subscriptions not modeled.
Six usage profiles
Click one to load it. Volumes and takes per keeper are scenario assumptions you can edit; the verdicts are computed from the current rate sheet.
Every model, every priced size
List price per image at each size the vendor prices, batch price beneath where published. The last two columns are your scenario and recompute live; rows keep the default order.
| # | Model | Tier | 1K | 2K | 4K | Per kept image | Your month | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MiniMax image-01 image-01 | budget | $0.0035 per image | — | — | $0.0035 | $3.50 | ↗ |
| 2 | OpenAI GPT Image 1 Mini · low gpt-image-1-mini | budget | $0.005 1024×1024 | — | — | $0.005 | $5.00 | ↗ |
| 3 | OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · low Sunburst and Flare bill the same token rate. Per-image figures from OpenAI's token calculator. | budget | $0.00588 1024×1024batch $0.00294 | $0.0119 2048×2048batch $0.00596 | $0.0111 3840×2160batch $0.00556 | $0.00588 | $5.88 | ↗ |
| 4 | Recraft V4.1 Flash | budget | $0.007 per image | — | — | $0.007 | $7.00 | ↗ |
| 5 | OpenAI GPT Image 1 Mini · medium gpt-image-1-mini | standard | $0.011 1024×1024 | — | — | $0.011 | $11.00 | ↗ |
| 6 | OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · medium | standard | $0.0132 1024×1024batch $0.00658 | $0.0268 2048×2048batch $0.0134 | $0.026 3840×2160batch $0.013 | $0.0132 | $13.17 | ↗ |
| 7 | Black Forest Labs FLUX.2 [klein] 4B First megapixel flat, more per extra megapixel. | budget | $0.014 from, ~1MP | — | — | $0.014 | $14.00 | ↗ |
| 8 | Kling Image 2.1 Text-to-image price; image-to-image bills double. | budget | — | $0.014 1K, 2K | — | $0.014 | $14.00 | ↗ |
| 9 | Alibaba Z-Image Turbo z-image-turbo With prompt rewriting off; $0.03 with it on. | budget | $0.015 per image | — | — | $0.015 | $15.00 | ↗ |
| 10 | ByteDance Seedream 5.0 Flash dola-seedream-5-0-flash-260915 | budget | $0.018 per image | — | — | $0.018 | $18.00 | ↗ |
| 11 | xAI Grok Imagine Image grok-imagine-image | budget | $0.02 1024×1024 | $0.02 2048×2048 | — | $0.02 | $20.00 | ↗ |
| 12 | Kling Image 3.0 One price for 1K and 2K. | standard | — | $0.028 1K, 2K | — | $0.028 | $28.00 | ↗ |
| 13 | Kling Image 3.0-omni | standard | — | $0.028 1K, 2K | $0.056 | $0.028 | $28.00 | ↗ |
| 14 | Black Forest Labs FLUX.2 [pro] Billed by megapixel; BFL prints the 1MP floor. | premium | $0.03 from, ~1MP | — | — | $0.03 | $30.00 | ↗ |
| 15 | Alibaba Qwen Image 3.0 qwen-image-3.0 | standard | $0.03 | $0.03 | — | $0.03 | $30.00 | ↗ |
| 16 | Stability AI Stable Image Core | budget | $0.03 per image | — | — | $0.03 | $30.00 | ↗ |
| 17 | Alibaba Wan 2.7 Image wan2.7-image | standard | $0.03 per image | — | — | $0.03 | $30.00 | ↗ |
| 18 | Google Nano Banana 2.1 | standard | $0.0336batch $0.0168 | $0.0504batch $0.0252 | $0.113batch $0.0567 | $0.0336 | $33.60 | ↗ |
| 19 | Google Nano Banana 2 Lite Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Image. | budget | $0.0336batch $0.0168 | — | — | $0.0336 | $33.60 | ↗ |
| 20 | Recraft V4.1 Raster; vector output bills more. | standard | $0.035 per image | — | — | $0.035 | $35.00 | ↗ |
| 21 | ByteDance Seedream 5.0 Lite seedream-5-0-lite-260128 | budget | $0.035 per image | — | — | $0.035 | $35.00 | ↗ |
| 22 | Black Forest Labs FLUX1.1 [pro] | premium | $0.04 per image | — | — | $0.04 | $40.00 | ↗ |
| 23 | xAI Grok Imagine Image 2.0 · low grok-imagine-image-2.0 | budget | $0.04 | $0.06 | — | $0.04 | $40.00 | ↗ |
| 24 | Amazon Nova Canvas · standard | standard | $0.04 1024 | $0.06 2048 | — | $0.04 | $40.00 | ↗ |
| 25 | Alibaba Qwen Image 3.0 Pro qwen-image-3.0-pro Input images add $0.003 each. | premium | $0.04 | $0.075 | — | $0.04 | $40.00 | ↗ |
| 26 | Luma Uni-1.1 Priced at 2K only; Luma calls the figure approximate. | standard | — | $0.0404 2048px | — | $0.0404 | $40.40 | ↗ |
| 27 | ByteDance Seedream 5.0 Pro dola-seedream-5-0-pro-260628 | premium | $0.045 ≤2.61MP | $0.09 >2.61MP | — | $0.045 | $45.00 | ↗ |
| 28 | Black Forest Labs FLUX 3 Image | premium | $0.048 ~1MP | $0.10 ~4MP | $0.607 ~16MP | $0.048 | $48.00 | ↗ |
| 29 | xAI Grok Imagine Image Quality grok-imagine-image-quality | premium | $0.05 1024×1024 | $0.07 2048×2048 | — | $0.05 | $50.00 | ↗ |
| 30 | OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · high | premium | $0.0527 1024×1024batch $0.0263 | $0.107 2048×2048batch $0.0535 | $0.10 3840×2160batch $0.05 | $0.0527 | $52.68 | ↗ |
| 31 | xAI Grok Imagine Image 2.0 · medium grok-imagine-image-2.0 | standard | $0.06 | $0.08 | — | $0.06 | $60.00 | ↗ |
| 32 | Amazon Nova Canvas · premium | premium | $0.06 1024 | $0.08 2048 | — | $0.06 | $60.00 | ↗ |
| 33 | Stability AI Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large | standard | $0.065 per image | — | — | $0.065 | $65.00 | ↗ |
| 34 | Google Nano Banana 2 Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. | standard | $0.067batch $0.034 | $0.101batch $0.05 | $0.151batch $0.076 | $0.067 | $67.00 | ↗ |
| 35 | Black Forest Labs FLUX.2 [max] Billed by megapixel; BFL prints the 1MP floor. | premium | $0.07 from, ~1MP | — | — | $0.07 | $70.00 | ↗ |
| 36 | Alibaba Wan 2.7 Image Pro wan2.7-image-pro | premium | $0.075 per image | — | — | $0.075 | $75.00 | ↗ |
| 37 | Stability AI Stable Image Ultra | premium | $0.08 per image | — | — | $0.08 | $80.00 | ↗ |
| 38 | Luma Uni-1.1 Max Priced at 2K only. | premium | — | $0.10 2048px | — | $0.10 | $100 | ↗ |
| 39 | Google Nano Banana Pro Gemini 3 Pro Image. | premium | $0.134batch $0.067 | $0.134batch $0.067 | $0.24batch $0.12 | $0.134 | $134 | ↗ |
| 40 | Recraft V4.1 Pro | premium | — | $0.21 2K raster | — | $0.21 | $210 | ↗ |
| 41 | OpenAI GPT Image 2.5 · max | premium | $0.211 1024×1024batch $0.105 | $0.428 2048×2048batch $0.214 | $0.40 3840×2160batch $0.20 | $0.211 | $211 | ↗ |
A size column shows a price only when the vendor's price names that size; labels in grey are the vendor's own ("1K, 2K" = one price for both, "≤2.61MP" = Seedream's pixel tier). Flat per-image prices without a size sit under 1K. GPT Image figures come from OpenAI's token calculator at $30 per 1M output tokens. Src opens the page each price was verified on.
The math behind the ranking
priced_size = smallest size the vendor prices ≥ your size /* none → drops out */ per_image = batch_price if batch is on and published, else list_price per_kept = per_image × takes_per_keeper monthly = per_kept × images_per_month
Every price is a pay-as-you-go API list price read off the vendor's own page and dated; units, credits and token rates are converted to dollars per image using the vendor's own conversion. Not modeled: prompt and reference-image input charges, editing and inpainting, upscalers, prepaid packs and subscriptions, free trials, and regional pricing (Alibaba is the International list, Amazon is US East).
Full methodology lives at /methodology/. Found a stale rate? Report it.
Three decisions, real numbers
Why image pricing resists comparison
GPT Image 2.5 bills $30 per 1M output tokens, and the quality setting decides how many tokens an image takes: a 1024² image costs $0.00588 at low and $0.211 at max — 36× apart on the same model. Pick the lowest quality your use case survives before comparing vendors.
OpenAI's token counts depend on shape as well as size: at high quality a 3840×2160 image takes fewer tokens than a 2048×2048 one, so it costs $0.10 against $0.107. Google's Nano Banana 2 goes the other way, $0.067 at 1K and $0.151 at 4K.
Many vendors print one price per image without naming a size. This calculator lists those at 1K only and drops them from the 2K and 4K views — a model may render larger, but nobody has published what that costs. The 2K and 4K rankings are the vendors who did.
Most teams generate several takes and keep one. "Takes per keeper" multiplies every price: at three takes, a $0.0035 image costs $0.0105 by the time you have one you'll use. Editing a kept image (inpainting, reference images) adds input charges this calculator doesn't model.
Kling sells image units at $0.0035, Stability credits at $0.01, Recraft API units at $0.001. The sheet converts each to dollars per image; batch prices from OpenAI and Google halve the bill for work that can wait.
Image API pricing — answered.
The questions this calculator exists for, answered with the current numbers. Every figure recomputes when a vendor reprices.
Q · 01 How much does GPT Image 2.5 cost per image? +
Q · 02 How much does Nano Banana cost? +
Q · 03 What is the cheapest image generation API? +
Q · 04 How much does FLUX cost? +
Q · 05 How much does Grok Imagine image generation cost? +
Q · 06 How much does it cost to generate 10,000 images? +
Q · 07 Why can a 4K image cost less than a 2K one on OpenAI? +
Q · 08 Does batch processing lower image generation cost? +
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