Nano Banana Pro vs GPT Image 2.5 is the question most people ask before they draw a cast. A character sheet is the page that keeps your cast on model: one character shown from the front, the side and the back, with a few expressions. Make it once, send it with every shot, and the heroine in shot nine still looks like the heroine in shot one. The image model you draw it with decides how well that works and what it costs.
Three models come up most: Nano Banana Pro from Google, GPT Image 2.5 from OpenAI and Seedream 5 Flash from ByteDance. Ziztu runs all three, plus Meta Muse Image, so this guide prices them with the same billing code and says where each fits. Ziztu is our product, so read the verdict with that in mind: we are not selling you a model here, only telling you how we would pick.
How we compared them
- Specs come from each model's page on fal, the API host, read on 15 October 2026 (see Sources). Where a page did not say something, we say so.
- Ziztu prices are quotes from the billing code, in credits and in dollars at the Starter plan's price ($12 for 1,000 credits). None is typed by hand.
- What we did not do: run a blind test of the three on one character. We make no claim about which picture looks best, because that depends on your character and your style.
Side by side
| Nano Banana Pro | GPT Image 2.5 | Seedream 5 Flash | Meta Muse Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maker | OpenAI | ByteDance | Meta | |
| Reference images in Ziztu | up to 14 | up to 16 | up to 10 | up to 10 |
| Sizes | 1K, 2K, 4K | up to 3840 x 2160, five quality tiers | up to 2048 x 2048 | not checked: its page was closed to us |
| What its page says | legible text in many languages; keeps resemblance for up to 5 people | OpenAI's default image model; complex layouts, transparent backgrounds | fast and budget friendly | the default draft model in Ziztu |
| One image in Ziztu | 38 credits at 2K ($0.46) | 2 credits at low quality to 15 at high | 7 credits ($0.08) | 3 credits ($0.04) |
Prices are for one image from the Starter plan; 4K on Nano Banana Pro is 75 credits, double the 2K price, as fal's page says.
Nano Banana Pro: the editor
See the Nano Banana Pro page for the model alone; GPT Image 2.5, Seedream 5 Flash and Meta Muse Image have pages too.
fal calls Nano Banana Pro Google's state of the art image generation and editing model, built on the Gemini 3 Pro Image architecture. Its page lists 1K, 2K and 4K output, strong text rendering and consistency for up to five people, and an edit mode that combines up to 14 images.
- Good for: editing a character you already have: a new outfit, a new pose, a new background, a different time of day, with the face and the rest of the picture kept. It is what Ziztu's photo tools run on, such as the clothes changer and the PNGTuber maker.
- Price in Ziztu: 38 credits an image at 2K. The most expensive of the four, by a wide margin.
- Limits: up to four images a time in Ziztu. On the free credits a Nano Banana Pro job is quietly run on a cheaper model, so do not judge it from a free run.
GPT Image 2.5: the detail model
OpenAI's GPT Image 2.5 comes in two versions on fal. Flare is OpenAI's default image model: fast, with natural lighting, rich textures and support for complex layouts. Sunburst is the slower, max-detail version, described as built for the tightest control, with edits scoped to the instruction and the subject kept across many rounds of revision. Ziztu's AI Manga Maker draws its character sheets and pages with the Sunburst version.
- Good for: a final sheet with fine detail (jewelry, fabric, hair), sheets that need many references (up to 16 in Ziztu), and edits that must touch one thing only.
- Price in Ziztu: 2 credits at low quality to 15 at high quality. Quality is a dial: draft at low, finish at high.
- Limits: the price rises with quality, size and prompt length, so the same sheet can cost several times more at max quality. Set a quality on purpose.
Seedream 5 Flash: the fast one
fal describes Seedream 5.0 Flash as a fast image generation and editing model built for workflows where speed and budget matter. It lists the price at $0.027 an image.
- Good for: many quick variants: a dozen outfit ideas, a wall of face options, a first pass at a cast.
- Price in Ziztu: 7 credits ($0.08). Up to six images a time and ten references.
- Limits: the page we read did not say how it handles text or how many people it keeps consistent, so we do not claim either.
Meta Muse Image and the others
Meta Muse Image is the default for sheets, plates and first frames in Ziztu because it is the cheapest, at 3 credits ($0.04) an image, and takes up to ten reference images. It is where a cast starts. Grok Imagine Image 2.0 (xAI) takes up to five images for stylized frames and edits, and Ideogram 4.5 is the pick when letters matter, such as a poster, but it takes no references.
What a cast costs
Take a cast of four. Each character gets two sheets (a turnaround and an expressions page) and each sheet gets one retake. That is 16 images.
| Model | 16 images | In dollars (Starter) |
|---|---|---|
| Meta Muse Image | 48 credits | $0.58 |
| Seedream 5 Flash | 112 credits | $1.34 |
| GPT Image 2.5, high quality | 240 credits | $2.88 |
| Nano Banana Pro, 2K | 608 credits | $7.30 |
The whole cast, even on Nano Banana Pro, costs less than one 5 second 1080p clip on Seedance 2.5 (1438 credits), so spend the money here: a drifting face in shot nine costs more in retakes than any sheet. A routine that works: draft every sheet on Muse, pick the version you like, then redraw the keepers once on GPT Image 2.5 at high quality, or edit them on Nano Banana Pro when you need a specific change.
Which to pick
- First drafts of a whole cast: Meta Muse Image or Seedream 5 Flash.
- The final sheet, fine detail, many references: GPT Image 2.5 at high quality.
- Changing a character you already have: Nano Banana Pro.
- A sheet with a title or labels: ask for none and add them yourself, or try Ideogram 4.5.
- A board of six panels for a scene: the AI storyboard generator, which runs on Nano Banana Pro.
Then keep the sheet with the project. In Ziztu the cast sheet is sent with every shot, so the video model sees the same face every time. Our guides to making anime with AI and making an AI influencer show the whole path from sheet to shot, and the OC Maker gives you a first character in a minute.
The honest limits
- No blind test. Pictures differ by style, and models update. Run your own character through two models before you commit.
- Sheets are guides, not locks. A model can still change a hairpin. Check every shot.
- Prices move. The Ziztu figures are computed when the page is built; the fal figures carry the date we read them.
New accounts get 40 free credits for character art, scripts, storyboards and voices, with no card. Make your first sheet in the AI anime video generator, and read the best AI storyboard generators next to plan the shots.
