How to Use Nano Banana Pro in 2026
How to access Nano Banana Pro, Google's Gemini image model, through the Gemini app, the API, or the 8frame canvas. Step-by-step workflow and per-image cost.
Nano Banana Pro is the image model most teams reach for first in 2026, and this guide covers every way to run it: through Google's Gemini app, through the Gemini API, and directly on the 8frame canvas where it feeds straight into your video pipeline. By the end you'll know which route fits which job and what an image actually costs.
What you'll end up with is production-grade stills, best-in-class text rendering (the thing that used to break every image model), and reference frames clean enough to drive a video model. On 8frame the per-image cost runs $0.04 to $0.08, which changes the math on how many variants you generate before you commit to one.
What Nano Banana Pro is
Nano Banana Pro is Google's high-end Gemini image generation and editing model, the "Pro Thinking" tier of the Nano Banana family. It reasons about a request before generating, which is why it holds legible text, accurate layouts, and coherent edits far better than older diffusion-only models. It also does native image editing: you hand it an existing image plus an instruction and it modifies the image in place rather than regenerating from scratch. For the full definition, see What is Nano Banana Pro.
Official access routes
Nano Banana Pro is a Google model, so the first-party routes run through Gemini.
The Gemini app (web and mobile). On gemini.google.com, open the chat box, click Tools, and select Create image. From the model menu you can choose Fast (the base Nano Banana) or Pro Thinking (Nano Banana Pro). It's also in the Gemini iOS and Android apps. This is the fastest way to try it with no setup.
Free tier and quota. Free Gemini users can use Nano Banana Pro up to a limited daily quota, after which the app automatically falls back to the base model. Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers get higher quotas. So "free" is real but capped, and you may not always know which model served your image once you cross the quota line.
The Gemini Developer API. For programmatic use, Nano Banana Pro is available through the API. Google's published price is around $0.134 per image at the API, with generation in roughly 2 to 5 seconds and a SynthID watermark embedded in output.
The first-party routes are excellent for one-off creation and for anyone already living in Gemini. The friction shows up when you need images that flow into a video model, when you want a fixed low per-image price without watching a quota, or when you want to compare Nano Banana Pro against Seedream, Flux, or Midjourney on the same prompt.
How to use Nano Banana Pro on the 8frame canvas
On 8frame, Nano Banana Pro is one node on a canvas full of image and video models, and it plugs directly into whatever comes next.
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Start with a prompt or a reference. Add a Nano Banana Pro node. For a from-scratch image, write your prompt. For an edit, drop the source image onto the canvas and wire it into the node with an instruction like "replace the background with a sunlit kitchen counter, keep the product and label exactly."
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Lean on its text and layout strength. This is the model to use when the image has to carry legible copy, a price badge, or a packaging label. Prompt the exact text in quotes:
headline reads "20% OFF LAUNCH WEEK" in bold sans-serif, top-left. For tested structures, see Nano Banana Pro prompts for ad creative variants and Nano Banana Pro prompts for product photography. -
Generate a batch of variants. At $0.04 to $0.08 an image and roughly 8 seconds each, generate 8 to 12 variants of a hero still in a couple of minutes and pick the winner on the canvas instead of committing to the first output.
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Feed the winner into video. This is the payoff. Wire your chosen still into a Seedance or Higgsfield node to turn it into motion, or into a Topaz node to upscale. The reference still and the video generation live on the same surface, so you're not exporting and re-uploading between tools.
Per-image cost on 8frame is $0.04 to $0.08, generation around 8 seconds. The most common chain we see: Nano Banana Pro renders a clean product hero still with the label and price badge legible, Seedance 2.0 turns it into a product-in-hand clip, and Topaz upscales the keeper to 4K. Three models, one canvas, no file shuffling in between.
Official vs canvas: which to pick
| Your situation | Best route |
|---|---|
| One-off image, already in Gemini | Gemini app |
| You want to try it free, occasionally | Gemini free tier (capped) |
| You're wiring images into your own product | Gemini Developer API |
| Stills that feed straight into video | 8frame canvas |
| Fixed low per-image price, high variant volume | 8frame canvas |
| Compare Nano Banana Pro vs Flux / Seedream / Midjourney | 8frame canvas |
Cost math
Say you need 10 ad-creative stills with legible headline text, then the best 3 animated into 5-second clips.
- On 8frame: 10 images x ~$0.06 = $0.60, then 3 clips through Seedance at ~$0.45 = $1.35. Total under $2 for the whole first pass, on one canvas.
- Gemini API equivalent for the stills: 10 x $0.134 = $1.34 for images alone, and you still need a separate video tool and the export-import shuffle between them.
Nano Banana Pro is cheap wherever you run it. The canvas advantage is the per-image floor and the fact that the still never leaves the surface where the video gets made. For the aesthetic tradeoffs against a pricier alternative, see Midjourney vs Nano Banana.
FAQ
Is Nano Banana Pro free?
Partly. Free Gemini app users can generate a limited number of Nano Banana Pro images per day before the app falls back to the base model. Paid Google AI tiers raise the quota, and the Gemini API charges around $0.134 per image. On 8frame the model runs $0.04 to $0.08 per image with no subscription.
What is the difference between Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro?
Nano Banana is the fast base tier; Nano Banana Pro is the "Pro Thinking" tier that reasons about the request before generating. Pro holds text, layout, and complex edits noticeably better, which matters most when the image carries legible copy or a packaging label.
Does Nano Banana Pro add a watermark?
Yes. Google embeds an invisible SynthID watermark in Nano Banana Pro output for provenance. This is standard for Google's image models in 2026 and does not affect how the image looks.
Can I edit an existing photo with Nano Banana Pro?
Yes. Native image editing is one of its strengths. You provide a source image plus an instruction and it modifies the image in place. If your job is primarily editing rather than generating, also look at Flux Kontext, which is purpose-built for iterative edits.
Ready to generate stills that feed straight into video? Run Nano Banana Pro on the 8frame canvas next to every leading image and video model, and see the full model comparison for where it fits your stack.