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# Best AI image models (Oct 2026)

The best image models for overall use in Oct 2026 are GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, Nano Banana 2.1, Grok Imagine Image 2.0, ranked by Arena.

Prices as of 18 Oct 2026. Every price links to its source.

### #1 [GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/openai/gpt-image-2.5-sunburst)

Arena 1425 1418–1431, 17,752 votes · median $0.024 · Arena #1 · #1 among models priced here · also GPT Image 2.5 Flare, GPT Image 2

### #2 [Nano Banana 2.1](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/google/nano-banana-2.1)

Arena 1328 1319–1337, 5,310 votes · median $0.037 · Arena #6 · #2 among models priced here · also Nano Banana Pro

### #2 [Grok Imagine Image 2.0](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/xai/grok-imagine-image/v2.0/text-to-image)

Arena 1334 1322–1345, 3,113 votes · median $0.080 · Arena #4 · #3 among models priced here · tied with #2 (intervals overlap)

## Also consider

| Rank | Model | Arena | Median | Ranks |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 4 | [Seedream 5 Pro](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream-5-pro) | 1255 (1252–1259) | $0.041 | Arena #12 · #4 among priced |
| 5 | [Qwen Image 2.1](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/alibaba/qwen-image-2.1) | 1223 (1216–1230) | $0.040 | Arena #19 · #5 among priced |
| 6 | [FLUX 2 Max](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/black-forest-labs/flux-2-max) | 1162 (1159–1166) | $0.070 | Arena #29 · #6 among priced |

## How this list is ranked

The highest-scoring text-to-image models that have a public price on the board. Arena text-to-image overall preference. 7 qualified after family collapse. Based on data from Arena (arena.ai). Arena does not endorse this ranking.

Ratings: Arena (arena.ai) · CC BY 4.0. Read from [the Hugging Face dataset](https://huggingface.co/datasets/lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset).

## Notable models we cannot rank

| Model | Reason |
| --- | --- |
| [Ideogram 2a Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/ideogram/ideogram-2a-turbo) | no counted public price |
| [Ideogram 3](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/ideogram/ideogram-3) | no counted public price |
| [Qwen Image 3](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/alibaba/qwen-image-3/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream V5 Lite](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream/v5/lite/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 5.0 Pro](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/bytedance/seedream/v5/pro/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 4.5](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/bytedance/seedream/v4.5/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Seedream 4](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/bytedance/seedream/v4/text-to-image) | no counted public price |
| [Emu 3.5 Image Edit](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/emu-3.5-image/edit-image) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image LoRA](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/lora) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image LoRA Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/lora/turbo) | no counted public price |
| [ERNIE Image Turbo](https://modelpricetrack.com/models/fal-ai/ernie-image/turbo) | no counted public price |

[Best AI image models for photorealistic photography](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/photorealistic) · [Best AI image models for text, typography and posters](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/text-rendering) · [Best AI image models for illustration, cartoon and anime](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/illustration) · [Best AI image models for ads and marketing design](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/ads) · [Best AI image editing models](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/editing) · [Best AI models for consistent characters across images](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image/character-consistency)

Based on data from Arena (arena.ai). Arena does not endorse this ranking. Ranking approved 18 Oct 2026 · prices updated 18 Oct 2026. [Methodology](https://modelpricetrack.com/methodology#best-lists). [Compare with Artificial Analysis](https://artificialanalysis.ai/).

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Page: [Best AI image models (Oct 2026) · Model Price Track](https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image) · Prices as of 18 Oct 2026

Data: CC BY 4.0 for our own work, attribution "Model Price Track (modelpricetrack.com)". CC BY 4.0 covers Model Price Track's own work (normalisation, medians, rankings, editorial text). Third-party prices are listed as published by each provider, with a link, and are not relicensed. Arena quality scores stay CC BY 4.0 with Arena's attribution. Cite as "Model Price Track, Best AI image models (Oct 2026) · Model Price Track, https://modelpricetrack.com/best/image, retrieved 18 Oct 2026".