#1 GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst
Arena 1430 1420–1440, 6,435 votes · median $0.024 · Arena #1 · #1 among models priced here · also GPT Image 2.5 Flare, GPT Image 2
Best AI image models for photorealistic photography (Oct 2026)
The best image models for photorealistic photography in Oct 2026 are GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, Grok Imagine Image 2.0, Nano Banana 2.1, ranked by Arena.
#2 Grok Imagine Image 2.0
Arena 1323 1306–1341, 1,272 votes · median $0.080 · Arena #6 · #2 among models priced here
#2 Nano Banana 2.1
Arena 1339 1324–1353, 2,055 votes · median $0.037 · Arena #4 · #3 among models priced here · tied with #2 (intervals overlap) · also Nano Banana Pro
How this list is ranked
Text-to-image models that reach 2K, ranked on Arena's photorealistic category. Human preference on prompts Arena classified as photorealistic. It does not measure professional photography standards. 3 qualified after family collapse. Based on data from Arena (arena.ai). Arena does not endorse this ranking.
Notable models we cannot rank
| Model | Reason |
|---|---|
| Qwen Image 2.1 | resolution unknown |
| Seedream 4 | resolution unknown |
| Seedream 4.5 | resolution unknown |
| Seedream 5 Lite | resolution unknown |
| Seedream 5 Pro | resolution unknown |
| Nano Banana | resolution unknown |
| Ideogram 2a Turbo | no counted public price |
| Ideogram 3 | no counted public price |
| Qwen Image 3 | no counted public price |
| Seedream V5 Lite | no counted public price |
| Seedream 5.0 Pro | no counted public price |
| Seedream 4.5 | no counted public price |