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Side-by-side comparison · Image, Logo & Design

Ideogram vs Nano Banana vs Topaz Labs

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Ideogram

4.1

From $20/mo

Best overall

Nano Banana

4.6

From $19.99/mo

Topaz Labs

3.7

From $19/mo or $199/yr

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Pick it if: Marketers and small business owners who need graphics with words on them, fast.

Best overallBest value

Pick it if: Marketers, store owners and creators who need realistic images and edits that stay true to the original person or product.

Pick it if: Photographers, video editors and marketers who need to rescue small, noisy or old images and footage for print or a big screen.

Overview

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
In one lineGenerates images that spell words correctly, so posters and ads come out readable.Google's image model. Describe an edit and it keeps faces and products looking the same.Sharpen, denoise and upscale blurry photos and old video so they look like new.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemiumPaid
Starting price$20/mo$19.99/mo$19/mo or $199/yr
Free plan Yes Yes No
Works with Claude Code No Yes Yes

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Overall rating4.14.6Winner3.7
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.5
4.5
3.5
FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.0
4.5
4.5
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.0
5.0
4.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.0
4.5
3.0
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
4.5
3.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes No
Mobile app No Yes Yes
Desktop app No No Yes
Browser extension No No No
API access Yes Yes Yes
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes No Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps No Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes Yes Yes
Understands images Yes Yes Yes
Makes images Yes Yes No
Makes video No No No
Writes code No No No
Runs agents or automations No No No
Learns your brand or style Yes No No
Works in many languages No Yes–
Capabilities score8/ 179/ 178/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Plans

Free

Free

Seeing whether it suits you.

Free (Gemini app and AI Studio)

Free

Trying it and occasional images.

Topaz for Web, Image

$19/mo or $199/yr

Occasional photo upscaling in the browser.

PlusOur pick

$20/mo, or $15/mo billed yearly

Most marketers and small businesses.

Google AI ProOur pick

$19.99/mo

Marketers and creators making images every week.

Gigapixel

$29/mo or $149/yr

People who mainly need images enlarged.

Pro

$60/mo, or $42/mo billed yearly

Agencies and heavy ad testing.

Google AI Ultra

From $99.99/mo

Heavy daily image and video makers.

Topaz PhotoOur pick

$39/mo or $199/yr

Photographers fixing noise, blur and size.

Team

$30/user/mo, or $20/user/mo billed yearly

Small teams sharing one bill.

Gemini API

From $0.034 per image

Developers and automated workflows.

Topaz Video

$59/mo or $299/yr

Video editors upscaling and restoring footage.

Enterprise

Custom

Larger organisations.

Topaz Studio

$69/mo or $399/yr

Anyone working on both photos and video.

Topaz Studio Pro

$799/yr

Businesses over $1M revenue and studios.

Which plan to pickTreat Free as a demo, not a plan, because everything you make is public. Plus covers a normal week of social and ad graphics. Only step up to Pro if you are testing many ad variations a day.Start free in the Gemini app to see if it suits your work. If you make images most weeks, Google AI Pro is the one to buy because it unlocks Nano Banana Pro and comes with Gemini, video credits and storage. Developers should use Nano Banana 2 on the API and save Pro for hero images.If you only fix photos, Topaz Photo on yearly billing is the sweet spot. Add video and Topaz Studio costs less than buying Photo and Video separately. The standard plans only cover businesses under $1M a year in revenue, so bigger companies need a Pro plan.

Key features

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Standout features
  • Readable text
  • Magic Prompt
  • Canvas
  • Styles and colour palettes
  • Batch generation
  • API
  • Edit by describing
  • Consistent characters
  • Blend reference images
  • Sharp text and 4K
  • Grounded in Google Search
  • Gemini API
  • Topaz Photo
  • Gigapixel
  • Topaz Video
  • Starlight models
  • Web and mobile
  • Plugins and API

Pros and cons

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Pros
  • Best-in-class at getting words right on an image
  • Easy enough that a first-timer gets a usable poster in minutes
  • Plus is reasonably priced and keeps your work private
  • Styles and colour palettes make on-brand output easier
  • The best at editing a photo while keeping the person or product identical
  • Free to try in the Gemini app
  • Pro renders accurate text and up to 4K
  • Cheap, fast API with a half-price batch mode
  • Built into Canva, Photoshop and Higgsfield as well as Google's apps
  • Still the reference for photo and video restoration according to most photographers and editors
  • Desktop apps render unlimited images locally with no credits
  • Covers photos, enlargement and video in one bundle
  • Web and phone versions mean you don't need a fast computer for images
  • Works as a Lightroom and Photoshop plugin
Cons
  • Free plan is tiny, public, and locked to Google, Apple or Microsoft sign-in
  • Artistic quality is a step behind Midjourney
  • No video and no mobile app
  • Credit-based, so heavy months can run dry
  • Less artistic flair than Midjourney
  • Free images carry a visible watermark, and every image has an invisible SynthID mark
  • Model names and plan limits change often
  • Safety filters can block harmless requests involving people
  • No more one-off licences, and many long-time users resent the switch to subscriptions
  • Can invent detail, give faces a plastic look or change things that were never there
  • Video renders are slow and need an expensive graphics card, and recent updates brought crash and export errors for some users
  • Confusing range of apps, models and plans, with the best video models locked to Pro plans
  • Standard plans only allow commercial use for businesses under $1M a year

Who each one is for

AttributeIdeogramNano BananaTopaz Labs
Best for
  • Posters and ad creatives
  • Quote and announcement graphics
  • Logo concepts
  • Merch and t-shirt designs
  • Editing photos by describing the change
  • Product shots and lifestyle scenes
  • Consistent characters across images
  • Posters and graphics with readable text
  • Enlarging small photos for print or billboards
  • Cleaning up grainy low-light and event photos
  • Upscaling old or phone video to HD and 4K
  • Restoring family photos and archive footage
  • Upscaling AI-generated images for print
You'll find it used by
  • Marketers
  • Small business owners
  • Social media managers
  • Merch sellers
  • Marketers
  • Ecommerce store owners
  • Content creators
  • Designers
  • Developers
  • Photographers
  • Video editors
  • Archivists
  • Marketers
  • AI artists

Questions people ask

Which is better, Ideogram, Nano Banana or Topaz Labs?

Nano Banana scores highest overall in our ratings (Ideogram 4.1/5, Nano Banana 4.6/5 and Topaz Labs 3.7/5). Ideogram is best for posters and ad creatives and quote and announcement graphics. Nano Banana is best for editing photos by describing the change and product shots and lifestyle scenes. Topaz Labs is best for enlarging small photos for print or billboards and cleaning up grainy low-light and event photos.

Which is cheaper, Ideogram, Nano Banana or Topaz Labs?

Ideogram: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $20/mo. Nano Banana: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $19.99/mo. Topaz Labs: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $19/mo or $199/yr.

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.

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