Nano Banana 2.1 is GA, and the previous image model ends 29 October

Google’s Gemini API release notes for 6 October 2026 say Nano Banana 2.1 is generally available. The model id is gemini-nano-banana-2.1. The note calls it an update to Nano Banana 2, whose id is gemini-3.1-flash-image, and says it keeps Flash-level speed and cost efficiency while improving visual quality, prompt adherence, multi-turn character consistency, text rendering, and wide and panoramic aspect ratios. Those quality lines are Google’s claims. “Cost efficiency” is Google’s description. It is not a price.

The same entry says gemini-3.1-flash-image is deprecated and will be shut down on 29 October 2026. The migration target is gemini-nano-banana-2.1.

The deprecations page, last updated 2026-10-06 UTC, lists the same pair in its Nano Banana table: gemini-nano-banana-2.1 released 6 October 2026 with no shutdown date announced, and gemini-3.1-flash-image released 28 May 2026 with shutdown date 29 October 2026 and recommended replacement gemini-nano-banana-2.1. The page’s general note says listed shutdown dates are the earliest date a model might be retired, and that Google will communicate the exact date with notice. The changelog’s wording is firmer: it “will be shut down on October 29, 2026.” A developer who still calls gemini-3.1-flash-image should change that string to gemini-nano-banana-2.1 before that date.

Ratios and resolutions, as the changelog states them

The 6 October note names aspect ratios 1:4, 4:1, 1:8, and 8:1, across 1K, 2K, and 4K resolutions. It does not mention a 0.5K size. This article does not add sizes the note does not list.

The model id and the shutdown date appear on both the changelog and the deprecations page.

Price

The pricing page, retrieved on 6 October 2026 at about 17:46 UTC, still had a section for Gemini 3.1 Flash Image, Nano Banana 2, id gemini-3.1-flash-image. A search of that retrieved text found no gemini-nano-banana-2.1 and no “Nano Banana 2.1” heading. This article does not state a price for the new model. Google’s “Flash-level … cost efficiency” line is not a statement that the price matches Nano Banana 2.

Where else it showed up on 6 October

Vercel published a changelog entry the same day, by Zachary Chen and Jerilyn Zheng. On AI Gateway the model name is google/gemini-nano-banana-2.1. Vercel says the release targets product recontextualization, mask- and ink-based editing, and factuality, and that it renders at the latency and cost of a Flash-tier model. Those are Vercel’s descriptions. The gateway entry does not print a Google price.

A Google AI Studio post at 16:00 UTC on 6 October says the model “outperforms our previous models across the board,” with bullets for visual design, mask-based editing, subject consistency, and more natural-looking images, and points people to ai.studio. That outperformance line is Google AI Studio’s. The post does not say the Gemini app has the model.

Search Engine Roundtable, in a 6 October story by Barry Schwartz, reports that Robby Stein, Google’s VP of Product for Search, wrote on X: “Nano Banana 2.1 is rolling out in AI Mode in Search!” Schwartz says Stein’s instruction is to open the Google app and tap the banana icon under the search box. That rollout is Schwartz’s report of Stein’s post, about Search AI Mode, not a Gemini app release this article confirmed on a Google documentation page.

For API callers the change is the model string, the 29 October shutdown of gemini-3.1-flash-image, and the ratios and resolutions the changelog names. A list price for gemini-nano-banana-2.1 was not on the pricing page at this check.