Is Nano Banana 2.1 (Gemini Nano Banana 2.1, formerly Nano Banana 2) Down?

Quickest ways to check the current status of gemini.google.com plus recent known issues and working alternatives if it's out.

Last editorial review: 2026-10-12

How to check right now

Step 1 -- Load the site
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Step 2 -- Crowdsourced reports
DownDetector: Nano Banana 2.1 (Gemini Nano Banana 2.1, formerly Nano Banana 2)→

User-reported outages aggregated across regions. Good signal for partial or regional outages.

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Step 4 -- Official status page
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Known issues we've tracked

NANO BANANA 2.1 IS GA AND NANO BANANA 2 IS DEPRECATED (2026-10-06, vendor-primary): the Gemini API changelog: 'Released Gemini Nano Banana 2.1 (gemini-nano-banana-2.1), the latest high-efficiency image generation and conversational editing model. An update to Nano Banana 2 (gemini-3.1-flash-image), it maintains Flash-level speed and cost efficiency while delivering significant improvements in visual quality, prompt adherence, multi-turn character consistency, text rendering, and wide and panoramic aspect ratio generation (1:4, 4:1, 1:8, 8:1) across 1K, 2K, and 4K resolutions.' Same day: **'The gemini-3.1-flash-image model is deprecated (no shutdown date announced). Migrate to gemini-nano-banana-2.1.'** **Rate card (ai.google.dev pricing, Standard per 1M tokens): $1.50 input (text/image/video), $7.50 text and thinking output, $30 image output = $0.0336 per 1K image, $0.0504 per 2K, $0.113 per 4K (1,120 / 1,680 / 3,780 tokens per image); Batch half ($0.0168 / $0.0252 / $0.0567).** That puts 2.1's 1K image at the same price as Nano Banana 2 Lite and half of Nano Banana 2's $0.067, though its input rate is three times higher. No free API tier. **Corrections made on this page in the same pass (it was last reviewed 2026-07-04):** Nano Banana 2's input rate on the rate card is $0.50 per 1M, not the $0.25 this page carried; the Lite 1K price is listed as $0.0336 (rounded to $0.034 earlier). Google published no blog post for 2.1 in the blog.google feed for 10/06; the Gemini API changelog and model page are the launch record, and this page does not yet confirm which Gemini app tier uses 2.1.
2026-10-06•Gemini API changelog (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog, 'October 6, 2026' entry) and Gemini API pricing (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, 'Gemini Nano Banana 2.1' and 'Gemini 3.1 Flash Image' sections) -- both fetched 2026-10-12 via Firecrawl (maxAge 0)
NEW LITE VARIANT (2026-06-30): Google shipped **Nano Banana 2 Lite** (`gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image`) -- its 'fastest, most cost-efficient Gemini Image model,' delivering text-to-image in ~4 seconds at **$0.034 per 1K-resolution image** (roughly half the standard gemini-3.1-flash-image 1K rate of $0.067). Google says it 'retains reliable prompt adherence, strong character consistency and legible in-image text rendering' while prioritizing speed for high-volume workflows. Available in AI Studio, the Gemini API, and the Enterprise Agent Platform, and rolling out to consumer surfaces (AI Mode in Search, Gemini app, NotebookLM, Google Photos). For batch/high-volume production this is the new value pick; the full model still wins on peak fidelity.
2026-06-30•blog.google (blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/gemini-models/gemini-omni-flash-nano-banana-2-lite/)
GA + VIDEO-TO-IMAGE (2026-05-28, vendor changelog): **gemini-3.1-flash-image (Nano Banana 2) and gemini-3-pro-image (Nano Banana Pro) hit GA** on the Gemini API. New capability: **video-to-image generation** -- pass a video file (upload or public YouTube URL) as context and generate thumbnails, posters, or infographics from it; works ONLY with gemini-3.1-flash-image, not the Pro model. MIGRATION NOTE (now in effect): the `-preview` model versions (`gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview`, `gemini-3-pro-image-preview`) **shut down 2026-06-25** -- pinned preview ids are now failing; use the GA ids
2026-05-28•Gemini API changelog (ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog -- 2026-05-28 entry) + deprecations
Multi-reference mode occasionally blends source images inconsistently when the references are stylistically divergent
2026-03•Reddit r/GeminiAI
Text rendering in non-Latin scripts (Arabic, Chinese, Korean) lags Latin-script quality noticeably, with character shape errors that Latin text rarely shows
2026-02•Google Japan developer forums

Issues here are sourced from our editorial sweeps, not real-time telemetry. Newer issues may exist.

What to use if Nano Banana 2.1 (Gemini Nano Banana 2.1, formerly Nano Banana 2) is down

Top AIToolTier-ranked alternatives in the same category, ordered by our overall score.

A

Meta Muse (Image + Video)

8.4

**Muse Image reached developers on the Meta Model API on 2026-08-25 at a flat $0.01 per image** (built-in web and image search included; failed or safety-filtered images are not billed), and Meta One's Core ($7.99/mo) and Premium ($19.99/mo) bundles (2026-09-15) add more Muse-powered image and video generation in Meta's apps. Meta Superintelligence Labs' first media-generation models (launched 2026-07-07) -- Muse Image is GA across the Meta AI app, Instagram, and WhatsApp (Arena #2 for text-to-image); Muse Video is in preview (Arena #3 for text-to-video). Instruction-faithful editing, multi-reference composition, tool use, and Content Seal provenance watermarking

A

Leonardo AI

8.3

Versatile AI image generator with fine-tuned models and a generous free tier

A

Stable Diffusion

8.0

Open-source AI image generation with unlimited free local use and full customization

B

Midjourney

7.8

**Midjourney's alpha site gained shared folders and a Thinking mode in its 10/7 changelog: collaborators can now generate into a shared folder, and 'Rerun (Thinking)' has V8.2 inspect its own image for missed prompt details -- wrong objects, layout, anatomy, text -- and generate again.** Industry-leading AI image generation with stunning artistic quality. **The V8.2 Edit Model opened to everyone on 2026-08-27** -- instruction-based edits, up to four image references (replacing omni-reference), inpainting and outpainting -- and the **2026-09-24 update** makes targeted edits change only the pixels you select, adds live style previews, and fixes --tile seams on V8.1/8.2. V8.2 itself launched 2026-07-24 as the default model. No price change

B

Ideogram

7.8

AI image generator that nails text rendering -- Ideogram 4.0 (June 3 2026) goes OPEN-WEIGHT with commercial license: 9.3B DiT, 0.97 X-Omni OCR, layout control, 2K photoreal. Plus Custom Models for brand-trained generation on Pro+ plans

About Nano Banana 2.1 (Gemini Nano Banana 2.1, formerly Nano Banana 2)

Tier A (8.9/10). **Nano Banana 2.1 went GA on the Gemini API on 2026-10-06 as the update to Nano Banana 2, with better visual quality, prompt adherence, multi-turn character consistency and text rendering, new 1:4 to 8:1 panoramic ratios, and a lower price -- $0.0336 per 1K image versus $0.067 -- while Google is retiring gemini-3.1-flash-image in its favour (no end date yet).** Google's Gemini 3.1 Flash Image model -- the best-in-class text-in-image renderer, now the default across the Gemini app

Read the full Nano Banana 2.1 (Gemini Nano Banana 2.1, formerly Nano Banana 2)review →