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Choosing a model

Pick by job, then check what each model costs in money and time.

Job Model
Text, logos, UI oai:gi2
Diagrams, arrows, fixed layouts gdm:nbp or gdm:nb2
Photographic or painterly gdm:nbp
Cheap, fast exploration gdm:nb2, or gdm:nb2-lite at about 3 s
Top benchmark score, time no object oai:gi2.5

Quality against cost

  • Best for the price: oai:gi1-mini, gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2 and oai:gi2.5.
  • genimg's default --quality medium costs $0.013 on oai:gi2.5, 16 times less than the scored max.

Quality against cost. Best for the price: oai:gi1-mini, gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2, oai:gi2.5. Quality against cost. Best for the price: oai:gi1-mini, gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2, oai:gi2.5.

Quality: Artificial Analysis text-to-image leaderboard, 25 Sep 2026. Cost: genimg's price table at 1024×1024, from OpenAI and Gemini API pricing.

--quality auto lets OpenAI choose; genimg prices it as medium. Every price: Models.

Quality against speed

  • Fastest for the quality: gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2, oai:gi2.5-flare and oai:gi2.5.

Quality against generation time. Fastest for the quality: gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2, oai:gi2.5-flare, oai:gi2.5. Quality against generation time. Fastest for the quality: gdm:nb2-lite, gdm:nb2, oai:gi2.5-flare, oai:gi2.5.

Quality and median time for one 1024×1024 image: Artificial Analysis, 25 Sep 2026. It has no time for oai:gi1 or oai:gi1-mini.

The numbers behind the charts
Model --quality Cost Time Artificial Analysis Arena
oai:gi2.5 max $0.211 109 s 1196 (#1) 1424 (#1)
oai:gi2.5-flare max $0.211 55 s 1190 (#2) 1401 (#2)
oai:gi2 high $0.211 119 s 1171 (#3) 1383 (#3)
gdm:nb2 $0.067 9 s 1123 (#6) n/a
oai:gi1.5 high $0.133 29 s 1104 (#8) n/a
gdm:nbp $0.134 17 s 1101 (#11) 1234 (#16)
gdm:nb2-lite $0.034 3 s 1093 (#13) 1250 (#13)
oai:gi1 high $0.167 n/a 1011 (#34) 1116 (#47)
oai:gi1-mini medium $0.011 n/a 914 (#86) 1110 (#52)

Arena: text-to-image leaderboard, votes to 24 September. Arena scored oai:gi2 at medium and gdm:nbp at 1K, and names no setting for the rest. n/a means it lists only a variant genimg does not use. Artificial Analysis scores within about ±9 points tie.

Benchmarks worth checking