Why the Model Choice Matters
When you open the AI Text to Image prompt bar, the Model dropdown isn't just a technical setting, it's the single choice that most affects what you get back. The same prompt can come back photorealistic or stylized, sharp or soft, with perfect on-image text or garbled text, depending on which model renders it. Quality, speed, cost, and even which options (ratio, resolution, number of image references) are available all follow from that choice.
Abyssale currently gives you 20 models to choose from. This article covers all of them, grouped by family, so you know what each one brings before you spend credits on it.
The Full Model Roster
Google : Gemini / Nano Banana family
Abyssale offers six models from this family, all built on different generations of Google's Gemini image architecture. They're worth understanding together because the naming can be confusing:
Model | Underlying architecture | Best for |
Gemini 2.5 Flash (original Nano Banana) | Gemini 2.5 Flash | The lightest, fastest, cheapest model in the family. Good for quick edits, drafts, and bulk generation where top-end quality isn't the priority. |
Nano Banana | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Same generation as Gemini 2.5 Flash above, a solid everyday choice for straightforward generations and simple edits. |
Nano Banana 2 | Gemini 3.1 Flash | The current sweet spot: close to Pro-level quality at Flash-level speed and cost, with strong subject consistency across multiple images and up to 4K output. This is the best default for most day-to-day generation. |
Nano Banana Pro | Gemini 3 Pro | The highest-fidelity model in the family, best for complex scenes, dense on-image text, and studio-grade hero visuals. Slower and more expensive than Nano Banana 2, so reserve it for images that need the extra polish. |
Gemini 3.1 Flash | Gemini 3.1 Flash | Same generation as Nano Banana 2 — a fast, economical model with up to 4K output and wide ratio support. |
Gemini 3 Pro | Gemini 3 Pro | Same underlying model as Nano Banana Pro, expect equivalent quality, reasoning, and cost. |
In practice: for most work, start with Nano Banana 2. Move up to Nano Banana Pro / Gemini 3 Pro for your final, published version of something important. Use Gemini 2.5 Flash / Nano Banana for cheap, high-volume, or throwaway drafts.
OpenAI
Model | Best for |
GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst | The most capable OpenAI model available. Built for premium, production-ready visuals and precise, multi-round editing — higher image quality than GPT Image 2, at the cost of longer generation time. The go-to choice when a final asset needs to hold up at full size or after several rounds of edits. |
GPT Image 2.5 Flare | The fast, light counterpart to Sunburst — quality comparable to GPT Image 2 but generated 2 to 4x faster. Best for iteration, high-volume generation, and everyday work where Sunburst's extra polish isn't needed. |
GPT Image 2 | Currently the strongest all-round model for complex prompts, spatial reasoning, and, especially, legible, accurately spelled text and typography inside the image. Also excels at instruction-based editing of an existing image. The go-to choice when a prompt has a lot of moving parts or needs words rendered correctly. |
GPT Image 1.5 | The previous generation. Still solid and slightly cheaper, but generally superseded by GPT Image 2, worth keeping as a fallback or for consistency with older assets generated on it, rather than as a first choice for new work. |
ByteDance
Model | Best for |
Seedream 5 Pro | ByteDance's new flagship model, above Seedream 4.5. Excels at dense, structured layouts (infographics, posters, UI mockups), precise regional editing, and native multilingual on-image text (10+ languages). Also supports layer separation, decomposing a generation into multiple transparent layers, useful when you need a reusable, editable design asset rather than a flat image. |
Seedream 4.5 | Strong photorealism with accurate materials, lighting, and reflections, native high-resolution output, and good text rendering. A top pick for product and commercial photography specifically. |
Black Forest Labs (FLUX)
Model | Best for |
Flux.3 | Built for precise local edits, sharp text rendering, and native 4K output, and it accepts up to 10 reference images. A good fit when you want to change one part of an image while the rest stays untouched, or when readable text matters. Credit cost scales with resolution: 6 AI credits at 1k, 23 at 2k, and 89 at 4k (1:1 ratio, no reference image). |
FLUX 2 Pro | Natural, "shot on a camera" photorealism with realistic lighting and physics, without the slightly polished/artificial look some models default to. Good for lifestyle or documentary-style imagery. |
FLUX 2 Klein 9B | A lighter, faster, more economical FLUX variant. Trades some quality for speed and cost, useful for bulk generation where FLUX's photorealistic look is wanted but budget matters. |
Alibaba
Model | Best for |
Wan 2.7 | A stable, reliable, enterprise-leaning model with a more conservative aesthetic. Good fit when predictability and a polished, professional look matter more than creative surprise. |
Qwen 2511 | An economical, open-lineage model — a good value option for straightforward generation when you don't need frontier-level detail. |
Kuaishou
Model | Best for |
Kling O3 | Particularly strong at image-to-image work and keeping a subject or reference faithful across a generation — useful when consistency with a reference image matters more than free creative interpretation. |
xAI
Model | Best for |
Grok Imagine | Fast, and tuned for punchy, social-ready visuals, portraits, stylized scenes, and content built for platforms like Instagram or TikTok. A good choice when the goal is an eye-catching, shareable look rather than strict photorealism or accuracy. |
Ideogram
Model | Best for |
Ideogram 4.5 | Known for crisp typography, and built for precise editing: change one part of an image (a color, a piece of text, an element of the scene) while the rest stays untouched. Details also hold up when you edit the same image several times in a row, so you can refine a visual step by step without it drifting from the original. A great fit for product photos to retouch, sign or packaging text to adapt, and any visual where a small change shouldn't affect everything else. |
Quick Answer, by Need
If you need... | Reach for |
Fast iteration, lots of drafts, low cost | Nano Banana 2, Gemini 2.5 Flash, or Qwen 2511 |
Maximum quality, studio-grade hero image | Nano Banana Pro or Gemini 3 Pro |
Text, logos, or typography rendered accurately inside the image | GPT Image 2, Nano Banana Pro, Ideogram 4.5, or Flux.3 |
Photorealistic product or commercial photography | Seedream 4.5 or GPT Image 2 |
Natural, unpolished, documentary-style photorealism | FLUX 2 Pro |
Editing or extending an existing photo (inpainting) | GPT Image 2, Ideogram 4.5, or the Nano Banana family |
Changing one precise part of an image (a color, a text, an element) without touching the rest | Ideogram 4.5 or Flux.3 |
Consistent subject/character across several images | Nano Banana 2, Nano Banana Pro, or Kling O3 |
Lots of reference images in a single generation (product angles, brand style, logo, mood board) | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, GPT Image 2.5 Flare, or GPT Image 2 (up to 16), Nano Banana 2 or Nano Banana Pro (up to 14), Flux.3 (up to 10) |
Eye-catching, social-first visuals | Grok Imagine |
Stable, predictable, enterprise-safe results | Wan 2.7 |
Budget, high-volume generation | Nano Banana 2, Qwen 2511, or FLUX 2 Klein 9B |
Reference Image Limits by Model
Each model accepts its own maximum number of reference images. Abyssale applies each model's real limit, so some models let you give the AI much more to work from: several product angles, your brand's visual style, a logo and a mood board, all in a single generation.
Max reference images | Models |
16 | GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst, GPT Image 2.5 Flare, GPT Image 2 |
14 | Nano Banana 2, Nano Banana Pro, Gemini 3.1 Flash, Gemini 3 Pro |
10 | GPT Image 1.5, Flux.3 |
8 | FLUX 2 Pro |
7 | Seedream 5 Pro, Seedream 4.5, Kling O3 |
6 | Qwen 2511 |
5 | Ideogram 4.5 |
4 | Wan 2.7, FLUX 2 Klein 9B |
3 | Nano Banana, Gemini 2.5 Flash, Grok Imagine |
Note: The same limits apply when you generate through the API, where reference images are passed in inpaint_images. A request with more images than the model accepts is rejected. See the developer documentation for the always-up-to-date list.
A Few Practical Notes
Not every model supports every setting. Ratio options, quality/resolution tiers, and the number of image references all vary by model, the prompt bar only shows the options a given model actually supports, so if something you expect isn't there, it's worth checking a different model rather than assuming it's missing.
Some "different" models share the same underlying tech. As the table above shows, Nano Banana pairs with Gemini 2.5 Flash, and Nano Banana Pro pairs with Gemini 3 Pro, so don't expect a different result switching between those pairs. Similarly, GPT Image 2.5 Flare and Sunburst are two tunings of the same underlying model, sharing the same API surface and pricing, the difference is purely a speed/quality trade-off.
Credit cost scales with your choices, not just the model. A Pro-tier model at low resolution can cost less than a Flash-tier model at 4K with several image references. For example, Flux.3 costs 6 AI credits at 1k, 23 at 2k, and 89 at 4k (1:1 ratio, no reference image). The exact cost for your current settings is always shown next to the generate button before you launch.
The best model can change. New models are added to the list regularly, and the "leading" model for a given need shifts as providers ship updates. Treat this article as a starting point, and don't hesitate to compare two models on the same prompt when a generation matters.
Prompt quality still matters more than model choice. A vague prompt on the best model will usually underperform a clear, well-written prompt on a mid-tier one. See Creating Effective Text-to-Image Prompts in Abyssale for guidance on writing prompts that get the most out of whichever model you choose.