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Nano Banana 2 Lite

For builders automating image generation, this model offers a more cost-effective and faster alternative, with the trade-off of potential text inaccuracies that developers should account for in their workflows.

Simon Willison·June 30, 2026·1 min readrelease

releaseNano Banana 2 Lite

simonwillison.net

What happened

Google has released Nano Banana 2 Lite, also known as Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image, the latest addition to its Gemini image generation model lineup. According to Simon Willison, this is the fastest and cheapest Gemini image model, designed for high speed and scalability. Willison tested it with a prompt to create a 'Where's Waldo'-style image featuring a raccoon holding a ham radio, noting that results were better than previous Nano Banana models he tried in April. However, he observed that the model made two distinct spelling errors in the text 'Forest Festival.' The model, accessible via Google AI Studio and the Gemini API under the name gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image, aims to deliver velocity and scale for developers building AI-powered image generation workflows.

Key takeaways

Nano Banana 2 Lite (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image) is Google's fastest and cheapest Gemini image model.
Simon Willison tested the model and achieved improved results over earlier versions in a 'Where's Waldo' style image generation.
The model still struggles with text generation, producing two different misspellings in a single prompt.
It is available through Google AI Studio and the Gemini API.