Nano Banana 2.1 vs Gemma 3 12B

Price, context window & benchmark comparison

Google

Nano Banana 2.1

Google
$1.50 / $7.50
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
VS
Google

Gemma 3 12B

Google
$0.05 / $0.15
Input / Output · per 1M tokens
Compare different models
Google
Google
Verdict: Gemma 3 12B is 40.0× cheaper than Nano Banana 2.1 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix. Gemma 3 12B has the larger context window (131K vs 66K).
Nano Banana 2.1Gemma 3 12B
Input price / 1M$1.50$0.05
Output price / 1M$7.50$0.15
Blended price (3:1)$3.00$0.075
Cached input / 1M——
Context window66K131K
Max output59K16K
Intelligence index——
Coding index—5.8
Providers1—
Best provider uptime (30m)100.0%—
Vision inputYesYes
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Released2026-10-062025-03-13
Retirement——

Cost calculator

FAQ

Which is cheaper, Nano Banana 2.1 or Gemma 3 12B?

Gemma 3 12B is 40.0× cheaper than Nano Banana 2.1 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix.

Nano Banana 2.1 vs Gemma 3 12B: which has a bigger context window?

Nano Banana 2.1: 65,536 tokens. Gemma 3 12B: 131,072 tokens.

How much would 1 million requests cost?

At 2,000 input + 500 output tokens per request: Nano Banana 2.1 ≈ $6,750, Gemma 3 12B ≈ $175.00.

More comparisons