Nano Banana
Nano Banana 2.1Ideogram
Ideogram 4.0Nano Banana wins, 5–2 (1 tied)
Head-to-head on 8 identical prompts: Nano Banana won 5, Ideogram won 2, 1 tied. Average score: 8.9 vs 8.7. The gap is small, so treat it as close and pick based on the shots you make.
Fisherman portrait
Prompt 13: “Photoreal headshot of a 60-year-old fisherman, weathered skin, overcast light.”
Nano Banana 2.1 9.0 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 9
Weathered fisherman, overcast light, boat context.
Ideogram 4.0 8.7 adherence 8quality 9artifacts 9
Weathered face, overcast harbour; less fisherman styling.
Text: GRAND OPENING
Prompt 14: “A poster with the exact text "GRAND OPENING SATURDAY" in bold retro type.”
Nano Banana 2.1 9.7 adherence 10quality 9artifacts 10
Exact text, richer retro poster design.
Ideogram 4.0 9.3 adherence 10quality 8artifacts 10
Exact text, clean retro type; plain composition.
Isometric bedroom
Prompt 15: “Isometric cozy bedroom, Pixar-style 3D render.”
Nano Banana 2.1 9.0 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 9
Highly detailed cozy isometric room.
Ideogram 4.0 8.7 adherence 9quality 8artifacts 9
Cute Pixar-like isometric room, simpler detail.
Skincare flat-lay
Prompt 16: “Flat-lay of a skincare product line on marble, ad-ready.”
Nano Banana 2.1 8.7 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 8
Ad-ready flat-lay, mostly legible labels; one smudged label.
Ideogram 4.0 8.0 adherence 8quality 8artifacts 8
Minimal and sparse; labels mostly unreadable.
Fantasy island map
Prompt 17: “Fantasy map of an island kingdom, hand-drawn ink and watercolor.”
Nano Banana 2.1 8.7 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 8
Rich detailed map; duplicated place name and one garbled label.
Ideogram 4.0 8.7 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 8
Ink and watercolour map; 'SEAA' spelling error.
Rooftop selfie (hands)
Prompt 18: “Five friends taking a selfie at a rooftop party, everyone's hands visible.”
Nano Banana 2.1 8.3 adherence 8quality 9artifacts 8
Five friends plus background crowd; hands well formed.
Ideogram 4.0 8.7 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 8
Five friends taking a selfie, hands mostly correct; a few hidden.
Character sheet
Prompt 19: “A consistent character: a red-haired girl in a yellow raincoat, 3 poses on one sheet.”
Nano Banana 2.1 9.0 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 9
Consistent character in 3 expressive poses.
Ideogram 4.0 9.3 adherence 10quality 9artifacts 9
Proper turnaround sheet, consistent character.
YouTube thumbnail
Prompt 20: “YouTube thumbnail: a shocked man pointing at a giant glowing graph, high contrast.”
Nano Banana 2.1 8.7 adherence 9quality 9artifacts 8
Strong shocked face, high contrast, glowing graph; busy numbers.
Ideogram 4.0 8.0 adherence 8quality 8artifacts 8
Pointing at glowing graph, added 'INSANE!' text; shock is mild.