Image Generation Models Compared: Cost, Edit, Quality

OpenRouter compared 20 image-generation models using identical 1:1 prompts on 11 September 2026, finding billed costs from $0.006 to $0.134 per image despite differing pricing units such as tokens, megapixels, and per-image rates. OpenAI’s gpt-image-2 was the cheapest tested model and produced readable text and competent edits, while Sourceful Riverflow v2.5 Pro led cited Design Arena image and editing rankings, Google Gemini 3 Pro Image was the most reliable tested option for replies containing both images and written text, and Recraft v4.1 Vector offered editable SVG output. The comparison emphasizes that listed prices may not match actual charges, prompt length and quality settings can substantially alter token-based costs, and output resolution, format, reference-image limits, seed support, and images-per-call limits vary widely across models. Tests of product-label generation showed that most selected models rendered requested text correctly, while reference-image editing revealed that models generally preserved wording but altered object details to some extent. The report recommends selecting models according to practical requirements such as volume cost, text accuracy, edit consistency, number of references, vector output, or multimodal responses, and advises developers to inspect each API response’s usage.cost and media_type fields and retrieve current endpoint specifications because pricing and capabilities change frequently.

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