Model comparison
MiniMax H3 Image vs Nano Banana 2.1
We ran the same eight prompts on MiniMax H3 Image and Nano Banana 2.1. One try each, nothing picked or re-rolled. Here is how they compare.
Try MiniMax H3 ImageThe short answer
- H3 Image makes the more lifelike photo. Skin, hair and light look like a real camera caught them.
- H3 Image follows camera directions closely. Asked for a side view at table height, it gave exactly that.
- Nano Banana 2.1 is the pick for small text. It spelled every word on the menu and wrote real captions on the infographic.
- Both place objects where the prompt says, and both edit a photo without touching the rest.
- They cost the same at 2K: 1.5 credits an image.
At a glance
| MiniMax H3 Image | Nano Banana 2.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Best at | Photos that look taken, scenes with many exact details | Menus, infographics and other text-heavy designs |
| Price at 2K | 1.5 credits | 1.5 credits |
| Price at 4K | 4 credits | 3 credits |
| Text in images | Exact when every word is quoted | Exact, small captions included |
| Photo edits | Up to 8 images | Reference images supported |
Portrait photo
H3 Image gives the more real face: deep lines, loose strands of hair and skin with nothing smoothed away. Nano Banana 2.1 is a lovely portrait too, a little cleaner, and she looks straight at the camera where the prompt asked for a glance away.
A close-up editorial photograph of a woman in her sixties with short silver hair and deep laugh lines, wearing a mustard yellow wool turtleneck, looking slightly off camera with a small smile. Window light from the left, soft shadow on the right side of her face, shallow depth of field, a blurred bookshelf behind her. Natural skin texture with visible pores and fine hairs, catchlights in both eyes, shot on an 85mm lens at f/1.8.
Hands at work
H3 Image shot it from the side at wheel height, as asked, and it reads like a snapshot from a real workshop. Nano Banana 2.1 chose a higher angle with richer light. Both show the silver ring. Neither caught the flying water.
A photograph of an elderly potter's hands shaping a wet clay bowl on a spinning pottery wheel, seen from the side at table height. Both hands are fully visible with all ten fingers, clay slip running over the knuckles, a thin silver ring on the left ring finger. Water droplets flying off the wheel, a dim workshop behind with shelves of unfired pots, warm tungsten light from above, motion blur on the wheel only.
Five objects, each in its place
Both put all five objects in the right corners with the glasses on the left page. H3 Image looks like a quick phone photo of a real table. Nano Banana 2.1 has stronger sunlight, and its toy car points up instead of left.
A wooden kitchen table photographed from directly above. Exactly five objects are on it: a blue ceramic mug of black coffee in the top left corner, a green apple with one bite taken out of it in the top right corner, an open paperback book in the center with a pair of round gold glasses resting on its left page, a yellow pencil lying horizontally below the book, and a small red toy car in the bottom right corner facing left. Morning sunlight coming from the right, soft long shadows pointing left.
Poster with text
Every word is spelled right on both. H3 Image goes big on the headline and keeps the drawing small and simple. Nano Banana 2.1 fills the page with a full linocut scene.
A vintage letterpress concert poster on cream paper. Large headline at the top in bold red slab serif reads "MIDNIGHT HARBOR JAZZ FESTIVAL". Below it, smaller black text reads "Friday 14 March, Doors 8 PM, Pier 39 Warehouse". In the center, a navy blue linocut illustration of a saxophone player standing on a dock under a crescent moon. At the bottom, a row of three small lines of text: "Tickets $25", "All Ages", "Rain or Shine". Visible paper grain and slightly uneven ink.
Edit: same person, new scene
Both keep her face, her hair and the denim jacket. H3 Image gives a quiet, candid frame. Nano Banana 2.1 builds a busier terrace with people at the tables behind her.
The same woman from the image sitting at a cafe table in Paris, holding a cup of coffee, wearing the same denim jacket and gold earrings, candid street photograph, golden hour
Edit: product in a scene
A tie. Both set the bottle on the counter by the window and leave the room alone. H3 Image adds a warm patch of sun. Nano Banana 2.1 adds a soft reflection on the marble.
Place the serum bottle from the second image on the marble counter in the first image, near the window, keep the morning light and add a soft natural shadow. Keep everything else the same.
Chalkboard menu
Nano Banana 2.1 wins this one. Every item and price is right on both, but H3 Image wrote "seasanal" in the pink line at the bottom.
A chalkboard cafe menu hanging on a white tiled wall, written in neat white chalk handwriting. Title at the top: "TODAY'S MENU". Then four lines, each with a price on the right: "Flat White 4.50", "Oat Milk Latte 5.00", "Almond Croissant 3.75", "Avocado Toast 9.25". At the bottom in pink chalk: "Ask about our seasonal specials!" A small chalk drawing of a steaming coffee cup in the bottom left corner. A string of warm fairy lights along the top of the board.
Infographic
Nano Banana 2.1 wins clearly. Both get the title and the five step names. Nano Banana 2.1 also wrote a real caption under each step. H3 Image filled those lines with made-up words, because the prompt never said what they should say.
A clean infographic titled "How Coffee Gets to Your Cup" with five numbered steps in a vertical flow: 1 Grow, 2 Harvest, 3 Dry, 4 Roast, 5 Brew, each with a small flat icon and one short line of text, warm brown and cream palette
Run your own test
Both models are on Pixel Dojo. Copy any prompt above and try it on each.