Frequently asked
Can I make YouTube thumbnails specifically?
Yes — pick the Thumbnail style preset, the 16:9 aspect ratio, and write a prompt that names the focal subject, the emotion (surprised, pointing, shocked), and any text overlay you want burned in. Nano Banana handles text reasonably well for short phrases; longer text is more reliable in a separate editing step.
Why Nano Banana instead of Midjourney or DALL-E?
Three reasons: (1) cost — Nano Banana is roughly 10× cheaper per image than Midjourney's paid tiers and 30% cheaper than DALL-E 3; (2) quality — Gemini 2.5 Flash Image is the current best-in-class for fast iteration; (3) latency — typical generation is 3–10 seconds, fast enough that you generate 5 variations in the time Midjourney generates one.
Can I use the images commercially?
Yes. Google's Gemini Image license permits commercial use of generated output. There's no royalty owed and no attribution required. Use the images on YouTube, TikTok, paid ads, products, anything.
Is there an image-to-image / edit mode?
Yes, but on the desktop app rather than the browser portal — the desktop's AI Image page accepts up to 3 reference images for multi-reference composition (combine the colors of image 1 with the layout of image 2, etc.). The browser tool today is text-to-image only; reference-image support is on the roadmap.
What style works best for faceless YouTube channels?
The Thumbnail preset with a high-contrast color background and a single focal object (a phone, a logo, an icon) tends to convert best. Avoid faces if your channel is faceless by design — Nano Banana's faces are decent but not yet cinema-grade and they pull focus from the title text. The Sticker preset works surprisingly well for icon-style thumbnails on tech and gaming channels.