What is the best AI image editing model?

Based on blind community voting, Nano Banana 2 is currently the #1 ranked AI image editing model with an Elo rating of 1266. Rankings update in real time as new votes come in.

How are AI image editing models ranked on Lumenfall?

Lumenfall Arena ranks AI models through blind community voting. In each matchup, two models generate from the same prompt and voters pick the better result without seeing model names. Votes are processed using TrueSkill, a Bayesian rating algorithm developed by Microsoft Research, that produces a single Elo score reflecting each model's relative quality.

What is an Elo rating for AI models?

An Elo rating is a numerical score representing a model's skill relative to other models. Under the hood, Lumenfall uses TrueSkill, which tracks two values per model: mu (estimated skill) and sigma (uncertainty). The displayed Elo is calculated as 1000 + 10 x (mu - 3*sigma), a conservative lower bound. A model must prove itself consistently across many matchups to earn a high rating.

Best AI Models for Face & Identity

Face & Identity · Image Editing

Elo rankings from blind votes across 2 challenges in this category.

Grok Imagine Image Pro

Highlights

10 images

Before After

Price · Performance

Best models, by

Every ranked model plotted by price against its Elo. The upper-left frontier is the best value: top quality at the lowest cost.

Best Image Editing Models by Price

Best AI Models for Face & Identity

15 models ranked · Last update: June 26, 2026 1:59 PM

#	Model	Price	¢/img	Elo
1	Nano Banana 2 Google	$$	2.2¢	1266
2	Nano Banana Pro Google	$$$	6.7¢	1254
3	Nano Banana Google	$$	3.9¢	1242
4	Seedream 5.0 Lite ByteDance	$$	3.5¢	1240
5	GPT Image 1.5 OpenAI	$	0.9¢	1234
6	Grok Imagine Image xAI	$$	2¢	1220
7	Seedream 4.5 ByteDance	$$	4¢	1218
8	Grok Imagine Image Pro xAI	$$$	7¢	1217
9	FLUX.2 [max] Black Forest Labs	$$	3¢	1205
10	Qwen Image Edit 2511 Alibaba	$$	3¢	1205

11	FLUX.2 [pro] Black Forest Labs	$$	1.5¢	1197
12	Wan 2.6 Alibaba	$$	3¢	1176
13	Seedream 4.0 ByteDance	$$	3¢	1171
14	Reve Image 1.0 Reve AI	$$	4¢	1153
15	Z-Image Turbo Alibaba	$	0.5¢	1125

Google's Nano Banana series dominates the Portrait category, with Nano Banana 2 holding the top spot at 1284 Elo and a significant 90.2% win rate. This specialized performance deviates from the overall leaderboard, as ByteDance's Seedream 5.0 Lite (1272 Elo) outperforms current-generation models from xAI and OpenAI in portrait-specific tasks.

Rivalries

Aggregate head-to-head across the arena

Nano Banana Pro GPT Image 1.5

50% 2 challenges 50%

Seedream 4.5 Grok Imagine Image

38% 2 challenges 38%

Nano Banana FLUX.2 [max]

50% 2 challenges 25%

Seedream 4.0 Wan 2.6

20% 2 challenges 60%

Think a model is ranked wrong? Cast your vote

Highlighted challenges

Image Editing Photorealism Adding & Editing Objects

Man and Car in California

Combines two references (a person and a car) into one believable driving scene. It checks whether the model keeps the man’s identity and the car’s appearance while placing them convincingly on the coastline with matched lighting and perspective.

Image Editing Photorealism Face & Identity

Bald man challenge

A targeted edit test. Adding a realistic head of hair requires a believable hairline and texture while keeping the face, expression, and lighting unchanged. Common failures are wig-like or pasted-on hair and subtle changes to the underlying face.

View all challenges

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Models · slot A

Face & Identity · Image Editing

Highlights

Best models, by

Best Image Editing Models by Price

Best Image Editing Models by Speed

Best AI Models for Face & Identity

Rivalries

Highlighted challenges

Man and Car in California

Bald man challenge

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