ARENA Leaderboard

See how AI image models stack up against each other. How it works

Best AI Models for Photorealism

Ranking the best AI image editing models for photorealism, based on 5 blind community-voted challenges.

Highlights

10 images

Highlighted Battles

The most competitive head-to-head matchups, selected by closeness and vote count.

FLUX.2 [flex] vs Qwen Image Edit 2511

Man and Car in California

50% · 50%

Qwen Image Edit 2511 vs Nano Banana 2

Man and Car in California

45% · 48% · 6%

FLUX.2 [pro] vs Wan 2.6

Neutral Expression to Genuine Smile

50% · 50%

Nano Banana Pro vs Grok Imagine Image

Neutral Expression to Genuine Smile

50% · 25% · 25%

Best AI Models for Photorealism

16 models ranked

#	Model	Price	¢/img	Elo
1	Nano Banana Pro Google	$$$	6.7¢	1265
2	Nano Banana Google	$$	3.9¢	1254
3	GPT Image 1.5 OpenAI	$	0.9¢	1250
4	FLUX.2 [flex] Black Forest Labs	$$$	6¢	1247
5	Qwen Image Edit 2511 Alibaba	$$	3¢	1245
6	Wan 2.6 Alibaba	$$	3¢	1239
7	Nano Banana 2 Google	$$	2.2¢	1228
8	Seedream 5.0 Lite ByteDance	$$	3.5¢	1228
9	Seedream 4.5 ByteDance	$$	4¢	1221
10	Grok Imagine Image xAI	$$	2¢	1219

11	FLUX.2 [pro] Black Forest Labs	$$	1.5¢	1214
12	FLUX.2 [max] Black Forest Labs	$$	3¢	1211
13	Grok Imagine Image Pro xAI	$$$	7¢	1179
14	Reve Image 1.0 Reve AI	$$	4¢	1175
15	Seedream 4.0 ByteDance	$$	3¢	1172
16	Z-Image Turbo Alibaba	$	0.5¢	1026

Elo vs Cost

Elo vs Speed

2 without speed data omitted.

Challenges

Man and Car in California Image Editing Photorealism

“Make a photo of the man driving the car down the California coastline”

Input

Top 3

Nano Banana Pro

GPT Image 1.5

Wan 2.6

Bottom 3

Seedream 5.0 Lite

Grok Imagine Image

Seedream 4.0

13 models competed All results & rankings

Bald man challenge Image Editing Photorealism Portrait

“Give the person a full, thick head of natural hair with realistic texture, density, and a natural hairline. Preserve facial features and lighting.”

Input

Top 3

Before After

Nano Banana Pro

Before After

Nano Banana

Before After

Seedream 5.0 Lite

Bottom 3

Before After

Wan 2.6

Before After

Seedream 4.0

Before After

Z-Image Turbo

14 models competed All results & rankings

Night Sky Transformation Image Editing Photorealism

“Change the scene to night: a deep, dark sky with subtle, glistening stars visible behind the mountain.”

Input

Top 3

Before After

Nano Banana Pro

Before After

Grok Imagine Image

Before After

Grok Imagine Image Pro

Bottom 3

Before After

FLUX.2 [flex]

Before After

Nano Banana 2

Before After

Z-Image Turbo

15 models competed All results & rankings

Neutral Expression to Genuine Smile Image Editing Photorealism Portrait

{
  "action": "image_edit",
  "reference": "uploaded neutral portrait",
  "change": "Warm genuine Duchenne smile: lips curved up, slight natural teeth, soft eye crinkles, subtle cheek raise",
  "details": "Realistic smiling skin (dimples if present, soft cheek shadows), slightly brighter eyes; keep exact eye shape/color/iris",
  "preserve_exact": "Face identity/structure, eyes/nose/lips/eyebrows, hair, skin texture/pores/freckles, makeup, clothing, head pose, background, lighting, shadows, framing",
  "no_changes": "No face shape change, no new features, no gaze shift, no hair/clothing/lighting/background edits",
  "style": "Ultra-photorealistic 8K portrait, sharp face focus, natural soft lighting, realistic skin glow"
}

Input