ARENA Leaderboard

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

Best AI Models for Portrait

Ranking the best AI image editing models for portrait, based on 2 blind community-voted challenges.

Highlights

10 images

Highlighted Battles

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

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%

FLUX.2 [pro] vs Wan 2.6

Bald man challenge

50% · 50%

Reve Image 1.0 vs GPT Image 1.5

Bald man challenge

50% · 50%

Best AI Models for Portrait

14 models ranked

#	Model	Price	¢/img	Elo
1	Nano Banana Google	$$	3.9¢	1279
2	Seedream 5.0 Lite ByteDance	$$	3.5¢	1259
3	FLUX.2 [max] Black Forest Labs	$$	3¢	1252
4	Nano Banana Pro Google	$$$	6.7¢	1250
5	Nano Banana 2 Google	$$	2.2¢	1243
6	Grok Imagine Image xAI	$$	2¢	1242
7	GPT Image 1.5 OpenAI	$	0.9¢	1235
8	Grok Imagine Image Pro xAI	$$$	7¢	1234
9	Seedream 4.5 ByteDance	$$	4¢	1210
10	FLUX.2 [pro] Black Forest Labs	$$	1.5¢	1191

11	Wan 2.6 Alibaba	$$	3¢	1180
12	Seedream 4.0 ByteDance	$$	3¢	1176
13	Reve Image 1.0 Reve AI	$$	4¢	1168
14	Z-Image Turbo Alibaba	$	0.5¢	1033

Elo vs Cost

Elo vs Speed

2 without speed data omitted.

Challenges

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

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