Best AI image generator for text: 9 models, one test (2026)

The short answer

In October 2026, seven of nine models wrote all four of our texts correctly on the first try; for everyday work, GPT Image 2.5 Flare is the best value at 3 credits an image.

We asked nine image models for the same poster, the same logo, the same tea box and the same chalkboard menu, each with exact text to render. Final count: 34 correct images out of 36. Nano Banana Pro, Nano Banana 2, GPT Image 2, GPT Image 2.5 Flare, Flux 3, MAI-Image 2.6 and Grok Imagine Image 2.0 went four for four. Recraft V4.1 got the menu wrong, and Seedream 5 Pro dropped the ampersand from the logo.

On these four everyday cases, spelling things right barely separates anyone anymore. What separates the models now is price, speed, how faithfully they keep your capitalization, and how they handle long lists. One disclosure before going further: Imaginode, where all nine models run, is Frank Houbre's product, and Frank runs this blog. The failed images are shown right next to the good ones.

The test: four kinds of text AI used to get wrong

Four prompts, each with a trap: French accents, an ampersand, small print on an angled box, and a list of euro prices.

The poster asks for "NUITS DE JAZZ", "Lyon, 14 au 16 mars 2027" and "Théâtre de Fourvière". The trap is the É, Â and È, which models trained mostly on English tend to swap for plain letters. If you sell anything outside English-speaking markets, this is the test that matters.

The logo asks for "PAIN & LEVAIN" with "Boulangerie depuis 1987" underneath. Models love turning an ampersand into a decoration. The tea box asks for three lines, including a tiny "Net wt. 100 g", on a product shot at an angle. The chalkboard asks for five lines: "MENU DU JOUR" and four items with prices, decimal comma and euro sign included.

Every model got the same prompt, written in English with the target text in quotes, exactly once. No second chances. The two sheets below show the first 18 images; click to enlarge.

Results, model by model

Seven models scored 4 out of 4, two scored 3 out of 4, and the cheapest perfect score costs six times less than the most expensive one.

The table puts text accuracy next to the base price listed on each model's page in Imaginode, where one credit is worth about one euro cent (roughly 1.2 US cents). Time is what we measured from sending the prompt to receiving the file, with all nine models running at once, so read it as a rough guide.

The number to remember: GPT Image 2.5 Flare matches Nano Banana Pro's perfect score at one sixth of the price. Flux 3, at 4 credits, is the other bargain. At the slow end, Seedream 5 Pro took 80 to 128 seconds per image, far behind everyone else.

The two failures up close

Recraft wrote five prices for four menu items, and Seedream treated the ampersand as free space for its wheat ear.

On Recraft V4.1's chalkboard, the item names are right but the price column slipped by one line: 1,80 € floats next to the title, 4,50 € shows up twice, and half-erased ghost text sits under "MENU DU JOUR". At a glance it looks fine. Printed and hung in a café, it sells a croissant with no price. You only catch this kind of mistake by reading line by line.

Seedream 5 Pro's logo is good looking, which is exactly the problem: the wheat ear took the &'s place and the name now reads "PAIN LEVAIN". For a brand, that's a dealbreaker. Both models nailed their other three images, so they stay on the list for what they do well (more below).

The practical lesson applies to every model: zoom to 100% and check every word, price and accent before anything goes to print. Our guide to AI hands and text problems covers how to fix them after generation.

Small print and long lists: the tea box and the menu

All nine models got "Net wt. 100 g" right on the tea box; on the chalkboard, the difference came down to alignment and how clean the lettering looked.

Small print on an angled box is the classic trap in product shots. Here, nobody missed it. The differences show up elsewhere: Nano Banana Pro draws a heavy, confident brand typeface, Flux 3 and MAI-Image add tea leaves or little pagoda-and-mountain drawings nobody asked for, and Seedream keeps it plain and photographic.

The chalkboard is the most telling test because a price list leaves no room for error. GPT Image 2 and GPT Image 2.5 Flare line up the prices as if someone used a ruler. Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro write in a looser, slightly slanted chalk hand that looks more natural. MAI-Image puts a dash in front of each item, which we didn't ask for but which doesn't change any of the text.

Which one to use for what

For a social graphic with a headline, GPT Image 2.5 Flare; for long lists or busy layouts, GPT Image 2 or Nano Banana Pro; for a clean logo, Recraft V4.1, as long as you proofread the text.

For posters, thumbnails and social graphics, go with GPT Image 2.5 Flare. Four for four, quick, 3 credits. If you generate ten variations to keep one, that's where the price gap really shows: ten images at 3 credits cost less than two at 19.

For menus, price lists, infographics, anything that lines up numbers, GPT Image 2 was the cleanest on our chalkboard. Nano Banana Pro is the other pick once the prompt gets long and layered, which is also what its model page says it's for. It costs more, so save it for the final version.

For product shots with a label, Flux 3 or Nano Banana 2. Both produce a believable scene with correct text; Flux 3 costs 4 credits, and Nano Banana 2 was the fastest model in our test.

For logos, Recraft V4.1 is the only one that output something that looks like a real vector file: flat fills, sharp edges, no paper grain. Its botched menu is a reminder to proofread. Avoid Seedream 5 Pro for names that contain a symbol like & or +.

This ranking comes from one sample per cell. It shows a trend, not a guarantee: if a model misspells your text, one retry usually costs less than switching models. For a broader view than text alone, see our roundup of AI image generators and how to pick a model.

What about Ideogram?

Ideogram is still the name people mention first for text in images, but it isn't in the Imaginode catalog and we didn't test it.

Ideogram's documentation puts text in images, logo making and transparent backgrounds front and center, using its own models plus partner models. The English roundups that rank first on Google often put it at the top for text, alongside GPT Image 2.

We didn't run it through the same test, so we won't claim it beats or trails the nine models above. If you're torn between Ideogram and Imaginode, our Imaginode vs Ideogram page compares the two offers, and Ideogram alternatives lists other options.

Enlarge the screenshot

How to get the text right more often

Put the exact text in quotes, give each element its own line, and describe the lettering instead of leaving it to chance.

Every prompt in this test put the text in straight quotes, line by line, with its position ("at the top", "below it", "at the bottom"). That's the main reason the results were so good: tell a model "a logo with the bakery's name" and it invents one; hand it the exact string and it copies it.

Three more habits help. Describe the lettering ("handwritten white chalk", "art deco capitals"): models follow that better than a named font. Keep lines short, as Seedream showed when it split "Théâtre de Fourvière" over two lines. And when only one letter is wrong, edit the image instead of regenerating it: editing models like Nano Banana or GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst can fix a word and leave everything else alone. Our post on writing a prompt that works breaks down how to structure one.

Where to run these nine models

All nine models from this test are in Imaginode, among the 133 models we counted on October 28, 2026, all billed from the same credit balance.

In Imaginode, you drop an Image node on the canvas, pick the model from the list, and see the cost before you hit generate. You can wire the same prompt into several Image nodes to compare three models side by side, which is what we did here on a bigger scale. A generation that fails on the technical side is refunded in credits automatically.

The Starter plan is $17 a month before tax for 900 credits (€13 on the French and German versions of the site), which works out to about 300 images with GPT Image 2.5 Flare or 47 with Nano Banana Pro. Credit packs without a subscription start at $7 before tax for 300 credits. Prices checked on the pricing page on October 28, 2026.