Ideogram V3 comes from Ideogram AI, a company founded by former Google Brain researchers who specifically set out to solve the text rendering problem in image generation. Where most diffusion models struggle with legible text, Ideogram has made typography its specialty. The model includes a "magic prompt" feature that automatically enhances descriptions before generation, often producing better results without requiring deep prompt engineering knowledge.
Nano Banana Pro represents the flagship tier of AI image generation—essentially Google's Gemini 3 Pro Image model made accessible through FAL's infrastructure. With an ELO score around 1222, it ranks among the very best image generators available. The model excels at complex scene composition, photorealistic rendering, and nuanced understanding of prompts. It supports both text-to-image and image-to-image workflows.
The cost difference is substantial: Nano Banana Pro costs roughly 5x more per image than Ideogram V3. This reflects their positioning: Ideogram as a specialized tool for typography-focused work, Nano Banana Pro as an all-purpose flagship for when maximum quality matters. Generation speed also differs, with Ideogram taking about 4 seconds versus Nano Banana Pro's 8 seconds.
Interestingly, both models handle text well—Ideogram is the specialist with a perfect 10/10 text score, while Nano Banana Pro achieves an excellent 9/10. The meaningful difference appears in overall image quality and photorealism, where Nano Banana Pro's flagship status shows. For purely typographic work, Ideogram delivers comparable text quality at a fraction of the cost. For everything else, the question becomes whether the quality improvement justifies the premium.
Tip: Consider your volume: at 5x the cost, Nano Banana Pro becomes expensive at scale. Reserve it for hero images, final assets, and work where flagship quality is visible and valued. Use Ideogram for iterations, text-heavy designs, and high-volume work.