MAI Image 2.6
Aug 2026
MAI Image 2.6Compare inon
MAI Image 2.6 measured on 5 of 9 Image Generation & Editing benchmarks5
BenchmarkByScoreRank
Multimodal4
Text rendering1
No benchmark matches
Rankingconfiguration unstated?
Full ranking →Strong at
Alternatives?
ModelScoreCostPriceWhat changes
CheaperNano Banana 2.1unstatedsame-14%$0.034
BetterGPT Image 2.5 Sunburstmaxwins 58%+442%$0.21
OpenQwen Image 2.1unstatedwins 33%-49%$0.02
CheaperMuse Imageunstatedwins 44%-74%$0.01CheaperMAI Image 2.6 Flashwins 43%-50%$0.019ModelScoreCostPriceWhat changes
Nano Banana 2.1unstatedsame-14%$0.034Muse Imageunstatedwins 44%-74%$0.01MAI Image 2.6 Flashwins 43%-50%$0.019Nano Banana 2 Lite (Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image)unstatedwins 42%-14%$0.034ModelScoreCostPriceWhat changes
GPT Image 2.5 Sunburstmaxwins 58%+442%$0.21GPT Image 2.5 Flaremaxwins 56%+442%$0.21GPT Image 2highwins 53%+442%$0.21
History
2 versionsBenchmarks
in Image Generation & EditingArena Image Editing · overall1,428.3#4
Arena Text-to-Image · overall1,332.1#4
FAQ
How much does MAI Image 2.6 cost?›
$0.039 per image.
Is MAI Image 2.6 free to use?›
There is no free API; it costs $0.039 per image.
How good is MAI Image 2.6, and what is it best at?›
#5 of 93 in Image Generation & Editing. Strongest at: Image Generation & Editing.
Is MAI Image 2.6 better than Nano Banana 2.1?›
On AA Image Arena · text-to-image v2.1, MAI Image 2.6 scores 1,166 vs 1,176 — about the same. It is 16% more expensive.
When was MAI Image 2.6 released? Is there a newer version?›
Released 2026-08-10. It is the current version in its line.
Is MAI Image 2.6 open source?›
No, MAI Image 2.6 is a closed model available through an API. The closest open-weights option here is Qwen Image 2.1.
What is MAI Image 2.6?›
MAI Image 2.6 is a closed image generation & editing model from Microsoft, released Aug 2026.
What are the best alternatives to MAI Image 2.6?›
Nano Banana 2.1 (cheaper), GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (better), Qwen Image 2.1 (open weights).