Imagen 4 Ultra or Ideogram V3 on Sume: same $0.075, not the same row
Both bill $0.075 per image on Sume. Imagen 4 Ultra is text-only with five ratios and 1K or 2K. Ideogram V3 edits, lists 15 ratios and has a quality setting.
Imagen 4 Ultra and Ideogram V3 both bill $0.075 per image on Sume, so price does not pick between them; the request shape does. Imagen 4 Ultra is text-to-image only, lists five aspect ratios and a 1K or 2K resolution. Ideogram V3 accepts reference images, lists 15 aspect ratios and takes a quality of low, medium or high. Pick Imagen for a plain text prompt that fits a standard ratio, and Ideogram V3 when you need a banner shape or an edit.
The facts below come from the contract and catalog code on origin/main, read 2026-10-08. The only vendor page used is fal's page for Ideogram V3.
The two rows
The aspect lists are in the contract. Imagen is 1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 4:3 and 3:4, with no 4:5 and no custom pixels. Ideogram V3 adds 1:3, 3:1, 1:2, 2:1, 10:16, 16:10, 2:3, 3:2, 4:5 and 5:4.
| Field | Imagen 4 Ultra | Ideogram V3 |
|---|---|---|
| Billed per image | $0.075 | $0.075 |
| Text-to-image | Yes | Yes |
| Reference images | None; input_references max is 0 | Up to 10 |
| Aspect ratios | 5 | 15, including 4:5, 3:1 and 1:3 |
| resolution | 1K or 2K, default 2K | Not listed |
| quality | Not listed | low, medium, high (mapped to Fal rendering speed) |
| Images per call (n) | 1 to 4 | 1 to 4 |
| Output formats | png, jpeg, webp | png, jpeg, webp |
Quality on V3 does not change the Sume price
fal's Ideogram V3 page (read 2026-10-08) lists $0.03 for TURBO, $0.06 for BALANCED and $0.09 for QUALITY. Sume's card for the row is a single list rate of $0.06, so billed $0.075, whichever quality you send. In the repo's estimator the V3 price does not branch on quality. If you want the cheap end of V3, Sume does not pass it on; if you want the top end, you pay the same as the bottom.
Ideogram 4.5 is different: its list does move with quality ($0.03, $0.06 and $0.22), and Sume bills $0.0375, $0.075 and $0.275.
A decision in three lines
Need a reference photo in the request: Ideogram V3. Need an ultra-wide or tall strip: Ideogram V3. Need a 2K output from a text prompt at a standard ratio with no other settings: Imagen 4 Ultra.
The Sume docs say a request that sets a parameter the model does not list fails with 400 unsupported_parameter and is never silently dropped, so sending quality to Imagen or resolution to V3 fails fast.
Where the two overlap, a short test settles it. Use the same prompt, a 16:9 or 1:1 ratio, and four images per call on each row. That costs $0.30 per row, and both return the images as hosted URLs, so the comparison is a matter of opening eight files.
Remember that Imagen 4 Ultra defaults to 2K and Ideogram V3 has no resolution field, so the pixel sizes you get back may differ even at the same ratio. Compare them as delivered and note the dimensions.
Sources
Related posts
More in Comparisons
- LinkedIn video ad vs Page video: which numbers differ
LinkedIn video ads and Page video use different limits for length, size and ratio. Both lists read on 2026-10-08, with the Sume tool that fixes each mismatch.
- Scene logs for 20 reference ads: by hand vs $0.30 per analysis
Sume's legacy video-analyses call returns typed scenes for $0.30 an ad: $6.00 for 20 ads. Caps, caveats and why new work should use video inspect.
- Longest ad video: Pinterest 15 min, LinkedIn 30 vs Sume 900 s trim
Pinterest ads reach 15 minutes, LinkedIn video ads 30, LinkedIn Pages 10. Which of those a Sume trim (900 s) or Timeline (1,800 s) render can produce.
- Longest single avatar video by plan: HeyGen, Colossyan, Sume
HeyGen caps video at 1, 30 or 60 minutes by plan, Colossyan at 20 or 30 minutes. Sume Avatar 1.0 takes 4 to 60 seconds a job. What to do when yours is longer.
Written by Sume