1,000 thumbnails: Nano Banana 2.1 at 0.5K saves $25 over 1K on Sume

On Sume, 1,000 Nano Banana 2.1 images cost $75 at the 0.5K tier and $100 at 1K, so 0.5K saves $25, or 25%. The 0.5K tier is also written 512 in the public catalog, and a request can send either spelling.

Price by tier

Sume bills the provider price times 1.25. The 0.5K provider price is $0.06 and the 1K price is $0.08, per the Sume pricing tables.

When 512 is enough

Use 0.5K for small list thumbnails, icon sets, contact sheets and drafts you will not enlarge. Do not use it for images with small text, which can turn illegible at 512 pixels. Compare at the size you ship, not at the size you inspect.

Step up when

Move to 1K if the image is shown above 512 pixels wide, to 2K for retina hero crops and to 4K for print. Because the tiers are priced per image, there is no cost to mixing tiers in one batch: send small items at 0.5K and the hero shots at a higher tier.

Mixed-tier batches

A realistic catalog mixes tiers. Say 800 list thumbnails at 0.5K and 200 hero images at 2K: 800 x $0.075 = $60.00 plus 200 x $0.15 = $30.00, or $90.00 in total. Rendering all 1,000 at 2K would cost $150.00, so the mix saves $60.00.

Build the tier into your job record, not into the prompt. The prompt describes the picture, and resolution sets the size. Keep aspect_ratio separate too.

Check one 0.5K output at the size you ship before you run 800. If it is soft, move that group to 1K: 800 x $0.10 = $80.00 plus 200 x $0.15 = $30.00 is $110.00, which still saves $40.00 against $150.00 for all 1,000 at 2K.

What the 25% hides

The saving is exact only if 0.5K is good enough for every image in the group. Quality at 512 is a judgment, not a number. The catalog lists the tier, and the price is $0.075, but nothing on the Sume pricing page says how the output will look at that size for your subject.

Test 20 images first: 20 x $0.075 = $1.50 at 0.5K and 20 x $0.10 = $2.00 at 1K. If you cannot tell them apart at your display size, take the cheaper tier.

If you report costs to a team, label the tier next to the number. A line that says "Nano Banana 2.1, $75" is ambiguous, while "Nano Banana 2.1 at 0.5K, 1,000 images, $75" can be checked against the table above. Sume bills per image, so the usage page and your own log should agree to the cent once you account for the tier of each call.