Cheapest image model per 1,000 images: 18 Sume rows ranked
Higgsfield Soul is $5 per 1,000 images on Sume, gpt-image-2.5 low at 1024 is $7.38, and Nano Banana Pro is $187.50. Eighteen rows ranked with one request.
The cheapest way to make 1,000 images on Sume is higgsfield-soul (720p) at $5.00, followed by gpt-image-2.5 low (1024) at $7.375. The priciest row in this ranking, nano-banana-pro (1K), is $187.50.
Cheap does not mean interchangeable: some of these rows are text-to-image only, and quality varies by job. The list is a price floor to start from, not a verdict.
Ranked by price per 1,000
| Rank | Model row | Per image | Per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | higgsfield-soul (720p) | $0.005 | $5.00 |
| 2 | gpt-image-2.5 low (1024) | $0.0074 | $7.375 |
| 3 | gpt-image-2.5 medium (1024) | $0.0165 | $16.50 |
| 4 | grok-image | $0.025 | $25.00 |
| 5 | qwen-image | $0.025 | $25.00 |
| 6 | imagen-4-fast | $0.025 | $25.00 |
| 7 | seedream-v4 | $0.0325 | $32.50 |
| 8 | flux-2-pro | $0.0375 | $37.50 |
| 9 | ideogram-v4.5 low | $0.0375 | $37.50 |
| 10 | seedream-5-lite | $0.0437 | $43.75 |
| 11 | seedream-4-5-edit | $0.05 | $50.00 |
| 12 | recraft-v4 | $0.05 | $50.00 |
| 13 | flux-2-flex | $0.0625 | $62.50 |
| 14 | gpt-image-2.5 high (1024) | $0.0659 | $65.875 |
| 15 | imagen-4-ultra | $0.075 | $75.00 |
| 16 | ideogram-v3 | $0.075 | $75.00 |
| 17 | nano-banana-2.1 (1K) | $0.10 | $100.00 |
| 18 | nano-banana-pro (1K) | $0.1875 | $187.50 |
Two things to check before you commit
Read GET /v1/images/models for what a row accepts. input_references of {min: 0, max: 0} means text-to-image only, which is true for Soul, Imagen 4 and Recraft v4 in the current catalog.
Tier rows move: gpt-image-2.5 and ideogram-v4.5 have quality tiers, and Nano Banana has 512 to 4K resolutions. Compare at the tier you will ship.
List the catalog yourself
The pricing line on each endpoint is the amount billed per image.
curl -s "https://api.sume.com/v1/images/models" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" | jq -r '.data[].id'How to use the ranking
Pick the job first, then the price.
- Drafts and mood boards: the top five rows.
- Edits from a photo: any row with references, starting with gpt-image-2.5 low or qwen-image.
- Lettering inside the image: test ideogram-v4.5 and gpt-image-2.5 on your own strings before committing to a row.
- Read
GET /v1/images/models/{model_id}/endpointsfor the livepricingline before a large run: prices are catalog data and can change.
Sources
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Written by Sume