Union Alpha is free for input tokens while Nano Banana 2.1 costs $1.5 per 1M tokens.
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewNano Banana 2.1 vs Union Alpha
Pick Union Alpha when budget and context both matter.
Page updated:
Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Union Alpha when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Union Alpha is estimated at $0 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $5.25 (100% lower).
Cost-first pickUnion Alpha
Context-first pickUnion Alpha
Sample savings$5.25100%
10x traffic gap$52.5
Union Alpha is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $52.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Union Alpha stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Nano Banana 2.1 | Union Alpha |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Union Alpha | $11.25 | $0 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Union Alpha | $9 | $0 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Union Alpha | $39 | $0 |
Union Alpha is free for output tokens while Nano Banana 2.1 costs $7.5 per 1M tokens.
Union Alpha has 196.61K more context (4x larger).
Union Alpha is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $5.25.
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Union Alpha has the lower input price; Union Alpha has the lower output price; Union Alpha offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Union Alpha is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1 and $0 for Union Alpha.
Choose Nano Banana 2.1 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Union Alpha when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Union Alpha is estimated at $0 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $5.25 (100% lower).
- Union Alpha is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $5.25.
- Union Alpha is free for input tokens while Nano Banana 2.1 costs $1.5 per 1M tokens.
- Union Alpha is free for output tokens while Nano Banana 2.1 costs $7.5 per 1M tokens.
- Union Alpha has 196.61K more context (4x larger).
| Feature | NewNano Banana 2.1 (Google) | Union Alpha (stealth) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.5 | $0 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $7.5 | $0 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $5.25 | $0 |
| Context Window | 65.54K | 262.14K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Union Alpha | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Union Alpha is estimated at $0 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $5.25 (100% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Union Alpha | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Union Alpha | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Union Alpha | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.47 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
- Step 5 Preview · StepFun · #2
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #3
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
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Open provider hubsGoogle catalog
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Open Google modelsstealth catalog
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Union Alpha is a multimodal model built for research, coding, and agentic workflows, while delivering frontier-level performance across a broad range of general-purpose tasks. Union Alpha is a stealth model....