API cost decision in 10 seconds

INTELLECT-3 vs Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview)

Pick INTELLECT-3 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 INTELLECT-3 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, INTELLECT-3 is estimated at $0.75 vs $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview), saving $7.25 (90.6% lower).

Cost-first pickINTELLECT-3
Context-first pickINTELLECT-3
Sample savings$7.2590.6%
10x traffic gap$72.5

INTELLECT-3 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $72.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

INTELLECT-3 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickINTELLECT-3Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview)
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputINTELLECT-3$1.55$16
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputINTELLECT-3$1.3$14
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputINTELLECT-3$5.7$62
Cheaper input INTELLECT-3 $0.2 vs $2 / 1M

INTELLECT-3 is $1.8 cheaper per 1M input tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).

Cheaper output INTELLECT-3 $1.1 vs $12 / 1M

INTELLECT-3 is $10.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90.8% lower; 10.9x difference).

Larger context INTELLECT-3 131.07K vs 65.54K

INTELLECT-3 has 65.54K more context (2x larger).

Sample workload INTELLECT-3 $0.75 vs $8

INTELLECT-3 is $7.25 cheaper on the standard workload (90.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
INTELLECT-3 Calculating… Estimated API cost
Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) Calculating… Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

INTELLECT-3 has the lower input price; INTELLECT-3 has the lower output price; INTELLECT-3 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, INTELLECT-3 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.75 for INTELLECT-3 and $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview).

Best Fit

Choose INTELLECT-3 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, INTELLECT-3 is estimated at $0.75 vs $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview), saving $7.25 (90.6% lower).
  • INTELLECT-3 is $7.25 cheaper on the standard workload (90.6% lower).
  • INTELLECT-3 is $1.8 cheaper per 1M input tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
  • INTELLECT-3 is $10.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90.8% lower; 10.9x difference).
  • INTELLECT-3 has 65.54K more context (2x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureINTELLECT-3
(Prime Intellect)		Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview)
(Google)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M		$0.2$2
Completion Price
per 1M tokens		$1.1$12
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output		$0.75$8
Context Window131.07K65.54K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionINTELLECT-3On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, INTELLECT-3 is estimated at $0.75 vs $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview), saving $7.25 (90.6% lower).
High-volume input processingINTELLECT-3Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsINTELLECT-3Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workINTELLECT-3A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Larger context near this budget
  • Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
  • GPT-5.4 offers 1.05M context with $10 sample workload cost.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

Open provider hubs

Prime Intellect catalog

Review all tracked Prime Intellect models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open Prime Intellect models

Google catalog

Check other Google models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Google models
INTELLECT-3

INTELLECT-3 is a 106B-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model (12B active) post-trained from GLM-4.5-Air-Base using supervised fine-tuning (SFT) followed by large-scale reinforcement learning (RL). It offers state-of-the-art performance for its size across math,...

Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image Preview)

Nano Banana Pro is Google’s most advanced image-generation and editing model, built on Gemini 3 Pro. It extends the original Nano Banana with significantly improved multimodal reasoning, real-world grounding, and...