Checked on October 26, 2026
WaveSpeed alternative: Rendergrid
WaveSpeed is a platform with one API for images, video, audio, and language models: the home page states more than a thousand models. Below are the prices for our models from their public pages and the terms that affect your choice.
A Rendergrid article. We’re one of the parties in this comparison, so the WaveSpeed figures come only from its public pages, each with a link and a date, and below we say separately when WaveSpeed is the better choice. How we check and correct
01Who it is
What WaveSpeed is
Briefly, and only from their own pages. Website: wavespeed.ai.
WaveSpeed (WaveSpeedAI, wavespeed.ai) describes itself as a single API to more than a thousand models from different providers: images, video, audio, and language models. The site interface is available in several languages, including Russian; the documentation we read is in English.
A request is asynchronous by default: you get a task identifier and collect the result by polling or through a webhook. Some models have an optional synchronous mode. The model pages state that the prices in the documentation are for reference and may be out of date, and the final charge is determined at launch.
02Pricing
Prices for our models
How much one image costs at WaveSpeed and at Rendergrid. The WaveSpeed prices are from its public pages, checked on .
Comparable cells: 10. Cheaper with us: 10, at WaveSpeed: 0, the same: 0.
| Model | Resolution | WaveSpeed | Rendergrid | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nano Banana Pronano-banana-pro | 1K | $0.141 | $0.04 | Cheaper with us by 71% |
| Nano Banana Pro | 2K | $0.14 | $0.04 | Cheaper with us by 71% |
| Nano Banana Pro | 4K | $0.24 | $0.07 | Cheaper with us by 70% |
Nano Banana 2nano-banana-2 | 1K | $0.072 | $0.025 | Cheaper with us by 64% |
| Nano Banana 2 | 2K | $0.105 | $0.04 | Cheaper with us by 61% |
| Nano Banana 2 | 4K | $0.14 | $0.06 | Cheaper with us by 57% |
Nano Banana 2.1nano-banana-2.1 | 1K | $0.043 | $0.02 | Cheaper with us by 50% |
| Nano Banana 2.1 | 2K | $0.06 | $0.03 | Cheaper with us by 50% |
| Nano Banana 2.1 | 4K | $0.135 | $0.04 | Cheaper with us by 70% |
GPT Image 2gpt-image-2 | 1K | $0.064 | $0.02 | Cheaper with us by 66% |
GPT Image 2.5gpt-image-2.5 | 1K | not availablenot on their pages5 | $0.025 | can’t be compared |
- 1Nano Banana Pro. The price table on the page; the run window shows the price with a 10% discount ($0.126 with default settings). Source: wavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-pro/ te…. Checked on October 26, 2026. - 2Nano Banana 2. The price table on the page (there is also 0.5K—$0.045; web search and image search add $0.014 each); the run window shows the price with a 10% discount ($0.063). Source: wavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-2/ text…. Checked on October 26, 2026. - 3Nano Banana 2.1. The price table on the page (web search and image search add $0.014 each); the run window shows the price with a 10% discount ($0.036). Source: wavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-2.1/ te…. Checked on October 26, 2026. - 4GPT Image 2. Quality medium, 1K; in the same table, 2K is $0.10 and 4K is $0.18; low is $0.01 per 1K and high is $0.22; the run window shows the price with a 5% discount ($0.057). Source: wavespeed.ai/
models/ openai/ gpt-image-2/ text-t…. Checked on October 26, 2026. - 5GPT Image 2.5. There is no “GPT Image 2.5” page without a suffix (page not found); GPT Image 2.5 Flare and GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst are sold separately, in the rows below. Source: wavespeed.ai/
models/ openai/ gpt-image-2.5-flar…. Checked on October 26, 2026.
The difference is measured from the larger of the two prices, rounded down to a whole percent. The “≈” sign is an estimate that the provider’s own page gives. For GPT Image, quality and size differ between providers: each one’s conditions are in the footnote. We compare prices, not image quality. Nano Banana Flash, Nano Banana 2 Lite, and GPT Image 2 HD are not in the table: we haven’t checked the provider’s prices for them. Our own prices and the official Google and OpenAI prices are on the “Pricing” page.
03Terms
Payment, starter credits, and operating mode
What WaveSpeed’s pages say, next to our terms. Where a page is silent, we say so.
Terms: WaveSpeed and Rendergrid
| Condition | WaveSpeed | Rendergrid |
|---|---|---|
| Payment | Bank cards (Stripe), PayPal, WeChat Pay, Alipay, Naver Pay; login through Google or GitHub; credits don’t expiresource | USDT (crypto top-up): the full amount sent is credited to the balance |
| Credits at no charge | Eligible new users may be given a $1 starter credit for supported models; signing up with a new email address alone doesn’t guarantee itsource | There’s no trial balance |
| Synchronous or asynchronous | Asynchronous by default: a response with an identifier, and the result comes from GET /predictions/ | Asynchronous: POST returns 202 and an ID; the result comes through polling GET /creations/ |
| Webhooks | Yes: the standard_webhook parameter (HTTPS) in the request URL; the signature follows the Standard Webhooks specification; up to 3 retries; your reply is needed within 10 seconds. The old webhook parameter works too, with its own signature formatsource 1 source 2 | Yes: webhook_url in every request; the creation.completed and creation.failed events; an HMAC-SHA256 signature over the timestamp and the whole request body |
| Failed request | Request errors, system errors, and server timeouts are refunded automatically. If the client dropped a synchronous request and the task completed, there’s no automatic refundsource | If a generation fails, the charge is returned to the balance automatically; a declined request is refunded the same way |
| Limits | Bronze (a new account): 5 requests per minute and 2 concurrent tasks; Silver (any successful top-up up to $1,000): 500 and 300; Gold (from $1,000): 3,000 requests per minute; Ultra (from $5,000): 5,000 and 10,000source | By default for a new account: 120 requests per minute and up to 100 generations queued or running; account limits can be adjusted to match your traffic |
| Result storage | Result files are stored for up to 7 dayssource | Result files are stored for one day |
Also on their pages
- For verified companies, they consider a monthly credit line, usually up to $200 a month after approval. source
- In the billing settings you can enter the organization’s details and receive invoices. source
- Requests with sexual content are declined before generation and aren’t charged (a note on the GPT Image 2.5 pages). source
Our terms in detail are in the documentation.
04Strengths
Where we’re stronger, and where WaveSpeed is
Only what can be verified from public pages and our documentation.
Where Rendergrid is stronger
- There’s a single price: per image and resolution; it’s visible in GET /models, and it’s what is charged. At WaveSpeed, the table on the page shows one amount and the launch window another (a 10% discount on Google models and 5% on GPT Image 2), and a note says the prices in the documentation are for reference.
- A new account gets 120 requests per minute and up to 100 generations queued or running right away by default. At WaveSpeed, a new account is on the Bronze level: 5 requests per minute and 2 concurrent tasks; the limit grows after top-ups.
- The request is always asynchronous: you don’t need to hold a connection, and the finished result can be collected by ID or through a webhook. At WaveSpeed in synchronous mode, a disconnect on the client side isn’t refunded automatically if the task ran to completion.
Where WaveSpeed is stronger
- The catalog is wider: more than a thousand models, including video, audio, and language models.
- More payment methods: cards, PayPal, WeChat Pay, Alipay, Naver Pay. Ours is USDT.
- A $1 starter credit for eligible new users. We have no trial balance.
- Files are stored for up to 7 days; ours are stored for one day.
- After a top-up, the limits are higher than our defaults: Silver is 500 requests per minute and 300 concurrent tasks, Ultra 5,000 and 10,000.
- There’s an optional synchronous mode: you can get the image in the response to the same request (for some models).
- GPT Image has cheap quality settings: low costs $0.01 per 1K for both GPT Image 2 and GPT Image 2.5; GPT Image 2.5 also has xhigh and max.
05Choosing
When to pick WaveSpeed instead
We write this page as a participant in the comparison, so we name separately the cases where WaveSpeed suits you better.
Pick WaveSpeed if
- You need a broad catalog of models: image, video, audio, and language models on one platform.
- You need payment by card, PayPal, Alipay, or WeChat Pay.
- Results must be stored with the provider for up to 7 days.
- After a top-up you need higher limits: 500 requests per minute and 300 concurrent tasks.
- You want to choose GPT Image’s quality, from low to max.
06Migration
Migrating to Rendergrid in three steps
If you decide to give it a try, here is what to change in the code. Parameters and responses are in the documentation.
Key and address
At WaveSpeed, requests go to https://
api.wavespeed.ai/ api/ v3/ <model path> with an Authorization: Bearer header. For us it is https:// api.rendergrid.io/ api/ public/ v1 with the same Authorization: Bearer header (or X-API-Key). You create the key in the portal. Request
Instead of a POST to the address of a specific model (for example, /google/
nano-banana-pro/ text-to-image), call POST /images/ generate: the model is set with the model field, and aspect_ratio and resolution (for us, 1K, 2K, and 4K with a capital K; at WaveSpeed, with a lowercase k) sit at the root of the body. The webhook is set with the webhook_url field instead of the standard_webhook parameter in the URL. Add X-Idempotency-Key. Result
Instead of a prediction identifier and the /predictions/
{id}/ result address, save the ID from the 202 response and poll GET /creations/ {id} (queued, processing, completed, and failed; links in result_urls) or accept the creation.completed webhook. Our files are kept for a day, so download them right away.
IDEMPOTENCY_KEY="$(uuidgen)"
curl -X POST https://api.rendergrid.io/api/public/v1/images/generate \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $RENDERGRID_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "X-Idempotency-Key: $IDEMPOTENCY_KEY" \
-d '{
"model": "nano-banana-2",
"prompt": "a ceramic mug on a marble table",
"resolution": "2K",
"aspect_ratio": "1:1"
}'
07FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much does Nano Banana 2 cost at WaveSpeed and at Rendergrid?
How do you pay at WaveSpeed and at Rendergrid?
Does WaveSpeed give credits at no charge?
Does WaveSpeed work synchronously or asynchronously?
How do I move from WaveSpeed to Rendergrid?
Why does WaveSpeed’s price in the table differ from the price in the launch window?
Where do these figures come from, and when were they checked?
08Sources
Sources and check date
All the WaveSpeed data was taken from these pages, checked on . Prices change: open the provider’s page before you decide.
- 1Nano Banana Pro on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-pro/ text-to-image · checked on October 26, 2026 - 2Nano Banana 2 on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-2/ text-to-image · checked on October 26, 2026 - 3Nano Banana 2.1 on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ google/ nano-banana-2.1/ text-to-image · checked on October 26, 2026 - 4GPT Image 2 on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ openai/ gpt-image-2/ text-to-image · checked on October 26, 2026 - 5GPT Image 2.5 Flare on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ openai/ gpt-image-2.5-flare/ text-to-image · checked on October 26, 2026 - 6GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst on WaveSpeedwavespeed.ai/
models/ openai/ gpt-image-2.5-sunburst/ text-to-i… · checked on October 26, 2026 - 7WaveSpeed: payment methodswavespeed.ai/
docs/ payment-methods · checked on October 26, 2026 - 8WaveSpeed: refund policywavespeed.ai/
docs/ refund-policy · checked on October 26, 2026 - 9WaveSpeed: account levels and limitswavespeed.ai/
docs/ account-levels · checked on October 26, 2026 - 10WaveSpeed: webhookswavespeed.ai/
docs/ how-to-use-webhooks · checked on October 26, 2026 - 11WaveSpeed: webhook signature verificationwavespeed.ai/
docs/ verify-webhooks · checked on October 26, 2026 - 12WaveSpeed: sync modewavespeed.ai/
docs/ sync-mode · checked on October 26, 2026 - 13WaveSpeed: how it all workswavespeed.ai/
docs/ how-wavespeedai-works · checked on October 26, 2026 - 14WaveSpeed: data retention policywavespeed.ai/
docs/ data-retention-policy · checked on October 26, 2026 - 15WaveSpeed: home pagewavespeed.ai · checked on October 26, 2026
Found an inaccuracy? Write to support@rendergrid.io. The correction process is described in “About the editors”.
Try Rendergrid
One price per image and resolution, signed webhooks, an automatic refund for a failed request.