Google caps number of free Nano Banana prompts as demand soars

Access to Google's popular next gen image generator, Nano Banana, is temporarily scaling down, as the company tries to keep up with widespread demand for its AI-enhanced photos.

In a Google support document first spotted by 9to5Google, the company has dropped the number of free image prompts down to two from its previous three-prompt limit, with a note that caps "may change frequently."

The same document outlines new usage limits for free users on Gemini 3 Pro, as well, with the company now bumping non-subscribers to "basic access." Google reserves the right to cap daily prompt limits at any time for basic access users, depending on traffic volume. Usage terms for Google AI Pro or AI Ultra plan subscribers remains the same.

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Google's generative AI competitor, OpenAI, simultaneously restricted the number of AI-generated video prompts for free Sora users to six per day. "Our gpus are melting, and we want to let as many people access Sora as possible" said Sora head Bill Peebles in a post to X.

Nano Banana launched to widespread interest following a successful journey up the LMArena AI leaderboard in August. While it originally ran with Gemini 2.5 Flash, the model got a major Gemini 3 upgrade just last week, shortly after Google began integrating the AI tool into Google Search, NotebookLM, Google Photos, and even Google Message. Google plans to add the image generator to more products, including directly into Android's Chrome Canary search bar.

That move is in line with Google's plan to turn it's suite of products into AI-supercharged helpers, boosted by Gemini 3. The model was the first Gemini AI upgrade to roll out immediately to all Google products, including search, and was advertised as the tech giant's most advanced reasoning model yet. Upon launch, users were offered five free prompts per day. The Gemini app sees more than 650 million users per month.