{
  "entity": "spicy-mayo (Arena image model codename)",
  "page": "https://spicymayo.co/spicy-mayo",
  "updated": "2026-10-07",
  "status": "Status as of 7 October 2026: Google released Nano Banana 2.1 (model id gemini-nano-banana-2.1) on 6 October 2026. Whether the Arena model codenamed spicy-mayo shipped as Nano Banana 2.1 is reported by trackers and not confirmed by Google or Arena. No model named \"Nano Banana 2.5\" has been released.",
  "availability": {
    "spicy-mayo": false,
    "nano-banana-2.5": false,
    "nano-banana-2.1": true,
    "nano-banana-2": false,
    "nano-banana-pro": true
  },
  "models": [
    {
      "id": "spicy-mayo",
      "name": "spicy-mayo",
      "officialId": null,
      "lifecycle": "codename",
      "released": null,
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Reported to have shipped as Nano Banana 2.1; not confirmed by Google or Arena.",
      "confidence": "reported",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": "https://spicymayo.co/spicy-mayo"
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana-2.5",
      "name": "\"Nano Banana 2.5\"",
      "officialId": null,
      "lifecycle": "unreleased",
      "released": null,
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Not a released model.",
      "confidence": "reported",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": "https://spicymayo.co/nano-banana-2-5"
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana-2.1",
      "name": "Nano Banana 2.1",
      "officialId": "gemini-nano-banana-2.1",
      "lifecycle": "ga",
      "released": "2026-10-06",
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Current.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": true,
      "page": "https://spicymayo.co/nano-banana-2-1"
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana-2",
      "name": "Nano Banana 2",
      "officialId": "gemini-3.1-flash-image",
      "lifecycle": "deprecated",
      "released": "2026-05-28",
      "shutdown": "2026-10-29",
      "status": "Deprecated 6 Oct 2026; shuts down 29 Oct 2026.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": null
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana-2-lite",
      "name": "Nano Banana 2 Lite",
      "officialId": "gemini-3.1-flash-lite-image",
      "lifecycle": "ga",
      "released": "2026-06-30",
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Current.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": null
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana-pro",
      "name": "Nano Banana Pro",
      "officialId": "gemini-3-pro-image",
      "lifecycle": "ga",
      "released": "2026-05-28",
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Current.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": true,
      "page": "https://spicymayo.co/nano-banana-pro"
    },
    {
      "id": "nano-banana",
      "name": "Nano Banana (original)",
      "officialId": "gemini-2.5-flash-image",
      "lifecycle": "legacy",
      "released": "2025-10-02",
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Legacy; listed as deprecated on Google's pricing page.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": null
    },
    {
      "id": "gpt-image-2.5",
      "name": "GPT Image 2.5 Flare / Sunburst (OpenAI)",
      "officialId": "gpt-image-2.5-flare, gpt-image-2.5-sunburst (default snapshot 8 Sep 2026)",
      "lifecycle": "ga",
      "released": null,
      "shutdown": null,
      "status": "Current.",
      "confidence": "official",
      "availableInSpicyMayo": false,
      "page": null
    }
  ],
  "latestEvents": [
    {
      "date": "2026-10-07",
      "tier": "official",
      "title": "Arena ranks gemini-nano-banana-2.1 #5 (text-to-image) and #6 (image edit)",
      "detail": "Snapshots dated 6 Oct 2026: score 1328 on 5,312 votes for text-to-image, 1428 on 12,985 votes for image edit, behind GPT-Image 2.5 Sunburst and Flare. Listed as \"Preliminary\".",
      "sources": [
        "https://arena.ai/leaderboard/text-to-image",
        "https://arena.ai/leaderboard/image-edit"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-06",
      "tier": "official",
      "title": "Google releases Nano Banana 2.1 and deprecates Nano Banana 2",
      "detail": "gemini-nano-banana-2.1 is generally available in the Gemini API and Vertex; gemini-3.1-flash-image (Nano Banana 2) is deprecated and shuts down on 29 October 2026. Arena added gemini-nano-banana-2.1 to both image leaderboards the same day; fal published google/nano-banana-2.1 at 16:02 UTC.",
      "sources": [
        "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog",
        "https://deepmind.google/models/model-cards/nano-banana-2-1/",
        "https://x.com/Google/status/2107501209154204148",
        "https://arena.ai/company/leaderboard-changelog",
        "https://fal.ai/models/google/nano-banana-2.1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-06",
      "tier": "reported",
      "title": "Trackers say spicy-mayo became Nano Banana 2.1 after a rename",
      "detail": "HuggingNews, citing a 5 Oct post by @lyraxana, writes that the model tested as spicy-mayo was planned as \"Nano Banana 2.5\" and shipped as 2.1. OrcaRouter cites a different codename, \"beluga\". Neither Google nor Arena has said what spicy-mayo was.",
      "sources": [
        "https://huggingnews.com/ai/google-launches-nano-banana-21-after-rebranding-25-lite-as-flash-21819dd3",
        "https://www.orcarouter.ai/blog/nano-banana-2-1-vs-nano-banana-2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-10-05",
      "tier": "reported",
      "title": "Nano Banana 2.1 briefly selectable in Google Flow",
      "detail": "The model appeared in Flow's picker and was pulled again before the official release the next day.",
      "sources": [
        "https://cryptobriefing.com/nano-banana-2-1-google-flow-unconfirmed/"
      ]
    },
    {
      "date": "2026-09-27",
      "tier": "reported",
      "title": "Google Flow build replaces its \"Nano Banana 2.5\" trace label with \"Nano Banana 2.1\"",
      "detail": "TestingCatalog found the earlier \"2.5\"-series trace string (which carried a \"Flash\" suffix) replaced in the same web build, the first public sign that the production name would be 2.1.",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.testingcatalog.com/new-google-flow-build-now-points-to-nano-banana-2-1/"
      ]
    }
  ]
}