# Google Imagen vs Iris-3B

> Iris-3B scores 50.9 (D) to Google Imagen's 6.8 (F) for image generation. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-15

Google Imagen shut down on 2026-08-17. Iris-3B scores 50.9 (D) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency & trust. Both do image generation.

- Google Imagen: grade F, 6.8/100, rank retired, not ranked. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-imagen.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-imagen.json
- Iris-3B: grade D, 50.9/100, rank #826 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/iris-3b.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/iris-3b.json
- Best image generation for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/image-generation/index.md
- All 91 image comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/image-generation/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Google Imagen (F)

Good for: Nothing new. It shut down on 2026-08-17.

Ahead on:
- Transparency & trust, 60 against 47

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Discontinued. Calls to imagen model names fail on both the Gemini API and Vertex AI

### Iris-3B (D)

Good for: An agent on a machine with a CUDA GPU that needs Apache-2.0 image generation, relative depth or 4x restoration without a vendor account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 0
- Schema & documentation, 47 against 25
- Agent ergonomics, 54 against 0
- Security & auth, 44 against 0
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 70 against 5

Also in its favour:
- Still running. Google Imagen has shut down
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Google Imagen loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No package on PyPI, no version tags, no changelog and no CI workflow. Install is a git clone and `pip install -e .`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Google Imagen | Iris-3B | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 0 | 45 | Iris-3B +45 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 25 | 47 | Iris-3B +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 54 | Iris-3B +54 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 44 | Iris-3B +44 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 60 | Iris-3B +60 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 70 | Iris-3B +65 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 47 | Google Imagen +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **6.8 · F** | **50.9 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Google Imagen | Iris-3B |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | Google | Speridlabs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Apache-2.0 (code and weights) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2025-08-14 | 2026-10-12 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-04-28 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | yes |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | none | 175 stars |
| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Google Imagen.** Shutdown dates were published in the Gemini API changelog and the Vertex AI release notes, with replacements named. Discontinued. Calls to imagen model names fail on both the Gemini API and Vertex AI.

**Iris-3B.** Code and weights are Apache-2.0, and one Python package runs text-to-image, a 4-step Turbo, depth and 4x restoration from a documented CLI. It is ten days old, with no PyPI package, version tags, changelog or CI, needs an NVIDIA GPU and about 12 GB of weights, and has no server or API of its own.

## Before you call either

### Google Imagen

1. Replace `client.models.generate_images` with `client.models.generate_content` and the `gemini-nano-banana-2.1` model, the replacement Google's deprecations table names
2. Read images from the response content parts, not from `generated_images`
3. Don't budget from the Vertex Imagen price rows, they describe a retired product
4. If the job needs a mask-based inpaint, use another vendor's fill endpoint, since Gemini image editing is prompt-based

### Iris-3B

1. Check for an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA and Python 3.11 or newer before downloading. The base weights are about 12 GB, and Qwen3-VL-4B downloads on the first run
2. Exclude `depth/*`, `upscaler/*` and `turbo/*` in `hf download` unless those models are needed. Each of the first two adds about 12 GB
3. Don't pass `--steps`, `--cfg-scale`, `--negative-prompt`, `--order` or `--shift` with a Turbo checkpoint. The script exits with an error
4. Pass `--seed` to reproduce an image, and set `--outdir`, since files are named after the prompt and a repeat run overwrites them
5. Load only exported directories (`model.safetensors` and `config.yaml`). A training `.pth` is read with `torch.load(weights_only=False)`, so never load one from an untrusted source

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Google Imagen or Iris-3B?

Iris-3B scores 50.9 (D) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency & trust.

### Do Google Imagen and Iris-3B need an API key?

Google Imagen needs an API key. Iris-3B needs no key.

### Can an agent call Google Imagen and Iris-3B without installing anything?

Google Imagen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta. No hosted endpoint is listed for Iris-3B.

### Are Google Imagen and Iris-3B open source?

No open-source release is listed for Google Imagen. Iris-3B is open source (Apache-2.0 (code and weights)).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-iris-3b.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-iris-3b.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "google-imagen", "b": "iris-3b"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-imagen iris-3b`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-imagen.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/iris-3b.json

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