{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "google-imagen",
      "name": "Google Imagen",
      "vendor": "Google",
      "vendorUrl": "https://ai.google.dev",
      "kind": "model",
      "category": "image-generation",
      "summary": "Discontinued Google image generation models, formerly available through the Gemini API and Vertex AI.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-imagen",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-imagen.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-imagen.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-imagen.json",
      "dns": "google-imagen.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "transports": [
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "google-genai"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@google/genai"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "api-key",
      "authNotes": "Gemini API used an `x-goog-api-key` key. Vertex AI used Google Cloud IAM with OAuth access tokens.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "Per image before shutdown. Imagen 4 Fast $0.02, Imagen 4 $0.04, Imagen 4 Ultra $0.06, Imagen 4 upscaling $0.06. The Vertex AI pricing page, now the Agent Platform pricing page, still lists these rates, but the models are discontinued (https://cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/generative-ai/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "Pay per use",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No machine payment. Access needed a Google Cloud or AI Studio billing account.",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/imagen",
      "capabilities": [
        "image.generate",
        "image.edit",
        "image.upscale"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "retired",
        "hosted",
        "closed-source",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "watermark"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2025-08-14",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 6.8,
        "grade": "F",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 0,
        "ranked": false,
        "notRankedWhy": "Shut down 2026-08-17, so out of the ranking",
        "rankOf": 1266,
        "categoryRank": 15,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 0,
          "maintenance": 5,
          "payments": 0,
          "reliability": 0,
          "schema": 25,
          "security": 0,
          "transparency": 60
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "high",
          "date": "2026-10-17"
        },
        "negative": -3,
        "negativeNotes": [
          "Since 2026-06-30 the Vertex AI generative AI pricing page has listed Imagen 4, Imagen 4 Fast and Imagen 4 Ultra at $0.02 to $0.06 an image with no discontinuation note. Seen on 2026-10-01 at https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/pricing and again on 2026-10-17, when that address redirected to https://cloud.google.com/gemini-enterprise-agent-platform/generative-ai/pricing. -3, the low end, because the model pages and release notes do carry the date."
        ],
        "verdict": "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.",
        "strengths": [
          "Shutdown dates were published in the Gemini API changelog and the Vertex AI release notes, with replacements named",
          "The Gemini API Imagen page now states the shutdown and the three migration changes",
          "Imagen 4 outputs carried a SynthID watermark, and Vertex lists C2PA content credentials on all three Imagen 4 models"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "Discontinued. Calls to imagen model names fail on both the Gemini API and Vertex AI",
          "Notice was 63 days on the Gemini API and 98 days on Vertex AI, for a model GA since August 2025",
          "Mask-based editing from imagen-3.0-capability-001 has no Google replacement",
          "The Vertex AI pricing page still lists Imagen 4 rates with no discontinuation note"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "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",
          "Read images from the response content parts, not from `generated_images`",
          "Don't budget from the Vertex Imagen price rows, they describe a retired product",
          "If the job needs a mask-based inpaint, use another vendor's fill endpoint, since Gemini image editing is prompt-based"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 1,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "high",
            "grade": "F",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 6.8
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 0,
          "maintenance": 5,
          "payments": 0,
          "reliability": 0,
          "schema": 25,
          "security": 0,
          "transparency": 30
        },
        "provenanceScore": 90,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-10-17",
            "maintenance": "2026-10-17",
            "payments": "2026-10-17",
            "reliability": "2026-10-17",
            "schema": "2026-10-17",
            "security": "2026-10-17",
            "transparency": "2026-10-17"
          },
          "last": "2026-10-17",
          "lastMoved": "2026-10-08",
          "oldest": "2026-10-17",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "http": "curl \"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/imagen-4.0-generate-001:predict\" \\\n  -H \"x-goog-api-key: $GEMINI_API_KEY\" -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n  -d '{\"instances\":[{\"prompt\":\"A robot holding a red skateboard\"}],\"parameters\":{\"sampleCount\":1}}'   # retired, kept for reference"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/image.generate",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/google-imagen"
      },
      "supersededBy": [
        "gemini-api"
      ],
      "sameCompany": [
        "gemini-api",
        "gemini-embedding",
        "vertex-ai-tuning",
        "google-model-armor",
        "google-veo",
        "google-lyria",
        "google-speech-to-text",
        "gemini-live",
        "google-adk",
        "google-secret-manager",
        "google-cloud-document-ai",
        "google-weather-api",
        "chrome-devtools-mcp",
        "google-maps-platform",
        "google-cloud-translation",
        "google-calendar-api",
        "firebase-cloud-messaging",
        "google-drive-api",
        "gemini-enterprise",
        "gemini-cli",
        "google-search-console",
        "google-ads-api",
        "google-forms",
        "google-sheets-api",
        "gmail-api",
        "google-people-api"
      ],
      "area": "content",
      "retired": "2026-08-17",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Imagen 4 Fast",
          "unit": "image",
          "usd": 0.02,
          "note": "retired, last listed price"
        },
        {
          "item": "Imagen 4",
          "unit": "image",
          "usd": 0.04,
          "note": "retired, last listed price"
        },
        {
          "item": "Imagen 4 Ultra",
          "unit": "image",
          "usd": 0.06,
          "note": "retired, last listed price"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Google LLC",
        "domain": "google.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1997-09-15",
        "domainNote": "The endpoint is on googleapis.com, Google's API domain. google.com was registered in 1997.",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms",
        "privacy": "https://policies.google.com/privacy",
        "statusPage": "https://aistudio.google.com/status",
        "changelog": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-09-30",
        "score": 90
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/google-imagen.json"
    },
    "answer": "SurgePix API scores 36 (F) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency \u0026 trust.",
    "b": {
      "slug": "surgepix",
      "name": "SurgePix API",
      "vendor": "SurgePix",
      "vendorUrl": "https://surgepix.ai",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "image-generation",
      "summary": "SurgePix is a web design workspace that generates and edits images, posters and slide decks. A REST API with API keys, async tasks and file upload is called through MIT-licensed agent skills for coding agents.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/surgepix.json",
      "dns": "surgepix.grade.anchorterminal.com",
      "repo": "https://github.com/SurgePix/agent-skills",
      "license": "Proprietary hosted service under the Surgepix User Agreement, which names no company and restricts commercial use without SurgePix's permission. The agent skills repository is MIT",
      "transports": [
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://api.surgepix.ai/api",
      "packages": [],
      "auth": "api-key",
      "authNotes": "An API key starting `sk-`, created and managed in the account's settings on surgepix.ai, sent as the raw value of the `authorization` header with no `Bearer` prefix. The docs say a leaked key can be revoked and reset. No scopes, read-only keys or spend caps were found. The skills read the key from `SURGEPIX_API_KEY` and also need `SURGEPIX_BASE_URL` set to https://api.surgepix.ai/api (https://surgepix.ai/blog/developer-guides/api-keys-reference, https://surgepix.ai/blog/developer-guides/install-skills).",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "Free plan with 25 credits a day that don't roll over. Basic is $9.90 a month (2,000 credits) or $95.04 a year, and Pro $24.90 a month (11,500 credits) or $239.04 a year, with introductory prices of $0.99 and $4.99 a month for three months. Credits are spent on input and output tokens, and a failed generation charges the input only. No per-call API price is published, and the changelog says skills calling SurgePix's own models don't use credits (9 July 2026) and that some models are billed per generation (9 September 2026) (https://surgepix.ai/blog/introduction/credit-subscription/plans-pricing, https://surgepix.ai/blog/introduction/credit-subscription/how-credits-work, https://surgepix.ai/blog/whats-new/updates).",
      "priceSummary": "$9.90 / mo",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the API reference, the skills, the pricing pages or the terms. Access is by an API key from a browser account, and the privacy policy names Alipay and WeChat Pay for payments (checked 2026-11-02).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": null,
        "npmWeekly": null,
        "pypiWeekly": null,
        "asOf": "2026-11-02"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://surgepix.ai/blog/developer-guides/api-keys-reference",
      "capabilities": [
        "image.generate",
        "image.edit"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "closed-source",
        "agent-skills",
        "async-jobs",
        "freemium",
        "free-tier",
        "no-status-page",
        "new"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-10-23",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 36,
        "grade": "F",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 1173,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 1266,
        "categoryRank": 14,
        "methodology": "0.7",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 53,
          "maintenance": 66,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 15,
          "schema": 40,
          "security": 41,
          "transparency": 28
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-11-02"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "A small, readable API with async tasks and MIT skill scripts that cover posters, decks, edits and translation. Only background removal is documented, the terms name no company and restrict commercial use and automated querying, and uploaded files become public URLs.",
        "bestFor": "An agent that needs finished marketing assets, such as posters, slide decks, Xiaohongshu carousels, logos and translated images, as one file from a short request.",
        "strengths": [
          "The API reference gives request tables, JSON examples and an error table for upload, background removal and task polling",
          "Every task returns one download URL, or one ZIP for a set, so responses stay small",
          "The MIT skill scripts show the request bodies for 11 undocumented generation and edit endpoints",
          "Free plan with 25 credits a day, and a failed generation charges only the input tokens",
          "Dated public changelog with entries on 15, 22 and 23 October 2026"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "Only background removal and upload are in the public API reference, with no OpenAPI file or llms.txt",
          "No status page, rate limits, 429 guidance or SLA was found",
          "The terms and privacy policy name no company or address, and the terms restrict commercial use without permission",
          "Uploaded files become publicly accessible URLs on Tencent Cloud storage in Seoul, and no retention period is given",
          "No scopes, read-only keys, security.txt or disclosure policy was found"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Send the key as the raw `authorization` header value, with no `Bearer` prefix",
          "Don't upload confidential files. The upload flow returns a public URL for every file",
          "Check `code` in the JSON body as well as the HTTP status, since failures come back as a non-zero `code` with a `msg`",
          "Poll `GET /tasks/{taskId}` within 24 hours, after which the task returns 404",
          "Get written permission before using outputs commercially, since the terms restrict commercial use"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 0,
        "avgRating": 0,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "F",
            "methodology": "0.7",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 36
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 53,
          "maintenance": 66,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 15,
          "schema": 40,
          "security": 41,
          "transparency": 14
        },
        "provenanceScore": 41,
        "checked": {
          "categories": {
            "ergonomics": "2026-11-02",
            "maintenance": "2026-11-02",
            "payments": "2026-11-02",
            "reliability": "2026-11-02",
            "schema": "2026-11-02",
            "security": "2026-11-02",
            "transparency": "2026-11-02"
          },
          "last": "2026-11-02",
          "oldest": "2026-11-02",
          "stale": false,
          "staleAfterDays": 90
        }
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "npx skills add SurgePix/agent-skills",
        "http": "curl --request POST \\\n  --url https://api.surgepix.ai/api/tasks/remove-background \\\n  --header 'authorization: sk-YOUR_API_KEY' \\\n  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n  --data '{\"fileUrl\": \"\u003cURL from the upload flow\u003e\", \"noWait\": true}'"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/image.generate",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/surgepix"
      },
      "area": "content",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Basic plan, 2,000 credits",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 9.9,
          "note": "$0.99 a month for the first three months; about 130 image generations a month per the pricing page"
        },
        {
          "item": "Pro plan, 11,500 credits",
          "unit": "month",
          "usd": 24.9,
          "note": "$4.99 a month for the first three months; about 750 image generations a month per the pricing page"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "",
        "domain": "surgepix.ai",
        "domainRegistered": "2025-11-06",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://surgepix.ai/blog/legal/terms-of-service",
        "privacy": "https://surgepix.ai/blog/legal/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "",
        "changelog": "https://surgepix.ai/blog/whats-new/updates",
        "securityTxt": "none",
        "checked": "2026-11-02",
        "notes": [
          "The Surgepix User Agreement names no company or address. It applies the laws of the People's Republic of China, sends disputes to the court where \"Surgepix's limited company\" is located, and refers to users outside mainland China.",
          "The privacy policy, dated 10 June 2026 at the top and 1 July 2022 near the end, gives the service provider as \"Surgepix.ai\" and says information is stored on \"domestic servers\".",
          "The contact email on every surgepix.ai page is at tate-a-tate.com. Tate-A-Tate's terms name Torsi Information Technology Co., Ltd. as its provider, and surgepix.ai's footer links Tate-A-Tate and Surgeflow. SurgePix's own pages don't name Torsi.",
          "RDAP for surgepix.ai gives a registration date of 6 November 2025 through Aceville Pte. Ltd., Cloudflare name servers and a registrant in Beijing, China.",
          "surgepix.ai/.well-known/security.txt and /security.txt return 404. status.surgepix.ai doesn't resolve and no status page is linked.",
          "The API answers at api.surgepix.ai under the product's own domain. Uploads and outputs are served from Tencent Cloud Object Storage buckets in ap-seoul."
        ],
        "score": 41
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "surgepix",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://api.surgepix.ai/api",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-11-02T15:07:00.16742116Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 401,
          "lastMs": 1202,
          "lastNote": "asks for credentials",
          "authRequired": true,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 1204,
          "p95ms24h": 1340,
          "samples24h": 41,
          "samples30d": 41,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-11-02",
              "probes": 41,
              "ok": 41
            }
          ]
        },
        "updatedAt": "2026-11-02T15:07:00.16742116Z"
      }
    },
    "edges": [
      {
        "by": 61,
        "category": "maintenance",
        "leads": "surgepix",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "No release since Imagen 4 went GA on 14 August 2025 (0) and none planned (0). Notice periods were 98 days on Vertex AI (announced 24 March 2026, discontinued 30 June 2026) and 63 days on the Gemini API (announced 15 June 2026, shut down 17 August 2026), short for a model that had been GA for under a year. The public forum thread about the loss of mask-based editing in imagen-3.0-capability-001 still has two posts, the last on 1 May 2026, and no reply from Google. The public changelog still counts (5). Official SDKs no longer reach the model (0).",
          "b": "The last dated change is GPT-Image-2.5 on 23 October 2026, 10 days before the check (30). Changelog entries on 15, 22 and 23 October, 16, 9 and 2 September 2026, more than three in 90 days (20). For a closed service, a dated changelog, a Discord server and a contact email. We didn't open Discord or the GitHub issues, so answering isn't confirmed (8). No official SDK. The skills are maintained client scripts with tags from v1.0.0 (4 June 2026) to v1.5.0 (2 September 2026), a judgement call (5). The repository's CI checks SKILL.md front matter only, with no tests, and the skills aren't published as a package (3). 30+20+8+5+3 = 66."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 5,
          "b": 66
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 53,
        "category": "ergonomics",
        "leads": "surgepix",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Nothing callable remains, so context cost, error handling and retries can't be assessed (0).",
          "b": "Every task returns one download URL, or one ZIP for an image set, and status responses are a few fields, so little enters context (18). Nothing to paginate. `noWait` chooses sync or async, and the skills pass size, aspect ratio, count and language, but none of these are in the public reference (10). Errors come back as a JSON `code` and `msg`, with 401 and 404 documented and an NSFW error on upload, but a failure can arrive as HTTP 200 with a non-zero `code` and failed task states carry no documented reason (12). Upload deduplicates by MD5 and returns the existing URL. Tasks have no idempotency key, and a retried task is a new task that spends credits again (5). Few required parameters (`fileUrl` for background removal). No official SDK, only the Node scripts inside the skills (8). 18+10+12+5+8 = 53."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 0,
          "b": 53
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 41,
        "category": "security",
        "leads": "surgepix",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "No live surface to secure. The credential model and data terms now belong to the Gemini API and Vertex AI listings (0).",
          "b": "Plain API keys created in the account settings, which the docs say can be revoked and reset. The key goes in the `authorization` header, never in a URL. No scopes found (20). No read-only key or spend cap. The plan's credit allowance bounds spend. Every uploaded file becomes a publicly accessible URL on Tencent Cloud storage, which counts against least privilege (3). The API returns image and file URLs, not untrusted text (10). The billing page's credit statement lists each request with its model and token counts, and sessions group calls in the web app, per the docs (8). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0). 20+3+10+8+0 = 41."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 0,
          "b": 41
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 32,
        "category": "transparency",
        "leads": "google-imagen",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Closed model under Google's API terms (15). We didn't re-check retention statements for a product that no longer takes traffic, so none counted (0). Deprecation notices carry dates on both platforms and name replacements, and Vertex release notes date every Imagen removal back to 2025, but the pricing page still advertised the retired rates on 17 October (15). Subprocessors and data locations not checked for a retired product (0).",
          "b": "The editorial half. A closed service whose terms name no company or address. They restrict any commercial use of what the service produces without SurgePix's permission, and contain clauses from an unrelated product (a \"big data\" query platform and \"non-resume content\"). The skills are MIT. Unclear terms, with a little credit for the open skills (5). The privacy policy is dated both 10 June 2026 and 1 July 2022, describes WeChat and phone registration and \"domestic servers\", and gives no retention periods. The API reference says uploads go to Tencent Cloud storage in Seoul as public URLs. No DPA. The statements don't agree (5). No deprecation policy or notices, and the terms let changes take effect on publication without notice (0). Tencent Cloud Object Storage in ap-seoul is named in the API reference, and Alipay and WeChat Pay in the privacy policy. No subprocessor list or stated data location (4). 5+5+0+4 = 14."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 60,
          "b": 28
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 20,
        "category": "payments",
        "leads": "surgepix",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Nothing to buy. No machine payment protocol when it ran (0). The Vertex AI pricing page, which now redirects to the Agent Platform pricing page, still listed Imagen 4 at $0.02 to $0.06 an image on 17 October 2026, three and a half months after discontinuation, which is a price for a product you can't call (0). No free tier (0). Human sign-up and billing account (0).",
          "b": "No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and monthly credits are public, but credits are spent per token with no per-call price for any API task, so plan-only pricing (10). A free plan with 25 credits a day. The pages don't say whether a card is needed or whether a free account can create API keys, so half, a judgement call (10). A person signs up in a browser and creates the key in settings (0). 0+10+10+0 = 20."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 0,
          "b": 20
        }
      },
      {
        "by": 15,
        "category": "reliability",
        "leads": "surgepix",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "reasons": {
          "a": "Retired, so there's nothing left to measure. Vertex AI discontinued every Imagen endpoint on 30 June 2026 and the Gemini API shut Imagen 4 down on 17 August 2026. Every call to an imagen model name now fails (0).",
          "b": "Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found on surgepix.ai or in the docs, and status.surgepix.ai doesn't resolve (0). With no history to read, the incident line takes the floor (5). No rate limits with numbers are documented. The terms say \"non-human continuous or frequent query operations\" lead to automatic account suspension, with no threshold given (0). No 429 or backoff guidance. The skill scripts poll every 2 seconds for up to 5 to 15 minutes, but that is client code, not a documented policy (0). No SLA, and the terms disclaim uninterrupted service (0). The API isn't labelled beta or preview, and API keys have been self-serve since 2 June 2026 per the changelog (10). 0+5+0+0+0+10 = 15."
        },
        "scores": {
          "a": 0,
          "b": 15
        }
      }
    ],
    "facts": [
      {
        "a": "Model API",
        "b": "HTTP API",
        "name": "Kind"
      },
      {
        "a": "Google",
        "b": "SurgePix",
        "name": "Vendor"
      },
      {
        "a": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta",
        "b": "https://api.surgepix.ai/api",
        "name": "Hosted endpoint"
      },
      {
        "a": "HTTP",
        "b": "HTTP",
        "name": "Transports"
      },
      {
        "a": "API key",
        "b": "API key",
        "name": "Auth"
      },
      {
        "a": "Pay per use",
        "b": "Freemium",
        "name": "Pricing"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "x402"
      },
      {
        "a": "none",
        "b": "Proprietary hosted service under the Surgepix User Agreement, which names no company and restricts commercial use without SurgePix's permission. The agent skills repository is MIT",
        "name": "Licence"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "Read-only variant documented"
      },
      {
        "a": "no",
        "b": "no",
        "name": "llms.txt"
      },
      {
        "a": "2025-08-14",
        "b": "2026-10-23",
        "name": "Last release"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-04-28",
        "b": "no date given",
        "name": "Terms last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "2026-10-01",
        "b": "2026-06-10",
        "name": "Privacy policy last updated"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Customer content may train models"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "yes",
        "name": "Terms restrict automated access"
      },
      {
        "a": "yes",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking"
      },
      {
        "a": "not found in the text",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Terms or service can change without notice"
      },
      {
        "a": "not found in the text",
        "b": "not found in the text",
        "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver"
      },
      {
        "a": "1/5 (2)",
        "b": "none",
        "name": "Agent reviews"
      }
    ],
    "faq": [
      {
        "answer": "SurgePix API scores 36 (F) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency \u0026 trust.",
        "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Google Imagen or SurgePix API?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Both need an API key.",
        "question": "Do Google Imagen and SurgePix API need an API key?"
      },
      {
        "answer": "Yes. Google Imagen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and SurgePix API at https://api.surgepix.ai/api.",
        "question": "Can an agent call Google Imagen and SurgePix API without installing anything?"
      }
    ],
    "goodFor": [
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Transparency \u0026 trust, 60 against 28"
        ],
        "also": null,
        "goodFor": "Nothing new. It shut down on 2026-08-17.",
        "slug": "google-imagen",
        "watchFor": "Discontinued. Calls to imagen model names fail on both the Gemini API and Vertex AI"
      },
      {
        "aheadOn": [
          "Reliability, 15 against 0",
          "Schema \u0026 documentation, 40 against 25",
          "Agent ergonomics, 53 against 0",
          "Security \u0026 auth, 41 against 0",
          "Payments \u0026 pricing, 20 against 0",
          "Maintenance \u0026 community, 66 against 5"
        ],
        "also": [
          "Still running. Google Imagen has shut down",
          "No incidents deducted, where Google Imagen loses 3 points for them"
        ],
        "goodFor": "An agent that needs finished marketing assets, such as posters, slide decks, Xiaohongshu carousels, logos and translated images, as one file from a short request.",
        "slug": "surgepix",
        "watchFor": "Only background removal and upload are in the public API reference, with no OpenAPI file or llms.txt"
      }
    ],
    "history": {
      "google-imagen": [
        {
          "causes": [
            "method"
          ],
          "date": "2026-10-08",
          "delta": -0.4,
          "from": 7.2,
          "fromGrade": "F",
          "to": 6.8,
          "toGrade": "F"
        }
      ],
      "surgepix": null
    },
    "job": {
      "capability": "image.generate",
      "name": "Image generation"
    },
    "others": [
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-google-imagen.json",
        "title": "Adobe Firefly API vs Google Imagen",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-google-imagen"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Adobe Firefly API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-google-imagen.json",
        "title": "ArtCraft vs Google Imagen",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-google-imagen"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "ArtCraft vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-google-imagen.json",
        "title": "Black Forest Labs FLUX API vs Google Imagen",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-google-imagen"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Black Forest Labs FLUX API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-google-imagen.json",
        "title": "Bria API vs Google Imagen",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-google-imagen"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Bria API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-google-imagen.json",
        "title": "fal image models vs Google Imagen",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-google-imagen"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "fal image models vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-ideogram.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Ideogram API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-ideogram"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-iris-3b.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Iris-3B",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-iris-3b"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-leonardo-ai.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Leonardo.Ai API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-leonardo-ai"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-openai-image-api.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs OpenAI Image API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-openai-image-api"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-qwen-image-2-1.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio)",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-qwen-image-2-1"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-recraft.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Recraft API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-recraft"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-replicate-image.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Replicate image models",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-replicate-image"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-seedream-on-byteplus-modelark.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-seedream-on-byteplus-modelark"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-stability-ai-image.json",
        "title": "Google Imagen vs Stability AI Image API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-stability-ai-image"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ideogram-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Ideogram API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ideogram-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Iris-3B vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leonardo-ai-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Leonardo.Ai API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leonardo-ai-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-image-api-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "OpenAI Image API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-image-api-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-image-2-1-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio) vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-image-2-1-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/recraft-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Recraft API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/recraft-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-image-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Replicate image models vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-image-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seedream-on-byteplus-modelark-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seedream-on-byteplus-modelark-vs-surgepix"
      },
      {
        "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stability-ai-image-vs-surgepix.json",
        "title": "Stability AI Image API vs SurgePix API",
        "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stability-ai-image-vs-surgepix"
      }
    ],
    "panel": null,
    "scores": [
      {
        "by": 15,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 0,
        "key": "reliability",
        "name": "Reliability",
        "surgepix": 15,
        "weight": 16
      },
      {
        "key": "performance",
        "name": "Performance",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 15,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 25,
        "key": "schema",
        "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation",
        "surgepix": 40,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 53,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 0,
        "key": "ergonomics",
        "name": "Agent ergonomics",
        "surgepix": 53,
        "weight": 13
      },
      {
        "by": 41,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 0,
        "key": "security",
        "name": "Security \u0026 auth",
        "surgepix": 41,
        "weight": 14
      },
      {
        "by": 20,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 0,
        "key": "payments",
        "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing",
        "surgepix": 20,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "key": "tasks",
        "name": "Task success",
        "pending": true,
        "weight": 10
      },
      {
        "by": 61,
        "edge": "surgepix",
        "google-imagen": 5,
        "key": "maintenance",
        "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community",
        "surgepix": 66,
        "weight": 7
      },
      {
        "by": 32,
        "edge": "google-imagen",
        "google-imagen": 60,
        "key": "transparency",
        "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust",
        "surgepix": 28,
        "weight": 7
      }
    ],
    "summary": "Google Imagen shut down on 2026-08-17. SurgePix API scores 36 (F) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do image generation.",
    "tasks": null,
    "tutorials": [],
    "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.",
      "surgepix": "A small, readable API with async tasks and MIT skill scripts that cover posters, decks, edits and translation. Only background removal is documented, the terms name no company and restrict commercial use and automated querying, and uploaded files become public URLs."
    }
  },
  "kind": "anchor.page",
  "links": {
    "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json",
    "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix.md",
    "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix.min.md"
  },
  "markdown": "Google Imagen shut down on 2026-08-17. SurgePix API scores 36 (F) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency \u0026 trust. Both do image generation.\n\n- 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\n- SurgePix API: grade F, 36/100, rank #1173 of 1266. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/surgepix.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/surgepix.json\n- Best image generation for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/image-generation/index.md\n- All 120 image comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/image-generation/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Google Imagen (F)\n\nGood for: Nothing new. It shut down on 2026-08-17.\n\nAhead on:\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 60 against 28\n\nWatch for: Discontinued. Calls to imagen model names fail on both the Gemini API and Vertex AI\n\n### SurgePix API (F)\n\nGood for: An agent that needs finished marketing assets, such as posters, slide decks, Xiaohongshu carousels, logos and translated images, as one file from a short request.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 15 against 0\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 40 against 25\n- Agent ergonomics, 53 against 0\n- Security \u0026 auth, 41 against 0\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 20 against 0\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 66 against 5\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Still running. Google Imagen has shut down\n- No incidents deducted, where Google Imagen loses 3 points for them\n\nWatch for: Only background removal and upload are in the public API reference, with no OpenAPI file or llms.txt\n\n\n## Why the edge\n\n### Maintenance \u0026 community: SurgePix API +61\n\n- Google Imagen (5): No release since Imagen 4 went GA on 14 August 2025 (0) and none planned (0). Notice periods were 98 days on Vertex AI (announced 24 March 2026, discontinued 30 June 2026) and 63 days on the Gemini API (announced 15 June 2026, shut down 17 August 2026), short for a model that had been GA for under a year. The public forum thread about the loss of mask-based editing in imagen-3.0-capability-001 still has two posts, the last on 1 May 2026, and no reply from Google. The public changelog still counts (5). Official SDKs no longer reach the model (0).\n- SurgePix API (66): The last dated change is GPT-Image-2.5 on 23 October 2026, 10 days before the check (30). Changelog entries on 15, 22 and 23 October, 16, 9 and 2 September 2026, more than three in 90 days (20). For a closed service, a dated changelog, a Discord server and a contact email. We didn't open Discord or the GitHub issues, so answering isn't confirmed (8). No official SDK. The skills are maintained client scripts with tags from v1.0.0 (4 June 2026) to v1.5.0 (2 September 2026), a judgement call (5). The repository's CI checks SKILL.md front matter only, with no tests, and the skills aren't published as a package (3). 30+20+8+5+3 = 66.\n\n### Agent ergonomics: SurgePix API +53\n\n- Google Imagen (0): Nothing callable remains, so context cost, error handling and retries can't be assessed (0).\n- SurgePix API (53): Every task returns one download URL, or one ZIP for an image set, and status responses are a few fields, so little enters context (18). Nothing to paginate. `noWait` chooses sync or async, and the skills pass size, aspect ratio, count and language, but none of these are in the public reference (10). Errors come back as a JSON `code` and `msg`, with 401 and 404 documented and an NSFW error on upload, but a failure can arrive as HTTP 200 with a non-zero `code` and failed task states carry no documented reason (12). Upload deduplicates by MD5 and returns the existing URL. Tasks have no idempotency key, and a retried task is a new task that spends credits again (5). Few required parameters (`fileUrl` for background removal). No official SDK, only the Node scripts inside the skills (8). 18+10+12+5+8 = 53.\n\n### Security \u0026 auth: SurgePix API +41\n\n- Google Imagen (0): No live surface to secure. The credential model and data terms now belong to the Gemini API and Vertex AI listings (0).\n- SurgePix API (41): Plain API keys created in the account settings, which the docs say can be revoked and reset. The key goes in the `authorization` header, never in a URL. No scopes found (20). No read-only key or spend cap. The plan's credit allowance bounds spend. Every uploaded file becomes a publicly accessible URL on Tencent Cloud storage, which counts against least privilege (3). The API returns image and file URLs, not untrusted text (10). The billing page's credit statement lists each request with its model and token counts, and sessions group calls in the web app, per the docs (8). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found (0). 20+3+10+8+0 = 41.\n\n### Transparency \u0026 trust: Google Imagen +32\n\n- Google Imagen (60): Closed model under Google's API terms (15). We didn't re-check retention statements for a product that no longer takes traffic, so none counted (0). Deprecation notices carry dates on both platforms and name replacements, and Vertex release notes date every Imagen removal back to 2025, but the pricing page still advertised the retired rates on 17 October (15). Subprocessors and data locations not checked for a retired product (0).\n- SurgePix API (28): The editorial half. A closed service whose terms name no company or address. They restrict any commercial use of what the service produces without SurgePix's permission, and contain clauses from an unrelated product (a \"big data\" query platform and \"non-resume content\"). The skills are MIT. Unclear terms, with a little credit for the open skills (5). The privacy policy is dated both 10 June 2026 and 1 July 2022, describes WeChat and phone registration and \"domestic servers\", and gives no retention periods. The API reference says uploads go to Tencent Cloud storage in Seoul as public URLs. No DPA. The statements don't agree (5). No deprecation policy or notices, and the terms let changes take effect on publication without notice (0). Tencent Cloud Object Storage in ap-seoul is named in the API reference, and Alipay and WeChat Pay in the privacy policy. No subprocessor list or stated data location (4). 5+5+0+4 = 14.\n\n### Payments \u0026 pricing: SurgePix API +20\n\n- Google Imagen (0): Nothing to buy. No machine payment protocol when it ran (0). The Vertex AI pricing page, which now redirects to the Agent Platform pricing page, still listed Imagen 4 at $0.02 to $0.06 an image on 17 October 2026, three and a half months after discontinuation, which is a price for a product you can't call (0). No free tier (0). Human sign-up and billing account (0).\n- SurgePix API (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices and monthly credits are public, but credits are spent per token with no per-call price for any API task, so plan-only pricing (10). A free plan with 25 credits a day. The pages don't say whether a card is needed or whether a free account can create API keys, so half, a judgement call (10). A person signs up in a browser and creates the key in settings (0). 0+10+10+0 = 20.\n\n### Reliability: SurgePix API +15\n\n- Google Imagen (0): Retired, so there's nothing left to measure. Vertex AI discontinued every Imagen endpoint on 30 June 2026 and the Gemini API shut Imagen 4 down on 17 August 2026. Every call to an imagen model name now fails (0).\n- SurgePix API (15): Read with the hosted lines. No status page was found on surgepix.ai or in the docs, and status.surgepix.ai doesn't resolve (0). With no history to read, the incident line takes the floor (5). No rate limits with numbers are documented. The terms say \"non-human continuous or frequent query operations\" lead to automatic account suspension, with no threshold given (0). No 429 or backoff guidance. The skill scripts poll every 2 seconds for up to 5 to 15 minutes, but that is client code, not a documented policy (0). No SLA, and the terms disclaim uninterrupted service (0). The API isn't labelled beta or preview, and API keys have been self-serve since 2 June 2026 per the changelog (10). 0+5+0+0+0+10 = 15.\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Google Imagen | SurgePix API | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 0 | 15 | SurgePix API +15 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 25 | 40 | SurgePix API +15 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 0 | 53 | SurgePix API +53 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 0 | 41 | SurgePix API +41 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 20 | SurgePix API +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 66 | SurgePix API +61 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 28 | Google Imagen +32 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **6.8 · F** | **36 · F** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Google Imagen | SurgePix API |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | Model API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Google | SurgePix |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` | `https://api.surgepix.ai/api` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary hosted service under the Surgepix User Agreement, which names no company and restricts commercial use without SurgePix's permission. The agent skills repository is MIT |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | no |\n| Last release | 2025-08-14 | 2026-10-23 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-04-28 | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-06-10 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Agent reviews | 1/5 (2) | none |\n\n## How the scores have moved\n\n### Google Imagen\n\n- -0.4 on 8 October 2026: checklist\n\n### SurgePix API\n\nNo score change since it was listed.\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**SurgePix API.** A small, readable API with async tasks and MIT skill scripts that cover posters, decks, edits and translation. Only background removal is documented, the terms name no company and restrict commercial use and automated querying, and uploaded files become public URLs.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Google Imagen\n\n1. 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\n2. Read images from the response content parts, not from `generated_images`\n3. Don't budget from the Vertex Imagen price rows, they describe a retired product\n4. If the job needs a mask-based inpaint, use another vendor's fill endpoint, since Gemini image editing is prompt-based\n\n### SurgePix API\n\n1. Send the key as the raw `authorization` header value, with no `Bearer` prefix\n2. Don't upload confidential files. The upload flow returns a public URL for every file\n3. Check `code` in the JSON body as well as the HTTP status, since failures come back as a non-zero `code` with a `msg`\n4. Poll `GET /tasks/{taskId}` within 24 hours, after which the task returns 404\n5. Get written permission before using outputs commercially, since the terms restrict commercial use\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Google Imagen or SurgePix API?\n\nSurgePix API scores 36 (F) on agent readiness against Google Imagen's 6.8 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Google Imagen leads on transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do Google Imagen and SurgePix API need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Google Imagen and SurgePix API without installing anything?\n\nYes. Google Imagen has a hosted endpoint at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta and SurgePix API at https://api.surgepix.ai/api.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-surgepix.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"google-imagen\", \"b\": \"surgepix\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare google-imagen surgepix`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/google-imagen.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/surgepix.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Google Imagen or SurgePix API\n\n- [Adobe Firefly API vs Google Imagen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-google-imagen.md)\n- [Adobe Firefly API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-firefly-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [ArtCraft vs Google Imagen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-google-imagen.md)\n- [ArtCraft vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/artcraft-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Black Forest Labs FLUX API vs Google Imagen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-google-imagen.md)\n- [Black Forest Labs FLUX API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/black-forest-labs-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Bria API vs Google Imagen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-google-imagen.md)\n- [Bria API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bria-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [fal image models vs Google Imagen](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-google-imagen.md)\n- [fal image models vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fal-image-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Ideogram API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-ideogram.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Iris-3B](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-iris-3b.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Leonardo.Ai API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-leonardo-ai.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs OpenAI Image API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-openai-image-api.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-qwen-image-2-1.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Recraft API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-recraft.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Replicate image models](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-replicate-image.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-seedream-on-byteplus-modelark.md)\n- [Google Imagen vs Stability AI Image API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-imagen-vs-stability-ai-image.md)\n- [Ideogram API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ideogram-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Iris-3B vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iris-3b-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Leonardo.Ai API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/leonardo-ai-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [OpenAI Image API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-image-api-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Qwen-Image 2.1 (Model Studio) vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qwen-image-2-1-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Recraft API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/recraft-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Replicate image models vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/replicate-image-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Seedream on BytePlus ModelArk vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/seedream-on-byteplus-modelark-vs-surgepix.md)\n- [Stability AI Image API vs SurgePix API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/stability-ai-image-vs-surgepix.md)\n",
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