Comment by the_real_cher

A tiny, high-signal TL;DR:

• OpenAI (gpt-image-1): The wild artist. Best for creative, transformative, style-heavy edits—Ghibli, watercolor, fantasy additions, portals, sci-fi stuff, etc. But it hallucinates a lot and often distorts fine details (especially faces). Slowest.

• Gemini (flash-image / nanoBanana): The cautious realist. Best for subtle, photorealistic edits—fog, lighting tweaks, gentle filters, lens effects. Almost never ruins details, but sometimes refuses to do artsy transformations, especially on human photos.

• Seedream: The adventurous middle child. Faster, cheaper, and often surprisingly good at aesthetic effects—bokeh, low-poly, ukiyo-e, metallic sheen, etc. Not as creative as OpenAI, not as conservative as Gemini. Can hallucinate, but in fun ways.

Bottom line: • Creative prompts → OpenAI • Realistic photo edits → Gemini • Budget-friendly, balanced option → Seedream

If you’re planning an automated pipeline, routing “artistic” prompts to OpenAI and “photorealistic” ones to Gemini (with Seedream as a wildcard) matches their own conclusion.