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vincevangen compared with a script, banana-claude, fal and Codex

What each needs, what each makes and what it costs. Then our own test of 14 asset jobs, including the ones your agent should do in code.

Facts about other products are as of 2026-10, from their public pages. Last checked .

The connectors and servers that add images to Claude chats are compared on Can Claude generate images?

Five ways to get an image into your repo

vincevangen

Hosted MCP server

Setup
An API key from the dashboard and one command. Works in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf and any MCP client.
What it makes
Images, photo edits, music and short video clips. Presets for portraits, product shots, heroes, pixel sprites and textures, with export sizes.
Edits with reference images
Yes, up to four images per edit.
Music and video
Music tracks and loops, 5-second clips and longer video tiers.
Checks on the output
Size, transparency, palette, seam and loop checks in code, free. A vision model scores drafts against your agent's rubric, as advice.
Spending limits
Prepaid credits. A quote before every call; a call quoted above your balance is refused before it runs.
Licence and provenance per file
Each result names its model and licence, with a warning when commercial use is unclear. A provenance record per file.
Price
A final image 6 credits ($0.06), a photo edit 9 credits ($0.09), a minute of music 15 credits ($0.15). Drafts 1 credit ($0.01) per two. Failed results and cache hits are free.

A script with your own key

Your agent writes it

Setup
An account and an API key with an image provider. Your agent writes the script and keeps it working.
What it makes
Whatever that provider's API offers.
Edits with reference images
If the provider's API takes them and your script sends them.
Music and video
Another API, and more script, for each.
Checks on the output
What your script checks.
Spending limits
What the provider's console offers.
Licence and provenance per file
What your script records.
Price
The provider's rate, for example $0.067 per 1K image for Nano Banana 2 on the Gemini API. Per image this is usually less than our credits.

banana-claude

Claude Code plugin, MIT, v3.0.0

Setup
Install from its plugin marketplace. Needs a Gemini API key for a billing-enabled Google AI project, and Python 3.11 or newer.
What it makes
Images from Google's Nano Banana 2 Lite, Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro.
Edits with reference images
Yes: one change at a time, keeping identity and brand details; the last result can be the next reference.
Music and video
Not mentioned in its README.
Checks on the output
A review step for copy, crop, composition, consistency, artifacts, rights and provenance.
Spending limits
Shows a nominal estimate and asks for approval before each paid attempt. No spending cap described.
Licence and provenance per file
A metadata sidecar beside each image.
Price
Free plugin. You pay Google: $0.067 per 1K image for Nano Banana 2, $0.134 for Nano Banana Pro.

fal MCP

Hosted MCP server from fal

Setup
A fal API key and one command. The MCP server is free.
What it makes
Runs models from fal's catalogue of 1,000+: image, video, audio, 3D and upscaling.
Edits with reference images
Depends on the model you pick; the announcement doesn't describe an edit workflow.
Music and video
Video and audio models (the announcement shows image to video and text to speech).
Checks on the output
None described.
Spending limits
Prepaid fal credits; a get_pricing tool checks a model's price before a run. No spending cap described for model runs.
Licence and provenance per file
Not described.
Price
Free MCP server; you pay fal's rate for each model run.

Codex $imagegen

Built into OpenAI Codex

Setup
Built in. Put $imagegen in a prompt.
What it makes
Images from gpt-image-2.
Edits with reference images
Yes: attach an image in the composer or with -i.
Music and video
Not covered by its image generation docs.
Checks on the output
None described; the agent looks at the result.
Spending limits
Counts toward your Codex usage limits. Image turns use them 3 to 5 times faster on average.
Licence and provenance per file
Not described.
Price
Included in your plan's Codex limits. For larger batches, OpenAI's API pricing with your own key.

Per image, a script on your own key costs less than our credits. FLUX.2 [pro] is $0.03 for one 1 MP image at fal, BFL and DeepInfra. Here it is 6 credits ($0.06) on the Final tier. Raw price checked 31 Oct 2026. The credits pay for the steps after generation: drafts checked when you want options, exact sizes and exports, free text overlay and cache hits, a hard limit on spend and a record in every file.

For a one-off image in Codex, $imagegen is fine, and vvgen_import brings its file in for exports, exact text and a provenance record at no charge.

The same 14 jobs, made twice

On 12 October 2026 we gave Claude Code 14 asset jobs for two made-up products, a coffee journal app and a pixel-art platformer. Each job was done once with vincevangen and once with code only: SVG, HTML, Python and ffmpeg.

Code won 8, vincevangen won 5, 1 was a tie. vincevangen won the jobs code can't draw: portraits, a product photo, a photo edit, lettering in a scene and music. Code won the icon, favicon, OG card, empty state, sprite, walk cycle, texture and clip. Your agent gets the same routing from the skill it loads.

The table scrolls sideways.

Each job: who won, the blind judge's call, what to use now, and one vincevangen call's time and price
JobWon (code/vvgen)Blind judgeUse nowvvgen callCredits today
1. App icon1024 master plus 180, 192 and 512 exports in the brand paletteCode4 / 2Code4 / 2Code (SVG)13 s6 credits ($0.06)
2. FaviconLegible at 16 and 32 pxCode4 / 3Tie4 / 4, disagreedCode (SVG)17 s14 credits ($0.14)
3. Landing hero16:9 morning pour-over scene, left side empty for a headlineTie4 / 4Tie4 / 4Either: vincevangen for a photo, code for flat illustration20 s6 credits ($0.06)
4. OG card1200 × 630 with the name and tagline spelled exactlyCode5 / 4Tie4 / 4, disagreedCode (HTML); a vincevangen photo can be one layer15 s6 credits ($0.06)
5. Empty-state illustrationArt for a "No brews logged yet" screenCode4 / 2Code4 / 3Code (SVG)4 s5 credits ($0.05)
6. Testimonial avatarsThree head-and-shoulder portraits of different peoplevincevangen2 / 5vincevangen3 / 4vincevangen12 s each18 credits ($0.18)
7. Product photoBag of beans and a cup, studio shot for a shop pagevincevangen3 / 5vincevangen3 / 4vincevangen20 s6 credits ($0.06)
8. Game character spriteOne idle sprite, transparent PNGCode4 / 2vincevangen3 / 4, disagreedCode under about 48 px; the pixel-sprite preset above that14 s6 credits ($0.06)
9. 4-frame walk cycleSame character, four frames in one rowCode3 / 1Code3 / 2Code25 s9 credits ($0.09)
10. Seamless ground textureMossy stone tile that tiles without seams (shown 2 × 2)Code4 / 3vincevangen3 / 4, disagreedCode for bricks and geometric tiles; the texture-tile preset for organic ones10 s6 credits ($0.06)
11. Background music loop30 s cozy adventure loop, instrumentalvincevangen3 / 4Not judgedvincevangen, with the loop option20 s8 credits ($0.08)
12. Edit an existing photoThe product from job 7 on a sunny café table, product unchangedvincevangen1 / 5vincevangen2 / 4vincevangen18 s9 credits ($0.09)
13. 5 s promo clipSteam rising from a pour-overCode3 / 2Not judgedDepends on the budget: the quick tier missed the brief, the dearer tiers were not testedabout 1 min6 credits ($0.06)
14. Lettering in a sceneA café chalkboard reading exactly "POUR OVER 4.50"vincevangen4 / 5Code5 / 3, disagreedvincevangen on the Text-accurate tier, and check the spellingnot timed7 credits ($0.07)

The blind judge agreed on 7 of 12

The evaluator who wrote the prompts also scored both sides, so a second model scored 12 of the jobs again from anonymised pairs, without knowing which side made which. Music and video were not judged. It agreed with the original call on 7 of 12. It called the favicon and the OG card ties, preferred vincevangen's knight and stones as pictures (the stones still fail the seam measurement), and marked our chalkboard down because its "4.50" reads as a raised superscript. Its scores ran about half a point below the original ones on both sides.

How the numbers were made

Scores are out of 5, code first. "vvgen call" is one call's wall-clock time in a second run the same day by an agent that had read only the tool descriptions: it finished 12 jobs in about 6 minutes. "Credits today" is what that call costs at today's price card. The code side cost no credits and took 1 to 5 minutes of agent time per job. The test ran on the open-source engine with its local default models; the hosted Final and Edit tiers run FLUX.2 [pro], so hosted results will differ. One seed per job, so treat it as a pilot, not a benchmark.

  • 1. App icon

    Won: Code
    Job 1, App icon: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 1, App icon: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen2/5

    Code drew an on-brand mark that fills the tile. The model's mark was small and generic.

  • 2. Favicon

    Won: Code
    Job 2, Favicon: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 2, Favicon: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen3/5

    Code is crisper at 16 px and matches the icon. Three drafts plus a cut-out each cost credits for a 16 px glyph.

  • 3. Landing hero

    Won: Tie
    Job 3, Landing hero: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 3, Landing hero: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen4/5

    A premium-looking photograph against an on-palette flat illustration.

  • 4. OG card

    Won: Code
    Job 4, OG card: the Code result
    Code5/5
    Job 4, OG card: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen4/5

    Both spelled the words exactly. HTML used the site's own fonts and logo.

  • 5. Empty-state illustration

    Won: Code
    Job 5, Empty-state illustration: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 5, Empty-state illustration: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen2/5

    UI illustration should share the vector style of the rest of the UI.

  • 6. Testimonial avatars

    Won: vincevangen
    Job 6, Testimonial avatars: the Code result
    Code2/5
    Job 6, Testimonial avatars: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen5/5

    Convincing photo portraits. Code can only draw flat cartoon faces.

  • 7. Product photo

    Won: vincevangen
    Job 7, Product photo: the Code result
    Code3/5
    Job 7, Product photo: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen5/5

    Reads as a real studio photo. The code version reads as a vector mockup.

  • 8. Game character sprite

    Won: Code
    Job 8, Game character sprite: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 8, Game character sprite: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen2/5

    Code drew real 32 px pixel art. The model's knight looked like pixel art but sat on no grid; the blind judge preferred it as art.

  • 9. 4-frame walk cycle

    Won: Code
    Job 9, 4-frame walk cycle: the Code result
    Code3/5
    Job 9, 4-frame walk cycle: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen1/5

    The model returned six boxed frames with near-identical poses. Code's frames loop in the engine.

  • 10. Seamless ground texture

    Won: Code
    Job 10, Seamless ground texture: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 10, Seamless ground texture: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen3/5

    Measured seam: code 0.97, vincevangen 2.19, where 1.0 is seamless. The blind judge preferred the model's stones by eye.

  • 12. Edit an existing photo

    Won: vincevangen
    Job 12, Edit an existing photo: the Code result
    Code1/5
    Job 12, Edit an existing photo: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen5/5

    Same bag, label, cup and beans in a believable café. Pillow left a grey patch and mismatched light.

  • 14. Lettering in a scene

    Won: vincevangen
    Job 14, Lettering in a scene: the Code result
    Code4/5
    Job 14, Lettering in a scene: the vincevangen result
    vincevangen5/5

    A real-looking chalkboard on a street. The blind judge read its "4.50" as a raised superscript, so not an exact match.

What changed since the test

The test found three steps missing after generation, so we added them, free: pixel sprites snap to their own grid with a small palette and hard edges, organic textures get their wrap seam cut and measured, and music gets a loop option. These jobs have not been run side by side again yet. Icons, favicons, OG cards, UI illustration, sprite sheets and walk cycles still go to code, and the skill tells your agent so.

How-to pages: product shots, portraits, photo edits, game music loops and pixel sprites.

Add it to Claude

One connector for Claude on the web, desktop and mobile, and for Claude Code when it's signed in with your Claude account. Cursor, Codex, Windsurf and other MCP clients are in the quickstarts.

Get 50 free credits Add to Claude(opens claude.ai in a new tab)

In Claude Code, without a key

Terminal
claude mcp add -s user --transport http \
  vincevangen https://api.vincevangen.com/mcp

Then run /mcp in Claude Code to sign in.