The top alternative to GPT-Image 1.5 is GPT Image 2 API, rated 1258 Elo (#2 of 70) in the Image Editing Arena, followed by Nano Banana 2 (1248 Elo) (GPT-Image 1.5 itself ranks #3 of 70 at 1254 Elo).
GPT Image 2 API is the highest-ranked image to image alternative, with 1258 Elo (#2 of 70) in the Image Editing Arena from blind human-preference votes. The full ranking below lists 15 alternatives.
All models here compete in the same human-preference arena as GPT-Image 1.5, which holds 1254 Elo at rank #3 — open any model page or a head-to-head compare link for the direct matchup.