Banana Hacks 2026: Generative AI & Image Creation Hackathon

Banana Hacks 2026 is a free online hackathon for people who want to build with generative AI. Join us October 9 to 12 for workshops, a weekend of hacking, and more than $10,000 in prizes.

When and where

Banana Hacks 2026 runs October 9 to 12, entirely online. Times are listed in EDT, and workshops are recorded for people in other time zones. We use Discord for the community and Zoom for live sessions. See the full schedule.

What is Banana Hacks?

Banana Hacks is a free weekend for building with generative AI. You can make an image tool, fine-tune a model, or bring a different idea. Work solo or in a team of up to four. Read more about the event.

Prizes and judging

The prize pool is over $10,000 in cash, compute credits, and tooling from our sponsors. We confirm how it splits between categories before the event. Judges score creativity and originality, technical implementation, visual quality, and potential impact. There are also awards for Best Creative Tool, Best Fine-tune, Most Surprising Output, and People's Choice. See prizes and judging criteria.

Cost

Entering costs nothing. Sponsors provide compute credits so you can train models and run inference without paying for GPU time.

How to register

Signing up is free and takes about a minute. Sign up for Banana Hacks 2026 and start building. The FAQ covers the questions people ask most.

More about Banana Hacks 2026

Oct 9-12, 2026International · Free
150 registered

Build something
worth showing off.

Spend a long weekend building with generative AI. Make an image tool, fine-tune a model, or try an idea that has been sitting in your notes. It's free and fully online.

October 9 to 12, 2026Free · fully online

Backed by

The Basics

A weekend to make the thing

Four days
We kick off Friday night and wrap with demos and awards on Monday.
One broad theme
Build anything around generative AI, images, or the tools people use to make them.
Join from home
Everything is online, and workshops are recorded for people in other time zones.

What you'll build

Pick a starting point

01
Generate images
Text-to-image, inpainting, or style transfer
02
Tune a model
LoRA, DreamBooth, or ControlNet
03
Make a tool
Drawing apps, prompt interfaces, or new workflows