NumBench: Diagnosing Counting Failures in Text-to-Image Models

Text-to-image (T2I) models often generate the wrong number of objects, yet existing benchmarks are too small or weakly controlled to explain why. We introduce NumBench, a benchmark of 640,000 prompts spanning 1,600 categories and counts from 1 to 100. Its factorial design varies object composition, spatial guidance, and appearance conditions while balancing counts and category exposure. We also develop a process model in which requested instances compete for a finite set of resolvable image regions. The model predicts a near-quadratic collision deficit at low occupancy and shows how coordinated placement reduces it. For scalable evaluation, we propose the Confidence-Weighted Numeric Precision Score (cwnps), which aggregates three calibrated detectors and discounts uncertain proposals. Across five commercial systems, two open models, and two specialized counting methods, performance declines sharply with requested count; all evaluated methods are weak above 50 objects. Count range has the largest measured effect, followed by layout and composition. Grid guidance is strongest among guided layouts, consistent with the coordination prediction, although the analysis does not establish collision as the sole cause. A 14,400-image human study supports automated evaluation through count 50, while results on 243 natural-language prompts show transfer beyond NumBench templates.