Mercury 2vsMercury 2.5
Both language models, compared at each maker’s own API list prices. Every figure links to its source.
Compare at your usage
Every model priced for the same request8,000 tokens in, 2,000 out
| Mercury 2 on Inception API | Mercury 2.5 on Inception API | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate applied | Base rate | Base rate |
| Inputper 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.20 |
| Cache readper 1M tokens | $0.025 | $0.020 |
| Outputper 1M tokens | $0.75 | $0.75 |
| Cost per request | $0.0035 | $0.0031 |
| Per 1,000 requests | $3.50 | $3.10 |
- Mercury 2 Inception: models · as of Nov 2, 2026
- Mercury 2.5 Inception: models · as of Nov 2, 2026
Every model is priced for the same request at its maker’s own list prices (each with its source and date), so bold marks the cheapest. A model that can’t serve the request is named, not ranked; a condition its seller doesn’t price says which rate was used.
Cost per request as prompts grow
2K tokens out, list price on each maker’s API. A line ends at the model’s context window.
- Mercury 2 · Inception API
- Mercury 2.5 · Inception API
Key differences
These differences use verified vendor specifications or each maker’s official API on the same region, currency, meter and billing conditions. Different conditions remain side by side in the full table; they do not establish which model is cheaper. Declared features describe support, not measured quality or a recommendation. Missing evidence does not mean a feature is unsupported.
Full comparison
| Mercury 2 Inception | Mercury 2.5 Inception | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | Feb 24, 2026 | Sep 8, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 1, 2025 | Nov 1, 2025 |
| Specs | ||
| Context | 128K | 260K |
| Max output | 50K | 65.54K |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Reasoning | ||
| Reasoning efforts | low, medium, high | low, medium, high |
| Tool use | ||
| Structured output | ||
| Pricing · per 1M tokens | ||
| Input price | $0.25 | $0.20 |
| Output price | $0.75 | $0.75 |
| Cache read price | $0.025 | $0.020 |
| Blended price (3 input : 1 output) | $0.375 | $0.3375 |
| Cited scores | ||
| LMArena Text | 1,343 | — |
| LMArena Text · Coding | 1,392 | — |
| LMArena Text · Chinese | 1,405 | — |
Headline prices may come from different channels, regions or tiers. Check each source before choosing a model; missing facts stay blank.
Model details and sources
- Mercury 2 → Available
- Mercury 2.5 → Available
Cited scores
- LMArena (Arena), leaderboard-dataset on Hugging Face, licensed CC BY 4.0 · LMArena leaderboard dataset (Hugging Face) · CC BY 4.0 · as of Oct 28, 2026