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AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

Inception Mercury 2 vs Inception Mercury 2.5

Two Inception tiers compared on the figures that decide which one a workload actually needs.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

Inception

Inception Mercury 2

Balanced

vs

Inception

Inception Mercury 2.5

Balanced

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationInception Mercury 2Inception Mercury 2.5
ProviderInceptionInception
TierBalancedBalanced
Context window128KWinner: 260K
Max output50KWinner: 66K
Input / 1M tokens$0.25Winner: $0.20
Output / 1M tokens$0.75$0.75
WeightsClosedClosed
Parametersdiffusion LLMdiffusion LLM
Reasoning levelslow, medium, highlow, medium, high
Modalitiestexttext
API model idmercury-2mercury-2.5
ReleasedFebruary 24, 2026September 8, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (2026-09-26)Winner: 13.812.3

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

  • 2026-09-26
    Artificial Analysis

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check measuredAt.

Pricing tiers

Inception Mercury 2: $0.25/$0.75 per MTok (cached input $0.025); closed API. 128K context, 50,000 max output. Diffusion-based 'dLLM' — ~1,000 tok/s.

Inception Mercury 2.5: List $0.20/$0.75 per MTok (cached input $0.02); Inception is running an 80%-off launch promo ($0.04/$0.15). 260K chat context, 65,536 max output. Diffusion-based 'dLLM'.

BalancedRecord checked September 26, 2026

Inception Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is Inception's diffusion-based LLM — radically fast (~1,000 tok/s) rather than autoregressive.

Best for

  • Ultra-low-latency
  • High-throughput generation
  • Structured output

Watch out

Superseded by Mercury 2.5 (cheaper input, 260K context); diffusion architecture behaves differently from autoregressive models.

BalancedRecord checked September 26, 2026

Inception Mercury 2.5

Mercury 2.5 is Inception's current diffusion LLM — built for very fast generation, with a 260K context.

Best for

  • Ultra-low-latency
  • High-throughput generation
  • Structured output

Watch out

Promo pricing will end — budget at the $0.20/$0.75 list rate. Diffusion architecture behaves differently from autoregressive models.

When the cheaper one wins

Both charge $0.75 per million output tokens at standard rates, so output price is not the split. Prefer the row whose “best for” line matches the job, then confirm the live vendor rate.

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Evidence confidence: High

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 5/5 core specs verified on both sides — All core specifications verified for both models.
  • 1 shared named benchmark (scores match) — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index — scores are equivalent, so the benchmark does not separate the pair.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Inception Mercury 2 · Inception Mercury 2.5

Common questions

Inception Mercury 2 vs Inception Mercury 2.5

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Inception Mercury 2 or Inception Mercury 2.5 cheaper for input?
Inception Mercury 2.5 is cheaper at $0.20 per million input tokens, against $0.25 for Inception Mercury 2 — roughly 1.3× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; Inception Mercury 2 has tiered pricing: $0.25/$0.75 per MTok (cached input $0.025); closed API. 128K context, 50,000 max output. Diffusion-based 'dLLM' — ~1,000 tok/s. Inception Mercury 2.5 has tiered pricing: List $0.20/$0.75 per MTok (cached input $0.02); Inception is running an 80%-off launch promo ($0.04/$0.15). 260K chat context, 65,536 max output. Diffusion-based 'dLLM'.
Is Inception Mercury 2 or Inception Mercury 2.5 cheaper for output?
Both cost $0.75 per million output tokens at standard rates, so output price is not a deciding factor between them.
Which has the larger context window, Inception Mercury 2 or Inception Mercury 2.5?
Inception Mercury 2.5 accepts 260K tokens against 128K for Inception Mercury 2. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do Inception Mercury 2 and Inception Mercury 2.5 support the same reasoning levels?
Yes — both accept the same effort settings: "low", "medium", "high". Higher effort costs more and takes longer, so start low and raise it only where output quality actually improves.
Should I use Inception Mercury 2 or Inception Mercury 2.5?
Both sit in the balanced tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. Inception Mercury 2 suits ultra-low-latency; Inception Mercury 2.5 suits ultra-low-latency.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: Inception Mercury 2.5 costs $0.20 per 1M tokens versus $0.25 for Inception Mercury 2 — a 1.3x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: Inception Mercury 2.5 takes 260K against 128K for Inception Mercury 2 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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