API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewAnthropic Claude Haiku Latest vs Mercury 2

Pick Mercury 2 for lower cost; pick Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Mercury 2 for lower cost; pick Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.5 for Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest, saving $2.88 (82.1% lower).

Cost-first pickMercury 2

Context-first pickAnthropic Claude Haiku Latest

Sample savings$2.8882.1%

10x traffic gap$28.75

Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest has more context, but Mercury 2 saves $2.88 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $28.75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Mercury 2 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest	Mercury 2
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Mercury 2	$7.5	$1.62
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Mercury 2	$6	$1
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Mercury 2	$26	$4

Cheaper input Mercury 2 $1 vs $0.25 / 1M

Mercury 2 is $0.75 cheaper per 1M input tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).

Cheaper output Mercury 2 $5 vs $0.75 / 1M

Mercury 2 is $4.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (85% lower; 6.67x difference).

Larger context Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest 200K vs 128K

Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest has 72K more context (1.56x larger).

Sample workload Mercury 2 $3.5 vs $0.62

Mercury 2 is $2.88 cheaper on the standard workload (82.1% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest Calculating… Estimated API cost

Mercury 2 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

Mercury 2 has the lower input price; Mercury 2 has the lower output price; Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mercury 2 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3.5 for Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest and $0.62 for Mercury 2.

Best Fit

Choose Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Mercury 2 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.5 for Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest, saving $2.88 (82.1% lower).
Mercury 2 is $2.88 cheaper on the standard workload (82.1% lower).
Mercury 2 is $0.75 cheaper per 1M input tokens (75% lower; 4x difference).
Mercury 2 is $4.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (85% lower; 6.67x difference).
Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest has 72K more context (1.56x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewAnthropic Claude Haiku Latest (Anthropic)	Mercury 2 (Inception)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$1	$0.25
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$5	$0.75
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3.5	$0.62
Context Window	200K	128K
Release Date	2026-04-27	2026-03-04

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Mercury 2	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.5 for Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest, saving $2.88 (82.1% lower).
High-volume input processing	Mercury 2	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Mercury 2	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Claude 3 Haiku can replace Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $1 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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Anthropic catalog

Review all tracked Anthropic models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Inception catalog

Check other Inception models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

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Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest

This model always redirects to the latest model in the Anthropic Claude Haiku family.

Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is an extremely fast reasoning LLM, and the first reasoning diffusion LLM (dLLM). Instead of generating tokens sequentially, Mercury 2 produces and refines multiple tokens in parallel, achieving...