Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (86.7% lower; 7.5x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewNano Banana 2.1 vs Mercury 2.5 Preview
Pick Mercury 2.5 Preview when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Mercury 2.5 Preview when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.57 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $4.67 (89% lower).
Cost-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Context-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Sample savings$4.6789%
10x traffic gap$46.75
Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $46.75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Mercury 2.5 Preview stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Nano Banana 2.1 | Mercury 2.5 Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $11.25 | $1.38 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $9 | $0.95 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $39 | $3.95 |
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $6.75 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
Mercury 2.5 Preview has 194.46K more context (3.97x larger).
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $4.67 cheaper on the standard workload (89% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
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
Mercury 2.5 Preview has the lower input price; Mercury 2.5 Preview has the lower output price; Mercury 2.5 Preview offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1 and $0.57 for Mercury 2.5 Preview.
Choose Nano Banana 2.1 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Mercury 2.5 Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.57 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $4.67 (89% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $4.67 cheaper on the standard workload (89% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (86.7% lower; 7.5x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $6.75 cheaper per 1M output tokens (90% lower; 10x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview has 194.46K more context (3.97x larger).
| Feature | NewNano Banana 2.1 (Google) | Mercury 2.5 Preview (Inception) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.5 | $0.2 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $7.5 | $0.75 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $5.25 | $0.57 |
| Context Window | 65.54K | 260K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Mercury 2.5 Preview | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.57 vs $5.25 for Nano Banana 2.1, saving $4.67 (89% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Mercury 2.5 Preview | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Mercury 2.5 Preview | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Mercury 2.5 Preview | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Nano Banana 2.1 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.47 sample workload cost.
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.
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- Step 5 Preview · StepFun · #2
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #3
- MiMo-V2.6-Flash · Xiaomi · #4
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