Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.28 cheaper per 1M input tokens (97% lower; 33x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewMercury 2.5 Preview vs DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch)
Pick Mercury 2.5 Preview for lower cost; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) only if the larger context window matters more.
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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 for lower cost; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.11 vs $3.3 for DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch), saving $3.18 (96.5% lower).
Cost-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Context-first pickDeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch)
Sample savings$3.1896.5%
10x traffic gap$31.85
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) has more context, but Mercury 2.5 Preview saves $3.18 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $31.85. 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 | Mercury 2.5 Preview | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.28 | $8.58 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.19 | $5.28 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.79 | $21.12 |
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $3.81 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96.2% lower; 26.4x difference).
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) has 788.58K more context (4.03x larger).
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $3.18 cheaper on the standard workload (96.5% 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; DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) 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 $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview and $3.3 for DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch).
Choose Mercury 2.5 Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
Choose DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) when you care most about larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.11 vs $3.3 for DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch), saving $3.18 (96.5% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $3.18 cheaper on the standard workload (96.5% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.28 cheaper per 1M input tokens (97% lower; 33x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $3.81 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96.2% lower; 26.4x difference).
- DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) has 788.58K more context (4.03x larger).
| Feature | NewMercury 2.5 Preview (Inception) | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) (DeepSeek) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.04 | $1.32 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.15 | $3.96 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.11 | $3.3 |
| Context Window | 260K | 1.05M |
| 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 $0.11 vs $3.3 for DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch), saving $3.18 (96.5% 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 | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (batch) can replace DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (batch) when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.28.
- 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.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.15 sample workload cost.
- GLM 5.3 Flash offers 1.31M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 · DeepSeek · #1
- GPT-5.6 Luna · OpenAI · #2
- GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #3
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #4
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Open DeepSeek modelsMercury 2.5 is the fastest reasoning LLM, and the latest diffusion LLM (dLLM) from Inception. Instead of generating tokens sequentially, Mercury 2.5 produces and refines multiple tokens in parallel, achieving...
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 is a large-scale mixture-of-experts model from DeepSeek. This is the GA release of DeepSeek V4 Pro.