Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98% lower; 50x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewMercury 2.5 Preview vs Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image)
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 $0.11 vs $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), saving $7.88 (98.6% lower).
Cost-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Context-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Sample savings$7.8898.6%
10x traffic gap$78.85
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 $78.85. 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 | Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.28 | $16 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.19 | $14 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mercury 2.5 Preview | $0.79 | $62 |
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $11.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.8% lower; 80x difference).
Mercury 2.5 Preview has 128.93K more context (1.98x larger).
Mercury 2.5 Preview is $7.88 cheaper on the standard workload (98.6% 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 $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview and $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image).
Choose Mercury 2.5 Preview when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 Preview is estimated at $0.11 vs $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), saving $7.88 (98.6% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $7.88 cheaper on the standard workload (98.6% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $1.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98% lower; 50x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview is $11.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.8% lower; 80x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 Preview has 128.93K more context (1.98x larger).
| Feature | NewMercury 2.5 Preview (Inception) | Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.04 | $2 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.15 | $12 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.11 | $8 |
| Context Window | 260K | 131.07K |
| 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 $8 for Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image), saving $7.88 (98.6% 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. |
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