API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewMercury 2.5 Preview vs Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)

Pick Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) for lower cost; pick Mercury 2.5 Preview only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated:  Data confirmed:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) for lower cost; pick Mercury 2.5 Preview only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower).

Cost-first pickNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)
Context-first pickMercury 2.5 Preview
Sample savings$0.11100%
10x traffic gap$1.15

Mercury 2.5 Preview has more context, but Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) saves $0.11 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $1.15. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickMercury 2.5 PreviewNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)$0.28$0
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)$0.19$0
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)$0.79$0
Cheaper input Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) $0.04 vs $0 / 1M

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for input tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04 per 1M tokens.

Cheaper output Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) $0.15 vs $0 / 1M

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for output tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.15 per 1M tokens.

Larger context Mercury 2.5 Preview 260K vs 256K

Mercury 2.5 Preview has 4K more context (1.02x larger).

Sample workload Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) $0.11 vs $0

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.11.

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Mercury 2.5 Preview Calculating… Estimated API cost
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) 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

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) has the lower input price; Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) has the lower output price; Mercury 2.5 Preview offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) 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 $0 for Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free).

Best Fit

Choose Mercury 2.5 Preview when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) 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, Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower).
  • Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.11.
  • Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for input tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04 per 1M tokens.
  • Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is free for output tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.15 per 1M tokens.
  • Mercury 2.5 Preview has 4K more context (1.02x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureNewMercury 2.5 Preview
(Inception)
Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)
(NVIDIA)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$0.04$0
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$0.15$0
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$0.11$0
Context Window260K256K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower).
High-volume input processingNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsNemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workMercury 2.5 PreviewA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.

Cheaper alternatives

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

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

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

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

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

Open provider hubs

Inception catalog

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

Open Inception models

NVIDIA catalog

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

Open NVIDIA models
Mercury 2.5 Preview

Mercury 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...

Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)

NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Nano Omni is a 30B-A3B open multimodal model designed to function as a perception and context sub-agent in enterprise agent systems. It accepts text, image, video, and...