Inkling Small (free) is free for input tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04 per 1M tokens.
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewMercury 2.5 Preview vs Inkling Small (free)
Pick Inkling Small (free) 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 Inkling Small (free) when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Inkling Small (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower).
Cost-first pickInkling Small (free)
Context-first pickInkling Small (free)
Sample savings$0.11100%
10x traffic gap$1.15
Inkling Small (free) is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. 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
Inkling Small (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Mercury 2.5 Preview | Inkling Small (free) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Inkling Small (free) | $0.28 | $0 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Inkling Small (free) | $0.19 | $0 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Inkling Small (free) | $0.79 | $0 |
Inkling Small (free) is free for output tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.15 per 1M tokens.
Inkling Small (free) has 788.58K more context (4.03x larger).
Inkling Small (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.11.
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
Inkling Small (free) has the lower input price; Inkling Small (free) has the lower output price; Inkling Small (free) offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Inkling Small (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 Inkling Small (free).
Choose Mercury 2.5 Preview when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Inkling Small (free) 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, Inkling Small (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower).
- Inkling Small (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $0.11.
- Inkling Small (free) is free for input tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04 per 1M tokens.
- Inkling Small (free) is free for output tokens while Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.15 per 1M tokens.
- Inkling Small (free) has 788.58K more context (4.03x larger).
| Feature | NewMercury 2.5 Preview (Inception) | Inkling Small (free) (Thinking Machines) |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Window | 260K | 1.05M |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Inkling Small (free) | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Inkling Small (free) is estimated at $0 vs $0.11 for Mercury 2.5 Preview, saving $0.11 (100% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Inkling Small (free) | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Inkling Small (free) | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Inkling Small (free) | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.
- DeepSeek V4 Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.1 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 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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