Mercury 2.5 is $0.46 cheaper per 1M input tokens (92% lower; 12.5x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewMercury 2.5 vs Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)
Pick Mercury 2.5 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 when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 is estimated at $0.11 vs $2 for Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), saving $1.89 (94.2% lower).
Cost-first pickMercury 2.5
Context-first pickMercury 2.5
Sample savings$1.8994.2%
10x traffic gap$18.85
Mercury 2.5 is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $18.85. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Mercury 2.5 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Mercury 2.5 | Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Mercury 2.5 | $0.28 | $4 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Mercury 2.5 | $0.19 | $3.5 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Mercury 2.5 | $0.79 | $15.5 |
Mercury 2.5 is $2.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (95% lower; 20x difference).
Mercury 2.5 has 128.93K more context (1.98x larger).
Mercury 2.5 is $1.89 cheaper on the standard workload (94.2% 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 has the lower input price; Mercury 2.5 has the lower output price; Mercury 2.5 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mercury 2.5 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 and $2 for Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image).
Choose Mercury 2.5 when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash 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 is estimated at $0.11 vs $2 for Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), saving $1.89 (94.2% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 is $1.89 cheaper on the standard workload (94.2% lower).
- Mercury 2.5 is $0.46 cheaper per 1M input tokens (92% lower; 12.5x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 is $2.85 cheaper per 1M output tokens (95% lower; 20x difference).
- Mercury 2.5 has 128.93K more context (1.98x larger).
| Feature | NewMercury 2.5 (Inception) | Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) (Google) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.04 | $0.5 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.15 | $3 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.11 | $2 |
| Context Window | 260K | 131.07K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Mercury 2.5 | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2.5 is estimated at $0.11 vs $2 for Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), saving $1.89 (94.2% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Mercury 2.5 | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Mercury 2.5 | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Mercury 2.5 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
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- GLM 5.3 Flash offers 1.31M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
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