API cost decision in 10 seconds

GLM 5 Turbo vs Mercury 2

Pick Mercury 2 for lower cost; pick GLM 5 Turbo only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T10:03:26Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T13:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Mercury 2 for lower cost; pick GLM 5 Turbo only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.58 (80.5% lower).

Cost-first pickMercury 2

Context-first pickGLM 5 Turbo

Sample savings$2.5880.5%

10x traffic gap$25.75

GLM 5 Turbo has more context, but Mercury 2 saves $2.58 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $25.75. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Mercury 2 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GLM 5 Turbo	Mercury 2
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Mercury 2	$8	$1.62
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Mercury 2	$5.2	$1
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Mercury 2	$21.2	$4

Cheaper input Mercury 2 $1.2 vs $0.25 / 1M

Mercury 2 is $0.95 cheaper per 1M input tokens (79.2% lower; 4.8x difference).

Cheaper output Mercury 2 $4 vs $0.75 / 1M

Mercury 2 is $3.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (81.2% lower; 5.33x difference).

Larger context GLM 5 Turbo 202.75K vs 128K

GLM 5 Turbo has 74.75K more context (1.58x larger).

Sample workload Mercury 2 $3.2 vs $0.62

Mercury 2 is $2.58 cheaper on the standard workload (80.5% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GLM 5 Turbo Calculating… Estimated API cost

Mercury 2 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

Mercury 2 has the lower input price; Mercury 2 has the lower output price; GLM 5 Turbo offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Mercury 2 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo and $0.62 for Mercury 2.

Best Fit

Choose GLM 5 Turbo when you care most about larger context window.

Choose Mercury 2 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, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.58 (80.5% lower).
Mercury 2 is $2.58 cheaper on the standard workload (80.5% lower).
Mercury 2 is $0.95 cheaper per 1M input tokens (79.2% lower; 4.8x difference).
Mercury 2 is $3.25 cheaper per 1M output tokens (81.2% lower; 5.33x difference).
GLM 5 Turbo has 74.75K more context (1.58x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GLM 5 Turbo (Z.ai)	Mercury 2 (Inception)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$1.2	$0.25
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$4	$0.75
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3.2	$0.62
Context Window	202.75K	128K
Release Date	2026-03-15	2026-03-04

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Mercury 2	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Mercury 2 is estimated at $0.62 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.58 (80.5% lower).
High-volume input processing	Mercury 2	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Mercury 2	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GLM 5 Turbo	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

GLM 4.5 Air (free) can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
GLM 4 32B can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
GLM 4.7 Flash can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.26.
GLM 4.5 Air can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.55.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.

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Provider catalogs

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Z.ai catalog

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Inception catalog

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GLM 5 Turbo

GLM-5 Turbo is a new model from Z.ai designed for fast inference and strong performance in agent-driven environments such as OpenClaw scenarios. It is deeply optimized for real-world agent workflows...

Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is an extremely fast reasoning LLM, and the first reasoning diffusion LLM (dLLM). Instead of generating tokens sequentially, Mercury 2 produces and refines multiple tokens in parallel, achieving...