AI model comparison
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Mercury 2
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is Google’s GA high-efficiency multimodal model optimized for low-latency, high-volume workloads.
- Input / 1M
- $0.25
- Output / 1M
- $1.50
- Context
- 1.05M
Inception
Mercury 2
Mercury 2 is an extremely fast reasoning LLM, and the first reasoning diffusion LLM (dLLM).
- Input / 1M
- $0.25
- Output / 1M
- $0.75
- Context
- 128K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Mercury 2
1.4x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
15.6 vs 13.8 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
1.05M vs 128K tokens
Newer release
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Released May 7, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite15.6Mercury 213.8Coding index
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite34.7Mercury 231.1Agentic index
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite1.6Mercury 21.6Pricing
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Mercury 2 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Mercury 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.25 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.50 | $0.75 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.03 | $0.03 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | $0.08 | Not available |
| Web searchPer request | $0.014 | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$1.25Mercury 2$0.88Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$13.50$6.75 cachedMercury 2$10.50$3.75 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$40.50$6.75 cachedMercury 2$39$5.25 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Mercury 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 128K tokens |
| Max output | 66K tokens | 50K tokens |
| Input types | Audio, File, Image, Text, Video | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Medium, Low, Minimal | High, Medium, Low, None |
| Default reasoning effort | Minimal | Medium |
| Release date | May 7, 2026 | March 4, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | Mercury 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteView full model details- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Gemma 4 31B
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Claude Haiku 4.5
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs DeepSeek V3.1
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Muse Glimmer 30B
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs GLM 4.6
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs GLM 4.7 Flash
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs R1 0528
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs LongCat 2.0
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Qwen3.5-122B-A10B
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Kimi K2 0905
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Mistral Medium 3.5
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Step 3.5 Flash
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs o4 Mini
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Nova 2 Lite
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs GLM 4.5
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Kimi K2 0711
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M1
Our take
Mercury 2 is 1.4x cheaper for a typical chat. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (15.6 vs 13.8). Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has the larger context window (1.05M vs 128K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Mercury 2 cheaper?
Mercury 2 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Mercury 2 costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $0.75 per 1M output tokens, while Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $1.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite or Mercury 2?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 128K for Mercury 2.
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite smarter than Mercury 2?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite scores 15.6 and Mercury 2 scores 13.8, putting Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Mercury 2 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Mercury 2 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Mercury 2 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.