AI model comparison
Mercury 2 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
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
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is a lightweight reasoning model in the Gemini 2.5 family, optimized for ultra-low latency and cost efficiency.
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is scheduled to be retired on October 20, 2026. Consider Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite instead.
- Input / 1M
- $0.10
- Output / 1M
- $0.40
- Context
- 1.05M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
2.2x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Mercury 2
13.8 vs 10.4 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
1.05M vs 128K tokens
Newer release
Mercury 2
Released March 4, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Mercury 213.8Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite10.4Coding index
Mercury 231.1Gemini 2.5 Flash LiteNot availableAgentic index
Mercury 21.6Gemini 2.5 Flash LiteNot availablePricing
Mercury 2 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | Mercury 2 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.25 | $0.10 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.75 | $0.40 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.03 | $0.01 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | $0.08 |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.014 |
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
Mercury 2$0.88Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite$0.40Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Mercury 2$10.50$3.75 cachedGemini 2.5 Flash Lite$4.60$1.90 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
Mercury 2$39$5.25 cachedGemini 2.5 Flash Lite$15.80$2.30 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | Mercury 2 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 128K tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Max output | 50K tokens | 66K tokens |
| Input types | Text | Audio, File, Image, Text, Video |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | High, Medium, Low, None | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Medium | Not available |
| Release date | March 4, 2026 | July 22, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | Mercury 2 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Not supported | 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.
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Our take
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is 2.2x cheaper for a typical chat. Mercury 2 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (13.8 vs 10.4). Gemini 2.5 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 Mercury 2 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite cheaper?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.40 per 1M output tokens, while Mercury 2 costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $0.75 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Mercury 2 or Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 128K for Mercury 2.
Is Mercury 2 smarter than Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Mercury 2 scores 13.8 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite scores 10.4, putting Mercury 2 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Mercury 2 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Mercury 2 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Mercury 2 and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.