Nova Micro 1.0 vs Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5 leads Nova Micro 1.0 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 12.3 to 5.9, at about the same output price ($0.15 vs $0.14 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 3 benchmarks have a result for both.
Nova Micro 1.0 or Mercury 2.5: which to pick
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, 1.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova Micro 1.0 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Nova Micro 1.0 for output tokens 1.1x cheaper ($0.14 vs $0.15 per million).
- Shared results
- 3
- Nova Micro 1.0 only
- 36
- Mercury 2.5 only
- 19
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5 leads, 12.3 against 5.9.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5 takes 260K tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Micro 1.0
Nova Micro 1.0 $0.0001, Mercury 2.5 $0.0001 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Nova Micro 1.0 not benchmarked, Mercury 2.5 1.6 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 58.7 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Long context reasoning (AA-LCR): Nova Micro 1.0 13.0% against Mercury 2.5 71.7%, 58.7 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Nova Micro 1.0 $0.14 against Mercury 2.5 $0.15 per million output tokens, 1.1x apart.
- Context window
- Nova Micro 1.0 takes 128K tokens, Mercury 2.5 260K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Nova Micro 1.0 | Bars | Mercury 2.5 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 3 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index13 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 3.7% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.5% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.4% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 34.5% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.1% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.5% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 14.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 38.5% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 1.5% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 301.6 | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1218 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1215 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 5.9 | 12.3 | Mercury 2.5 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.9% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.5% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.3% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 8.8% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 14.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 35.8% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.6% | 11.8% | Mercury 2.5 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1191 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1183 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1203 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 6.0 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.0% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 3.0% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1206 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1212 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 83.1% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.3% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 53.1% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| MMLU | 70.8% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1210 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1207 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1221 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1182 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 9 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 45.3% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.1% | Only Mercury 2.5 measured |
| IFBench | 29.4% | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 13.0% | 71.7% | Mercury 2.5 |
| LMArena Text | 1208 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1174 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1172 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1224 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1186 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1209 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1192 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1154 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1150 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1238 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1225 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1185 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1178 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1205 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1192 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1163 | Not measured | Only Nova Micro 1.0 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Nova Micro 1.0 | Mercury 2.5 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nova Micro 1.0 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nova Micro 1.0 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nova Micro 1.0 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Amazon Nova Micro 1.0 | Inception Mercury 2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Amazon | Inception |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | December 5, 2024 | September 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 128K | 260K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.035 | $0.04 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.14 | $0.15 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 1.6 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Nova Micro 1.0 better than Mercury 2.5 for coding?
Only Mercury 2.5 has a coding score, 1.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Nova Micro 1.0 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Nova Micro 1.0 for output tokens 1.1x cheaper ($0.14 vs $0.15 per million).
Which is cheaper, Nova Micro 1.0 or Mercury 2.5?
Nova Micro 1.0 costs $0.035 per million input tokens and $0.14 per million output tokens; Mercury 2.5 costs $0.04 and $0.15. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Nova Micro 1.0 or Mercury 2.5?
Mercury 2.5, with 260K tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks is the Nova Micro 1.0 vs Mercury 2.5 comparison based on?
3 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Nova Micro 1.0's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mercury 2.5's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.