Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Mercury 2
Gemini 2.5 Flash leads Mercury 2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 15.5 to 10.8, and Mercury 2 costs 3.3x less per output token ($0.75 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 33 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 2.5 Flash or Mercury 2: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash for a larger context window (1.05M against 128K tokens) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 33
- Gemini 2.5 Flash only
- 40
- Mercury 2 only
- 9
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 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
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash leads, 15.5 against 10.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Mercury 2 has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.6.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash leads, 1074 against 1036.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 2
Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.0015, Mercury 2 $0.0006 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 2.5 Flash has the number, $0.466.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 2.5 Flash not benchmarked, Mercury 2 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 39.2 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemini 2.5 Flash 31.6% against Mercury 2 70.8%, 39.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 2.5 Flash $2.50 against Mercury 2 $0.75 per million output tokens, 3.3x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 2.5 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Mercury 2 128K.
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 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Bars | Mercury 2 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 4 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 3 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 7 | 0 | ||
| General | 12 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 29 | 4 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index21
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 28.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1171 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 31.1 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 69.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 37.7% | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.6% | 26.5% | Mercury 2 |
| Terminal-Bench | 17.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 43.2% | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 785.6 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1423 | 1390 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1425 | 1385 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1160 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1199 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 15.5 | 10.8 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.9 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 1.6 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 31.6% | 70.8% | Mercury 2 |
| BALROG | 33.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $549 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 56.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| BrowseComp-Plus | 39.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index41
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 79.0% | 77.0% | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 12.1% | 17.1% | Mercury 2 |
| ARC-AGI | 33.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 2.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| SimpleBench | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1422 | 1362 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1426 | 1358 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1420 | 1374 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1245 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1244 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 56.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 73.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1411 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1422 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 40.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1433 | 1343 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1428 | 1363 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1430 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1404 | 1349 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 47.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index70
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1074 | 1036 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1002 | 996 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1004 | 984 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1060 | 1009 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1020 | 982 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1059 | 1021 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1020 | 998 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 988 | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index121
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 44.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 83.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| IFBench | 50.3% | 69.8% | Mercury 2 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 65.3% | 43.7% | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| DTBench | 76.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMCA | 27.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1417 | 1354 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1405 | 1328 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1400 | 1286 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Vision | 1235 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1418 | 1378 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1409 | 1330 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1449 | 1414 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: German | 1417 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1396 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1385 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1432 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1422 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1415 | 1304 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1413 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1408 | 1357 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1419 | 1329 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1405 | 1300 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1393 | 1314 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1239 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1284 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1237 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1225 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1277 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1252 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1241 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Mercury 2 | 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
Mercury 2 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mercury 2 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mercury 2 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 | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash | Inception Mercury 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Inception | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | June 17, 2025 | March 4, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 128K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.25 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $0.75 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.466 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 2.5 Flash better than Mercury 2 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash for a larger context window (1.05M against 128K tokens) and work measured by Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) or τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Mercury 2?
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Mercury 2 costs $0.25 and $0.75. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 2.5 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Mercury 2?
Gemini 2.5 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Mercury 2 comparison based on?
33 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mercury 2's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.