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Mercury 2 vs Kimi K2.5

Kimi K2.5 leads Mercury 2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 23.5 to 10.8, and Mercury 2 costs 3.8x less per output token ($0.75 vs $2.85 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 40 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Mercury 2 Replace Kimi K2.5
Mercury 2Inception
Coding
No data
Overall
No data
Output $/M
$0.75
0
Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI
Coding
38.6
Overall
44.8
Output $/M
$2.85
40
vs boards won of 40 shared

Mercury 2 or Kimi K2.5: which to pick

Only Kimi K2.5 has a coding score, 38.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Mercury 2 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick Mercury 2 for output tokens 3.8x cheaper ($0.75 vs $2.85 per million).

Model AMercury 2InceptionNot benchmarked1 independent benchmarkNo cost per solved taskModel BKimi K2.5Moonshot AI38.6/1003 independent benchmarks$0.24 per solved task
Shared results
40
Mercury 2 only
2
Kimi K2.5 only
59
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.

At a glance

Coding index
Mercury 2 not benchmarked, Kimi K2.5 38.6 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category
Web design, 25.8 points apart on average over 8 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
LMArena WebDev: React: Mercury 2 1160 against Kimi K2.5 1429, 44.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Mercury 2 $0.75 against Kimi K2.5 $2.85 per million output tokens, 3.8x apart.
Context window
Mercury 2 takes 128K tokens, Kimi K2.5 262K.

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.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryMercury 2BarsKimi K2.5Ties
Coding09
Intelligence01
Agentic work01
Reasoning05
Knowledge03
Web design08
General013
All shared boards040
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index09
Coding benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
SWE-bench VerifiedNot measured70.8%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
SWE-bench MultilingualNot measured67.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena WebDev11711437Kimi K2.5
AA Coding Index31.146.8Kimi K2.5
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)Not measured83.9%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)Not measured70.0%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)Not measured17.5%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Code migration (Vals AI)Not measured7.0%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)Not measured42.0%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
SciCode37.7%Not measuredOnly Mercury 2 measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)26.5%34.8%Kimi K2.5
Terminal-BenchNot measured43.2%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
WeirdML43.2%45.6%Kimi K2.5
ALE-Bench785.6821.6Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: coding13901483Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: software and IT13851471Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: React11601429Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: HTML11991426Kimi K2.5
LMArena WebDev: from an imageNot measured1439Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Intelligence benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
AA Intelligence Index10.823.5Kimi K2.5
Epoch Capabilities IndexNot measured148.1Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
Agentic work benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
AA Agentic Index1.6Not measuredOnly Mercury 2 measured
Design Arena: agents building web appsNot measured1136Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack appsNot measured1114Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile appsNot measured1147Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building Android appsNot measured1118Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot gamesNot measured1219Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)Not measured35.8%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)Not measured15.9%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured28.5%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
τ²-Bench Telecom70.8%95.9%Kimi K2.5
OSWorldNot measured63.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Vending-Bench 2Not measured$1,198Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 29 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index05
Reasoning benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
GPQA DiamondNot measured84.1%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)Not measured84.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)77.0%87.9%Kimi K2.5
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)17.1%30.7%Kimi K2.5
ARC-AGINot measured65.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured11.8%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
SimpleBenchNot measured46.8%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13621453Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: expert13581466Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13741460Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1282Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1297Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Kagi LLM BenchmarkNot measured78.5%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
Math benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
AIMENot measured95.6%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: mathNot measured1470Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: mathematical workNot measured1473Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
Knowledge benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
MMLU ProNot measured85.9%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)Not measured58.7%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)Not measured68.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)Not measured74.2%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured66.5%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
MedQA (Vals AI)Not measured94.4%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)Not measured39.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
SimpleQA VerifiedNot measured34.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: science13431459Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13631448Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: legal and governmentNot measured1441Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: business and finance13491427Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index08
Web design benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
Design Arena: websites10361248Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: UI components9961234Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: game dev9841206Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: data viz10091219Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: 3D9821204Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: all code categories10211236Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: SVG9981149Kimi K2.5
Design Arena: ASCII art9881166Kimi K2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index013
General benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured49.9%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)Not measured76.4%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
IFBench69.8%70.2%Kimi K2.5
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)43.7%78.0%Kimi K2.5
Fiction.LiveBenchNot measured86.1%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
CL-benchNot measured19.3%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
CL-bench LifeNot measured13.2%Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text13541445Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: instruction following13281431Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: creative writing12861422Kimi K2.5
LMArena VisionNot measured1269Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: English13781453Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: non-English13301433Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: Chinese14141494Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: GermanNot measured1441Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: JapaneseNot measured1423Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: KoreanNot measured1412Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: FrenchNot measured1454Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: SpanishNot measured1450Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: Russian13041435Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: PolishNot measured1445Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn13571444Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: longer queries13291445Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: writing and language13001425Kimi K2.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13141417Kimi K2.5
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1274Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1328Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1276Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1284Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: captioningNot measured1257Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: recognizing thingsNot measured1285Only Kimi K2.5 measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1269Only Kimi K2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
BenchmarkMercury 2Kimi K2.5Leader
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$0.0006Fits in one request
Kimi K2.5$0.0020Fits in one request

Mercury 2 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Mercury 2$0.015Fits in one request
Kimi K2.5$0.035Fits in one request

Mercury 2 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Mercury 2$0.058Exceeds the context window
Kimi K2.5$0.135Fits in one request

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.

Specifications of Mercury 2 and Kimi K2.5
SpecificationInception Mercury 2MoonshotAI Kimi K2.5
MakerInceptionMoonshot AI
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedMarch 4, 2026January 27, 2026
Context window128K262K
Input $/Mtok$0.25$0.532
Output $/Mtok$0.75$2.85
Coding indexNot benchmarked38.6
Independent measurements behind it13
Cost per solved taskNot computable$0.24
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Mercury 2 better than Kimi K2.5 for coding?

Only Kimi K2.5 has a coding score, 38.6 on the Vibe Coding Index; Mercury 2 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Mercury 2 for output tokens 3.8x cheaper ($0.75 vs $2.85 per million).

Which is cheaper, Mercury 2 or Kimi K2.5?

Mercury 2 costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $0.75 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.5 costs $0.532 and $2.85. Cost per solved task is known for Kimi K2.5 only.

Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 2 or Kimi K2.5?

Kimi K2.5, with 262K tokens against 128K.

How many benchmarks is the Mercury 2 vs Kimi K2.5 comparison based on?

40 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Mercury 2's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Kimi K2.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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