Mercury 2 vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Updated October 21, 2026. 24 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Beam 1.0 501B A23B for coding: it scores 33.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 0.0 for Mercury 2.
Pick Mercury 2 when output tokens cost 1.3x less.
- Shared results
- 24
- Mercury 2 only
- 18
- Beam 1.0 501B A23B only
- 4
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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, four public coding benchmarks
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B scores 33.8 against 0.0.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Mercury 2 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 10.8.
Directional only
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
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B leads, 1253 against 1036.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B takes 1.05M tokens against 128K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mercury 2
Mercury 2 $0.0006, Beam 1.0 501B A23B $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Mercury 2 0.0 from 1 benchmark, Beam 1.0 501B A23B 33.8 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Coding, 29.4 points apart on average over 5 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena WebDev: React: Mercury 2 1160 against Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1443, 47.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Mercury 2 $0.75 against Beam 1.0 501B A23B $1.00 per million output tokens, 1.3x apart.
- Context window
- Mercury 2 takes 128K tokens, Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1.05M.
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 | Mercury 2 | Bars | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 5 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 3 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 2 | ||
| General | 0 | 11 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 24 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index05
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1171 | 1437 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| AA Coding Index | 31.1 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| SciCode | 37.7% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 26.5% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| WeirdML | 43.2% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 785.6 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1390 | 1473 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1385 | 1461 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1160 | 1443 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1199 | 1436 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 10.8 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.6 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 70.8% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 37 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 77.0% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 17.1% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1362 | 1442 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1358 | 1447 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1374 | 1451 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1459 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1475 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text: science | 1343 | 1430 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1363 | 1376 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1433 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1349 | 1430 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1036 | 1253 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Design Arena: UI components | 998 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 985 | 1222 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1009 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 982 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1022 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 998 | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 990 | Not measured | 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 index011
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 69.8% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 43.7% | Not measured | Only Mercury 2 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1354 | 1425 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1328 | 1430 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1286 | 1390 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: English | 1378 | 1436 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1330 | 1413 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1414 | 1424 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1461 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1304 | 1412 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1357 | 1414 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1329 | 1429 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1300 | 1400 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1314 | 1399 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Mercury 2 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | 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 | Inception Mercury 2 | Reflection Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Inception | Reflection |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | March 4, 2026 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 128K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.25 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.75 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | 0.0 | 33.8 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Mercury 2 better than Beam 1.0 501B A23B for coding?
Pick Beam 1.0 501B A23B for coding: it scores 33.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 0.0 for Mercury 2. Pick Mercury 2 when output tokens cost 1.3x less.
Which is cheaper, Mercury 2 or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
Mercury 2 costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $0.75 per million output tokens; Beam 1.0 501B A23B costs $0.30 and $1.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Mercury 2 or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
Beam 1.0 501B A23B, with 1.05M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks is the Mercury 2 vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B comparison based on?
24 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Mercury 2's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Beam 1.0 501B A23B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.