Inception, proprietary

# Mercury 2.5

> Mercury 2.5 by Inception, released September 2026. Ranked #242 of 354 with a Noometry Index of 33.5. API: $0.04 in / $0.15 out per M tokens. 260K context. Scores, sources and comparisons.
- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/models/mercury-2-5
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Title: Mercury 2.5 Benchmarks, Price & Rank (October 2026)

Mercury 2.5 by Inception ranks 242nd of 354 ranked models on the Noometry Index as of October 2026, with a score of 33.5. Its strongest category is coding, where it ranks 156th. API pricing starts at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens, with a 260K-token context window.

Last verified October 10, 2026

## Specifications

- **Noometry rank:** #242 of 354
- **Index score:** 33.5
- **Evidence:** Reported 4 results
- **Provider:** [Inception](https://noometry.com/providers/inception)
- **Released:** September 8, 2026
- **Weights:** Proprietary
- **Reasoning:** Yes
- **Context window:** 260K
- **Max output:** 66K
- **Input price:** $0.04 / M
- **Output price:** $0.15 / M
- **Blended price:** $0.0675 / M
- **Output speed:** Not measured
- **Value:** #8 of 219
- **Knowledge cutoff:** November 2025
- **Input:** text

## Category scores

Each category score combines every public result we have in that category.

Mercury 2.5 category scores

1.  Coding 39.5
2.  Reasoning 22.4
3.  Math 23.3
4.  152025303540

Mercury 2.5 category ranks
| Category | Score | Rank | Results |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Coding](https://noometry.com/best/coding) | 39.5 | #156 | 1 |
| [Reasoning](https://noometry.com/best/reasoning) | 22.4 | #193 | 1 |
| [Math](https://noometry.com/best/math) | 23.3 | #272 | 1 |

## Strengths and weaknesses

Categories where Mercury 2.5 places highest and lowest among the models ranked in each, with its score against that category's median.

### Strongest categories

Mercury 2.5: strongest categories
| Category | Score | vs median | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Coding](https://noometry.com/best/coding) | 39.5 | +0.8 | #156 of 340, top 46% |

### Weakest categories

Mercury 2.5: weakest categories
| Category | Score | vs median | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Math](https://noometry.com/best/math) | 23.3 | −13.3 | #272 of 327, top 84% |

## Closest competitors

The models ranked just above and below Mercury 2.5. When scores are this close, price and speed are often the better way to choose.

Models ranked closest to Mercury 2.5
| Model | Rank | Score | Blended $/M | Speed |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Qwen3 8B](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-8b) | #238 | 33.7 | $0.31 | — | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-qwen3-8b) |
| [Grok-2 (Dec 2024)](https://noometry.com/models/grok-2) | #239 | 33.7 | — | — | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/grok-2-vs-mercury-2-5) |
| [GPT-4.1 mini](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-4-1-mini) | #240 | 33.6 | $0.70 | 86 | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-4-1-mini-vs-mercury-2-5) |
| [GPT-5 Nano](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-5-nano) | #241 | 33.5 | $0.14 | 4 | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-5-nano-vs-mercury-2-5) |
| [Mistral Small](https://noometry.com/models/mistral-small) | #243 | 33.4 | $0.26 | 120 | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-mistral-small) |
| [Nova 2.0 Pro Preview](https://noometry.com/models/nova-2-0-pro-preview) | #244 | 33.4 | — | — | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-nova-2-0-pro-preview) |
| [Qwen2.5-Coder-32B](https://noometry.com/models/qwen2-5-coder-32b) | #245 | 33.4 | $0.74 | — | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-qwen2-5-coder-32b) |
| [Gemini 1.5 Flash (May 2024)](https://noometry.com/models/gemini-1-5-flash) | #246 | 33.2 | — | — | [Compare](https://noometry.com/compare/gemini-1-5-flash-vs-mercury-2-5) |

Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. [Advertise on Noometry](https://noometry.com/advertise)

## Benchmark results

Every published result we track, with its source. Bold rows are the ones used for ranking; where several exist we prefer independent runs over self-reported numbers.

### Coding

Mercury 2.5 Coding benchmark results
| Benchmark | Score | Position | Setting | Source | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [SciCode](https://noometry.com/benchmarks/scicode) | 38.5% | #87 of 121, top 72% |  | [Epoch AI](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks) |  |
| [ALE-Bench](https://noometry.com/benchmarks/ale-bench) | 301.65 | #99 of 105, top 95% | high | [Epoch AI](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks) |  |

### Reasoning

Mercury 2.5 Reasoning benchmark results
| Benchmark | Score | Position | Setting | Source | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [CritPt](https://noometry.com/benchmarks/critpt) | 0% | #121 of 134, top 91% |  | [Epoch AI](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks) |  |

### Math

Mercury 2.5 Math benchmark results
| Benchmark | Score | Position | Setting | Source | Date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [ProofBench](https://noometry.com/benchmarks/proofbench) | 3% | #72 of 77, top 94% |  | [Epoch AI](https://epoch.ai/benchmarks) |  |

## API pricing by provider

Mercury 2.5 API prices
| Route | Input $/M | Output $/M | Cached input $/M | Checked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [inception](https://docs.inceptionlabs.ai/get-started/models) | $0.04 | $0.15 | $0.004 | 2026-10-10 |
| [openrouter](https://openrouter.ai/inception/mercury-2.5) | $0.04 | $0.15 | $0.004 | 2026-10-10 |

[All Inception API prices →](https://noometry.com/llm-pricing/inception) [Estimate your cost →](https://noometry.com/tools/cost-calculator)

## Compare Mercury 2.5

-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Mercury 2](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs GPT-5 Nano](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-5-nano-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Mistral Small](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-mistral-small)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs GPT-4.1 mini](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-4-1-mini-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Nova 2.0 Pro Preview](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-nova-2-0-pro-preview)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Grok-2 (Dec 2024)](https://noometry.com/compare/grok-2-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Qwen2.5-Coder-32B](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-qwen2-5-coder-32b)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs GPT-6 Astra](https://noometry.com/compare/gpt-6-astra-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Claude Fable 5.1](https://noometry.com/compare/claude-fable-5-1-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash](https://noometry.com/compare/gemini-3-8-flash-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Kimi K3](https://noometry.com/compare/kimi-k3-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Grok 4.6](https://noometry.com/compare/grok-4-6-vs-mercury-2-5)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs Qwen3.8 Max](https://noometry.com/compare/mercury-2-5-vs-qwen3-8-max)
-   [Mercury 2.5 vs GLM-5.3](https://noometry.com/compare/glm-5-3-vs-mercury-2-5)

## Other Inception models

-   [Mercury 2](https://noometry.com/models/mercury-2)39.1
-   [Mercury](https://noometry.com/models/mercury)37.6
-   [Mercury Edit 2](https://noometry.com/models/mercury-edit-2)

## Frequently asked questions

### How good is Mercury 2.5?

Mercury 2.5 by Inception ranks 242nd of 354 ranked models on the Noometry Index as of October 2026, with a score of 33.5. Its strongest category is coding, where it ranks 156th. API pricing starts at $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens, with a 260K-token context window.

### How much does Mercury 2.5 cost?

Mercury 2.5 costs $0.04 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens on Inception's own API, with cached input at $0.004.

### What is Mercury 2.5's context window?

Mercury 2.5 accepts up to 260K tokens of input and can write up to 66K tokens in one response.

### Is Mercury 2.5 open source?

No. Mercury 2.5 is proprietary and available only through Inception's API and partner platforms.

### What are Mercury 2.5's strengths and weaknesses?

Relative to other ranked models, Mercury 2.5 places best in coding and lowest in math.

### What is Mercury 2.5 best at?

Its best category is coding, where it ranks 156th on Noometry.

### Cite this page

Noometry. (2026). Mercury 2.5 benchmarks and pricing. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://noometry.com/models/mercury-2-5

Quote Noometry with a link back to this page. It is also available in [Markdown](https://noometry.com/md/models/mercury-2-5.md).