Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs Mercury 2

API pricing, context window and capabilities for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and Mercury 2, side by side. Prices are the cheapest listed serving route per 1M tokens, from LiteLLM and OpenRouter.

Verdict

computed from the published numbers

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview wins on Terminal-Bench, on intelligence and on context window. Mercury 2 wins on price.

Price
Mercury 2
Terminal-Bench
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Intelligence
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Context window
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview

Key takeaways

who wins on what, from the published numbers

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview wins

  • Larger context window (1M vs 128K)
  • Higher max output (66K vs 50K)
  • More serving providers (6 vs 3)
  • Supports vision
  • Has reasoning mode
  • Supports audio
  • Has web search

Mercury 2 wins

  • Cheaper input ($2.00 vs $0.25 /1M)
  • Cheaper output ($12.00 vs $0.75 /1M)
Cheaper overall
Mercury 2
$0.25 + $0.75 /1M
Larger context
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
1M
More providers
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
6 providers

Pricing & specs

cheapest listed route · per 1M tokens
On-demand listed rates, OpenRouter routed quotes and Vercel reseller quotes. Enterprise commitments can be materially lower.
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewMercury 2
Input $/1M$2.00via Google $0.25via Inception best
Output $/1M$12.00via Google $0.75via Inception best
Context window1M best128K
Max output66K best50K
Serving providers6 best3
DateReleased Feb 19, 2026 Released Feb 24, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores, side by side
Gemini 3.1 Pro PreviewMercury 2
Intelligence29.7 best13.8
Terminal-Bench74% best27%
GPQA Diamond94% best77%
Output speed140 t/s 554 t/s best
Latency (TTFT)26.52s 6.83s best

Cost calculator

choose a serving route for each side
Input tokens / month
Output tokens / month
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
via Google
$22
Mercury 2
via Inception
$2.00

Capabilities

feature support, side by side
FeatureGemini 3.1 Pro PreviewMercury 2
Vision✓—
Tool use✓✓
Reasoning✓—
Audio✓—
Prompt caching✓✓
Structured output✓✓
Web search✓—

Related comparisons

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview or Mercury 2?
Mercury 2 is cheaper for input ($2.00 vs $0.25 per 1M tokens) from Inception. Mercury 2 is cheaper for output ($12.00 vs $0.75 per 1M tokens) from Inception.
What is the context window difference between Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and Mercury 2?
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has a 1M-token context window and Mercury 2 has 128K tokens, so Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview can take a larger prompt.
How do Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and Mercury 2 compare on benchmarks?
On the tracked benchmarks, Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview leads on Terminal-Bench, and Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview leads on intelligence.
Listed prices from LiteLLM, OpenRouter and Vercel · last checked Oct 14, 2026

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