Model Comparison

Claude Sonnet 4 vs Mercury 2

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks. Mercury 2 is 16.0x cheaper per token.

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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Claude Sonnet 4 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Mercury 2 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.

Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mercury 2 costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 12.0x more expensive than Mercury 2 ($0.25/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than Mercury 2 ($0.75/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4 is more expensive than Mercury 2.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
Inception
Mercury 2
Input tokens$0.25
Output tokens$0.75
Best providerInception
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Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Claude Sonnet 4 accepts 200,000 input tokens compared to Mercury 2's 128,000 tokens. Claude Sonnet 4 can generate longer responses up to 64,000 tokens, while Mercury 2 is limited to 8,192 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
Inception
Mercury 2
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Thu Apr 16 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Claude Sonnet 4 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 2 does not.

Claude Sonnet 4 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Sonnet 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Mercury 2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Sonnet 4

Proprietary

Closed source

Mercury 2

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4 was released on 2025-05-22, while Mercury 2 was released on 2026-02-24.

Mercury 2 is 9 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.

Claude Sonnet 4

May 22, 2025

10 months ago

Mercury 2

Feb 24, 2026

1 months ago

9mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 4 is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. Mercury 2 is available from Inception.

Claude Sonnet 4

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

Mercury 2

inception logo
Inception
Input Price:Input: $0.25/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.75/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Anthropic
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (75.4% vs 74.0%)
Inception
Less expensive input tokens
Less expensive output tokens
Higher AIME 2025 score (91.1% vs 70.5%)
AnthropicClaude Sonnet 4
InceptionMercury 2
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Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Inception
Mercury 2

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4 vs Mercury 2

Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4 is made by Anthropic and Mercury 2 is made by Inception. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.
Claude Sonnet 4 scores MMMLU: 86.5%, TAU-bench Retail: 80.5%, GPQA: 75.4%, MMMU: 74.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 72.7%. Mercury 2 scores AIME 2025: 91.1%, GPQA: 74.0%, IFBench: 71.0%, LiveCodeBench: 67.0%, Tau2 Airline: 53.0%.
Mercury 2 is 12.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input and $0.75/M output via inception.
Claude Sonnet 4 supports 200K tokens and Mercury 2 supports 128K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.
Key differences include context window (200K vs 128K), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.25/M), multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.
Claude Sonnet 4 is developed by Anthropic and Mercury 2 is developed by Inception.