Model Comparison
Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 LiteWhich is better in 2026?
Nova 2 Lite has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Mercury 2 is 2.3x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite — which is better?
Mercury 2 (by Inception) and Nova 2 Lite (by Amazon) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Mercury 2 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, IFBench), while Nova 2 Lite is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench, Tau2 Airline). Nova 2 Lite has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
On price, Mercury 2 is roughly 2.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Nova 2 Lite also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Mercury 2 if…
- cost matters — it's about 2.3x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026
Choose Nova 2 Lite if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Mercury 2 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (AIME 2025, IFBench), while Nova 2 Lite is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench, Tau2 Airline).
Nova 2 Lite has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Mercury 2 ($0.25/1M tokens) is 1.2x cheaper than Nova 2 Lite ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Mercury 2 ($0.75/1M tokens) is 3.3x cheaper than Nova 2 Lite ($2.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Nova 2 Lite is more expensive than Mercury 2.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Nova 2 Lite accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mercury 2's 128,000 tokens. Nova 2 Lite can generate longer responses up to 65,536 tokens, while Mercury 2 is limited to 8,192 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Nova 2 Lite supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 2 does not.
Nova 2 Lite can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Mercury 2
Nova 2 Lite
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Mercury 2 was released on 2026-02-24, while Nova 2 Lite was released on 2025-12-02.
Mercury 2 is 3 months newer than Nova 2 Lite.
Feb 24, 2026
5 months ago
2mo newerDec 2, 2025
8 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Mercury 2 is available from Inception. Nova 2 Lite is available from Bedrock.
Mercury 2
Nova 2 Lite
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Mercury 2
View detailsInception
Nova 2 Lite
View detailsAmazon
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite.