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Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite

Nova 2 Lite has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Mercury 2 is 2.3x cheaper per token.

Inception · Amazon · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

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.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Mercury 2

  • 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

  • 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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Mercury 2
Inception
Nova 2 Lite
Amazon
Benchmark wins
2 of 5
3 of 5
Input price
$0.25 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$0.75 / M
$2.50 / M
Context window
128,000
1,000,000
Released
Feb 2026
Dec 2025
License
Proprietary
Proprietary

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

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.

Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Mercury 2 costs less

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com
Inception
Mercury 2
Input tokens$0.25
Output tokens$0.75
Best providerInception
Amazon
Nova 2 Lite
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$2.50
Best providerAWS Bedrock
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

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.

Inception
Mercury 2
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Amazon
Nova 2 Lite
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

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

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nova 2 Lite

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.

Mercury 2

Proprietary

Closed source

Nova 2 Lite

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.

Mercury 2

Feb 24, 2026

6 months ago

2mo newer
Nova 2 Lite

Dec 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.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Mercury 2 is available from Inception. Nova 2 Lite is available from Bedrock.

Mercury 2

inception logo
Inception
Input Price:Input: $0.25/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.75/1M

Nova 2 Lite

bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.50/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Mercury 2
✓ Preferred
Nova 2 Lite
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite.

Which is better, Mercury 2 or Nova 2 Lite?

Nova 2 Lite has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Mercury 2 is made by Inception and Nova 2 Lite is made by Amazon. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Mercury 2 compare to Nova 2 Lite in benchmarks?

Mercury 2 scores AIME 2025: 91.1%, GPQA: 74.0%, IFBench: 71.0%, LiveCodeBench: 67.0%, Tau2 Airline: 53.0%. Nova 2 Lite scores AIME 2025: 91.0%, LongCodeBench: 84.0%, ScreenSpot: 83.3%, MMLU-Pro: 80.9%, GPQA: 79.6%.

Is Mercury 2 cheaper than Nova 2 Lite?

Mercury 2 is 1.2x cheaper for input tokens. Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input and $0.75/M output via inception. Nova 2 Lite costs $0.30/M input and $2.50/M output via bedrock.

What are the context window sizes for Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite?

Mercury 2 supports 128K tokens and Nova 2 Lite supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite?

Key differences include context window (128K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.25 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (no vs yes). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite?

Mercury 2 is developed by Inception and Nova 2 Lite is developed by Amazon.

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