Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite
Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite are closely matched at 23.5 and 25.4 on the LLM Stats Score. Mercury 2 is 2.3x cheaper per token.
Inception · Amazon · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 23.5 and 25.4.
In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nova 2 Lite wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
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 LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, 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 value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 5 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
6 reported for Mercury 2 · 19 for Nova 2 Lite
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.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
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
Documented input modalities across available providers
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
7 months ago
2mo newerDec 2, 2025
10 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
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Mercury 2 and Nova 2 Lite side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Mercury 2 vs Nova 2 Lite.