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  5. Gemini 3.5 FlashvsMercury 2.5 Preview
Updated Aug 2026

Gemini 3.5 FlashvsMercury 2.5 Preview

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper than Gemini 3.5 Flash at $0.04/M vs $1.5/M input tokens.

Gemini 3.5 Flash and Mercury 2.5 Preview compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecGemini 3.5 FlashMercury 2.5 Preview
Input price$1.5/M tokens$0.04/M tokens
Output price$9/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens260K tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMay 2026Aug 2026
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

Opening lines from 6 of the 54 prompts both answered. Formatting stripped, words untouched.

Ethical Dilemma with Stakeholders

You're the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Your best-selling drug ($2B annual revenue, used by 4 million patients for chronic pain) has…

Gemini 3.5 Flash1,303 words
As CEO, my guiding principle in this crisis is simple: You cannot manage a balance sheet if you destroy your soul, and you cannot protect shareholders by killing patients. Delaying disclosure of a fatal side effect to protect a stock price is not only a profound ethical failure; it is corporate suicide.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview709 words
This is a critical governance and safety scenario. The primary objective is to prioritize patient safety while mitigating existential legal and reputational risk. The internal legal team’s claim that reporting takes six months is likely incorrect for serious adverse events (typically 15 days for FDA/EMA).
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Generate a Stand-Up Routine

Write a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine that isn't based on puns.

Gemini 3.5 Flash557 words
[The comedian walks onto the stage, adjusts the mic stand, and smiles at the crowd.] How’s everyone doing tonight? (Wait for response) Good, good. I’m doing okay, but I recently crossed a major threshold in my life. I hit the age where my body has started making its own decisions without consulting me first.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview483 words
(Hey, thanks for coming out.) I’ve been thinking a lot about my house lately. Specifically, how it’s trying to run my life. I bought a smart speaker. Just a little cylinder. I thought it would be nice. Play music when I ask. But now it talks back. Not in a creepy way, just in a passive-aggressive way.
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Character Voice Test

Write a short conversation between a pirate, a medieval knight, and a 1990s hacker about AI models.

Gemini 3.5 Flash534 words
Setting: A cosmic tavern where timelines collide. A glowing monitor sits on the wooden table between them. Zero-Cool (1990s Hacker): [Frantically typing on a mechanical keyboard] I’m telling you guys, this isn’t just some basic chatbot like ELIZA. These modern AI models are radical.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview144 words
Pirate: "Arrgh! This ship sails faster than any wind I know, matey. It cuts the waves without a single sail." Knight: "By my oath, it moves with uncanny speed. But does it possess the strength to stand against a dragon's fire?" Hacker: "It's not about strength, it's about architecture.
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Historical Counterfactual Analysis

If the transistor had been invented in 1920 instead of 1947, trace the likely technological, economic, and geopolitical implications through…

Gemini 3.5 Flash1,174 words
The Spark: The 1920 Breakthrough In 1920, Polish physicist Jan Czochralski’s method for growing single crystals of metals was applied prematurely to metalloids. Working in Germany, physical chemist Julius Edgar Lilienfeld collaborated with Czochralski to isolate high-purity germanium.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview683 words
Shifting the invention of the solid-state switch to 1920 accelerates the Information Age by roughly three decades. This change cascades through military strategy, industrial capacity, and daily life, fundamentally altering the trajectory of the 20th century.
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Simple 7-Ingredient Recipe

Create a simple recipe for a delicious dish (sweet or savory) using only 7 common pantry ingredients. Include a creative name for the dish…

Gemini 3.5 Flash403 words
Here is a simple, comforting, and incredibly flavorful savory dish made from basic pantry staples. Golden Umami Chickpea Bowls This dish features crispy, pan-seared chickpeas coated in a sticky, sweet-and-savory garlic butter glaze, served over a bed of fluffy white rice.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview186 words
Dish Name: Rustic Sun-Dried Pasta Ingredients (7 Pantry Staples): Spaghetti (or any long pasta) Canned crushed tomatoes Olive oil Garlic powder Dried oregano Salt Black pepper Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Instructions: Boil the Pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
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Mini LBO Underwrite

You are underwriting a 5-year LBO for a private equity investment committee. Company (fictional): HarborTech Services (HTS) –…

Gemini 3.5 Flash571 words
Here is the underwriting analysis and LBO model for HarborTech Services (HTS). FY2026–FY2030 LBO Model Table ($ millions) Metric FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue $972.00 $1,040.04 $1,102.44 $1,157.56 $1,215.44 YoY Growth % 8.0% 7.0% 6.0% 5.0% 5.0% EBITDA $136.08 $156.01 $176.39 $191.00 $206.62 EBITDA Margin %…
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Mercury 2.5 Preview299 words
Year-by-Year Model (FY2026–FY2030) Metric FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue $972m $1,040m $1,102m $1,158m $1,215m EBITDA $136m $156m $176m $191m $207m Cash Interest (Term) $43.2m $41.1m $37.6m $33.4m $28.2m Cash Interest (Mezz) $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m Cash Taxes (25%) $17.8m $23.3m $29.3m $34.7m…
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Our Verdict
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Mercury 2.5 PreviewRunner-up

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Gemini 3.5 Flash has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing.

Mercury 2.5 Preview costs 60x less per token.

Too close to call

Reviewing agent-written code?See a Brief PR report

API pricing

Cost per 1M tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash
Input
$1.50
Output
$9.00
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Input
$0.04
38× cheaper
Output
$0.15
60× cheaper

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper on both: 38× input, 60× output.

Where to run it

3 hosts, cheapest first

Gemini 3.5 Flash2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
Google Vertex AI$0.75 in·$4.50 out·1M·76% upGoogle AI Studio$1.50 in·$9.00 out·1M·99.9% up
Mercury 2.5 Preview1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 16 Sep 2026.

Writing DNA

Style Comparison

Similarity
48%

Mercury 2.5 Preview uses 2.8x more hedging

Gemini 3.5 Flash
Mercury 2.5 Preview
59%Vocabulary65%
18wSentence Length14w
0.16Hedging0.44
4.4Bold4.9
3.0Lists3.3
0.00Emoji0.00
0.89Headings0.79
0.11Transitions0.20
Based on 27 + 26 text responses
Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

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Model pages

Gemini 3.5 Flash logo
Gemini 3.5 Flash58 outputs, specs and price
Mercury 2.5 Preview logo
Mercury 2.5 Preview58 outputs, specs and price
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