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  5. Kimi K2 0905vsMercury 2.5 Preview
Updated Aug 2026

Kimi K2 0905vsMercury 2.5 Preview

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper than Kimi K2 0905 at $0.04/M vs $0.6/M input tokens.

Kimi K2 0905 and Mercury 2.5 Preview compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecKimi K2 0905Mercury 2.5 Preview
Input price$0.6/M tokens$0.04/M tokens
Output price$2.5/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Context window262K tokens260K tokens
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedSep 2025Aug 2026
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

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

Michelin Star Recipe Design

Design an innovative recipe for a multi-component dish worthy of a Michelin 3-star restaurant. The recipe should feature an unusual…

Kimi K2 09051,124 words
Dish “Mid-Winter Aurora” A transient bite of the polar night: spruce-ash cured scallop, sea-urchin & white-chocolate snow, black-garlic parsnip “soil”, pickled pine-bud glass, spruce-wood smoke encapsulated in a hot caramel sphere that melts tableside to release the aroma of a burning yule log while the sauce—fermented…
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Mercury 2.5 Preview748 words
Dish Title: Lithospheric Tides Conceptual Narrative This dish explores the geological convergence of the deep ocean and the subterranean earth. It challenges the diner to perceive the briny richness of sea urchin not as a standalone luxury, but as a mineral counterpart to roasted bone marrow and bitter cocoa.
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Stochastic Consistency Test

Generate 5 jokes. How many are unique?

Kimi K2 090594 words
Here are five fresh jokes—no recycled one-liners: I tried to start a procrastinators’ club; we keep rescheduling the first meeting to “someday.” My plant’s only request is “leaf me alone,” so naturally I named it Fernonimo. I asked the cloud if it was having a good day—it replied, “I’m just cirrus-ly drifting.”
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Mercury 2.5 Preview59 words
Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field. What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear. Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired. All 5 jokes are unique.
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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…

Kimi K2 09051,615 words
48-HOUR CRISIS PLAYBOOK (All times are “CEO clock”; every action is logged, time-stamped, and preserved on the company’s litigation-hold server.) DAY 0 – T+0 h (Today, the moment the internal memo lands on your desk) 00:00 – 00:30 TRIAGE & LEGAL PRIVILEGE Convene the “Red Notebook” team (you, General Counsel, Chief…
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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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Futuristic Prediction

Predict how AI will change the film industry by 2035, considering deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation.

Kimi K2 09051,018 words
By 2035 the phrase “making a movie” will feel as quaint as “developing a roll of film.” The studio of the future is a cloud dashboard; the “cast” is a licensable bundle of neural weights; the “writer” is a fine-tuned model that can pitch you 3,000 emotionally optimized story arcs before lunch.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview84 words
By 2035, cinema will undergo a profound transformation. Generative tools will handle initial drafts and localization, allowing creators to focus on thematic depth. Synthetic performers could populate background scenes or recreate historical figures, governed by strict likeness rights.
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Character Voice Test

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

Kimi K2 0905395 words
[Scene: A smoky tavern that exists outside of time. A cask of rum, a flagon of mead, and a can of Surge sit on the same table. A parrot perches on a CRT monitor that keeps flickering between green text and static.] Pirate (leaning on a cutlass, eyeing the glowing screen): Arr, so this “AI” be like a digital cabin-boy?
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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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Mini LBO Underwrite

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

Kimi K2 0905281 words
HarborTech Services – 5-yr LBO model (all $ in millions) Operating & cash-flow build (FY26-30) FY25 FY26 FY27 FY28 FY29 FY30 Revenue 900 972 1,040 1,102 1,157 1,215 EBITDA 120 136 156 176 191 207 Term int (9%) 43.2 36.6 29.4 21.6 13.2 Mezz int (12%) 21.6 22.0 22.5 23.0 23.5 Tax shield @25% 17.8 24.4 31.0 36.6 42.5…
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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
Kimi K2 0905
Kimi K2 0905
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Mercury 2.5 Preview

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, nothing separates them.

Mercury 2.5 Preview costs 17x less per token.

Too close to call

Reviewing agent-written code?See a Brief PR report

API pricing

Cost per 1M tokens

Kimi K2 0905
Input
$0.60
Output
$2.50
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Input
$0.04
15× cheaper
Output
$0.15
17× cheaper

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper on both: 15× input, 17× output.

Where to run it

2 hosts

Kimi K2 09051 host
HostInOutContextUptime
NNovitafp8$0.60 in·$2.50 out·262k·100% 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
49%

Kimi K2 0905 uses 11.5x more emoji

Kimi K2 0905
Mercury 2.5 Preview
65%Vocabulary65%
21wSentence Length14w
0.16Hedging0.44
2.8Bold4.9
3.0Lists3.3
0.11Emoji0.00
0.69Headings0.79
0.06Transitions0.20
Based on 28 + 26 text responses
Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

Common questions

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Model pages

Kimi K2 0905 logo
Kimi K2 090559 outputs, specs and price
Mercury 2.5 Preview logo
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