CoBuddy vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Perceptron Mk1
Too close to call on our weighted score (CoBuddy 46, Perceptron Mk1 45, Mercury Edit 2 34). The right pick depends on what you value most.
BaiduCoBuddy
46/100- ECI—
- Price$0.28 / $1.13
- Context131K
InceptionMercury Edit 2
34/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context32K
Perceptron
Perceptron Mk1
45/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $1.50
- Context33K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (CoBuddy 46/100, Perceptron Mk1 45/100, Mercury Edit 2 34/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury Edit 2 on price and CoBuddy for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceMercury Edit 2Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 · Perceptron Mk1 $0.487 · CoBuddy $0.492 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextCoBuddyCoBuddy 131,072 · Perceptron Mk1 32,768 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
- Widest inputsPerceptron Mk1CoBuddy: Text · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Perceptron Mk1: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | CoBuddy | Mercury Edit 2 | Perceptron Mk1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 62 | 67 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 0 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 46/100 | 34/100 | 45/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | CoBuddyBaidu | Mercury Edit 2Inception | Perceptron Mk1Perceptron |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.28 | $0.25 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $1.13 | $0.75 (best) | $1.50 |
| Cached input | — | $0.025 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.492 | $0.375 (best) | $0.487 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Inception API | Median of 3 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,000 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | mercury-edit-2 | — |
| API providers | 1 | 1 | 3 (best) |
| Released | May 6, 2026 | Mar 30, 2026 | May 12, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- CoBuddy$5.06
- Mercury Edit 2$4.00
- Perceptron Mk1$4.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: CoBuddy, Mercury Edit 2 or Perceptron Mk1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (CoBuddy 46/100, Perceptron Mk1 45/100, Mercury Edit 2 34/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury Edit 2 on price and CoBuddy for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, CoBuddy, Mercury Edit 2 or Perceptron Mk1?
Mercury Edit 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Perceptron Mk1 costs $0.15 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); CoBuddy costs $0.28 input / $1.13 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.375 per million tokens for Mercury Edit 2 versus $0.487 for Perceptron Mk1 (1.3× as much) and $0.492 for CoBuddy (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. CoBuddy has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Perceptron Mk1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for CoBuddy, Mercury Edit 2 and Perceptron Mk1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Mercury Edit 2 and Perceptron Mk1 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
CoBuddy has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for Perceptron Mk1 and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: CoBuddy up to 65,536, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Perceptron Mk1 up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
CoBuddy accepts text; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Perceptron Mk1 accepts text, images and video. Perceptron Mk1 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. CoBuddy, Mercury Edit 2 and Perceptron Mk1 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Perceptron Mk1 is the newest, released May 12, 2026. CoBuddy came out May 6, 2026; Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 2026.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.
