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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek OCR 2 vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 comes out ahead, 53 to 32 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek OCR 2

    Released Jan 27, 2026

    32/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.89 / $1.47
    • Context8K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek OCR 2
  2. Our pick

    Inception

    Mercury 2

    Released Feb 24, 2026

    53/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mercury 2

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Mercury 2 is our pick

Mercury 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against DeepSeek OCR 2 (32). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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 2Mercury 2 $0.375 · DeepSeek OCR 2 $1.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMercury 2Mercury 2 128,000 · DeepSeek OCR 2 8,192 tokens
  • Widest inputsDeepSeek OCR 2DeepSeek OCR 2: Text, Images · Mercury 2: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek OCR 2Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek OCR 2Mercury 2
Price50%4970
Inputs & features30%2545
Context window20%024
Overall100%32/10053/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek OCR 2 vs Mercury 2 specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek OCR 2DeepSeekMercury 2Inception
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.89$0.25 (best)
Output$1.47$0.75 (best)
Cached input—$0.025
Blended (3:1)$1.03$0.375 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Inception API
Limits
Context window8,192 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Max output8,192 tokens50,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—mercury-2
API providers2 (best)1
ReleasedJan 27, 2026Feb 24, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 1, 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • DeepSeek OCR 2$11.83
  • Mercury 2$4.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek OCR 2 or Mercury 2?

Mercury 2 is the better all-round choice, scoring 53/100 against DeepSeek OCR 2 (32). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. 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, DeepSeek OCR 2 or Mercury 2?

Mercury 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). DeepSeek OCR 2 costs $0.89 input / $1.47 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 2 versus $1.03 for DeepSeek OCR 2 (2.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. DeepSeek OCR 2 has not been scored yet and Mercury 2 has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek OCR 2 and Mercury 2 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that DeepSeek OCR 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Mercury 2 has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 8,192 for DeepSeek OCR 2. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek OCR 2 up to 8,192, Mercury 2 up to 50,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

DeepSeek OCR 2 accepts text and images; Mercury 2 accepts text. DeepSeek OCR 2 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek OCR 2 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Mercury 2 is the newest, released Feb 24, 2026. DeepSeek OCR 2 came out Jan 27, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Mercury 2 Jan 1, 2025.

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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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