ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Trinity Large Thinking

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite comes out ahead, 73 to 55 and 35 on our weighted score, though Mercury Edit 2 is 33% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

    Released May 7, 2026

    73/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $1.50
    • Context1.05M
  2. Inception

    Mercury Edit 2

    Released Mar 30, 2026

    35/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.75
    • Context32K
  3. Arcee AI

    Trinity Large Thinking

    Released Apr 1, 2026Beta

    55/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.25 / $0.80
    • Context524K
01 — Verdict

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is our pick

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Trinity Large Thinking (55) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on 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 Edit 2Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 · Trinity Large Thinking $0.388 · Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite $0.563 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGemini 3.1 Flash Lite 1,048,576 · Trinity Large Thinking 524,288 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Trinity Large Thinking: Text
  • Self-hostingTrinity Large ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights (OpenMDW-1.1)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 3.1 Flash LiteMercury Edit 2Trinity Large Thinking
Price50%627069
Inputs & features30%100035
Context window20%61049
Overall100%73/10035/10055/100

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.

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Trinity Large Thinking specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 3.1 Flash LiteGoogleMercury Edit 2InceptionTrinity Large ThinkingArcee AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)———
ECI rank———
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25$0.25$0.25
Output$1.50$0.75 (best)$0.80
Cached input$0.025 (best)$0.025 (best)$0.06
Blended (3:1)$0.563$0.375 (best)$0.388
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Inception APIOfficial Arcee API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)32,000 tokens524,288 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens8,192 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioYesNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highNoYes
Tool callingYesNoYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryOpenOpenMDW-1.1
API model IDgemini-3.1-flash-litemercury-edit-2trinity-large-thinking
API providers23 (best)16
ReleasedMay 7, 2026Mar 30, 2026Apr 1, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 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.

  • Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$5.50
  • Mercury Edit 2$4.00
  • Trinity Large Thinking$4.10
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, Mercury Edit 2 or Trinity Large Thinking?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Trinity Large Thinking (55) and Mercury Edit 2 (35). It leads on 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, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, Mercury Edit 2 or Trinity Large Thinking?

Mercury Edit 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Trinity Large Thinking costs $0.25 input / $0.80 output per million tokens (official Arcee API price); Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs $0.25 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.375 per million tokens for Mercury Edit 2 versus $0.388 for Trinity Large Thinking (1× as much) and $0.563 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Trinity Large Thinking has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite, Mercury Edit 2 and Trinity Large Thinking yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Mercury Edit 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 524,288 for Trinity Large Thinking and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite up to 65,536, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Trinity Large Thinking up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Trinity Large Thinking accepts text. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Trinity Large Thinking publishes its weights (OpenMDW-1.1) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite and Mercury Edit 2 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is the newest, released May 7, 2026. Trinity Large Thinking came out Apr 1, 2026; Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Jan 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.