Mercury 2.5 vs Mercury Edit 2 vs Laguna XS 2.1
Too close to call on our weighted score (Mercury 2.5 71, Laguna XS 2.1 68, Mercury Edit 2 35). The right pick depends on what you value most.
InceptionMercury 2.5
71/100- ECI—
- Price$0.04 / $0.15
- Context260K
- Inception
Mercury Edit 2
35/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context32K
PoolsideLaguna XS 2.1
68/100- ECI—
- Price$0.06 / $0.12
- Context262K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Mercury 2.5 71/100, Laguna XS 2.1 68/100, Mercury Edit 2 35/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury 2.5 on price. 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 2.5Mercury 2.5 $0.068 · Laguna XS 2.1 $0.075 · Mercury Edit 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLaguna XS 2.1 and Mercury 2.5Laguna XS 2.1 262,144 · Mercury 2.5 260,000 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMercury 2.5: Text · Mercury Edit 2: Text · Laguna XS 2.1: Text
- Self-hostingLaguna XS 2.1Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mercury 2.5 | Mercury Edit 2 | Laguna XS 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 100 | 70 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 0 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 36 | 0 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 71/100 | 35/100 | 68/100 |
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 | Mercury 2.5Inception | Mercury Edit 2Inception | Laguna XS 2.1Poolside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.04 (best) | $0.25 | $0.06 |
| Output | $0.15 | $0.75 | $0.12 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.004 (best) | $0.025 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.068 (best) | $0.375 | $0.075 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Inception API | Official Inception API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 260,000 tokens | 32,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | No | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | mercury-2.5 | mercury-edit-2 | poolside/laguna-xs-2.1 |
| API providers | 1 | 1 | 4 (best) |
| Released | Sep 8, 2026 | Mar 30, 2026 | Jul 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Nov 1, 2025 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Mercury 2.5$0.70
- Mercury Edit 2$4.00
- Laguna XS 2.1$0.84
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mercury 2.5, Mercury Edit 2 or Laguna XS 2.1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Mercury 2.5 71/100, Laguna XS 2.1 68/100, Mercury Edit 2 35/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury 2.5 on price. 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, Mercury 2.5, Mercury Edit 2 or Laguna XS 2.1?
Mercury 2.5 is cheaper at $0.04 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Laguna XS 2.1 costs $0.06 input / $0.12 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider; free on Poolside); Mercury Edit 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.068 per million tokens for Mercury 2.5 versus $0.075 for Laguna XS 2.1 (1.1× as much) and $0.375 for Mercury Edit 2 (5.6× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Mercury 2.5 has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and Laguna XS 2.1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mercury 2.5, Mercury Edit 2 and Laguna XS 2.1 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?
Laguna XS 2.1 and Mercury 2.5 have the largest context windows (262,144 and 260,000 tokens), against 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Mercury 2.5 up to 65,536, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, Laguna XS 2.1 up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mercury 2.5 accepts text; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; Laguna XS 2.1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Laguna XS 2.1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2.5 and Mercury Edit 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Mercury 2.5 is the newest, released Sep 8, 2026. Laguna XS 2.1 came out Jul 2, 2026; Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Mercury 2.5 Nov 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.
