Mercury 2 vs Laguna M.1
Laguna M.1 comes out ahead, 68 to 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
InceptionMercury 2
53/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context128K
- Our pick
PoolsideLaguna M.1
68/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Laguna M.1 is our pick
Laguna M.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price and context window. Mercury 2 wins on inputs & features. 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 priceLaguna M.1Laguna M.1 Free · Mercury 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextLaguna M.1Laguna M.1 262,144 · Mercury 2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMercury 2: Text · Laguna M.1: Text
- Self-hostingLaguna M.1Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mercury 2 | Laguna M.1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 70 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 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 2Inception | Laguna M.1Poolside |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.25 | Free (best) |
| Output | $0.75 | Free (best) |
| Cached input | $0.025 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.375 | Free (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Inception API | Official Poolside API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 50,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | mercury-2 | poolside/laguna-m.1 |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Feb 24, 2026 | Apr 28, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 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$4.00
- Laguna M.1Free
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mercury 2 or Laguna M.1?
Laguna M.1 is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price and context window. Mercury 2 wins on inputs & features. 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 or Laguna M.1?
Laguna M.1 is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Poolside API price). Mercury 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Laguna M.1 is listed as free.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Mercury 2 has not been scored yet and Laguna M.1 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mercury 2 and Laguna M.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Laguna M.1 has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Mercury 2. Maximum output per response: Mercury 2 up to 50,000, Laguna M.1 up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mercury 2 accepts text; Laguna M.1 accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Laguna M.1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Laguna M.1 is the newest, released Apr 28, 2026. Mercury 2 came out Feb 24, 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.
