Mercury 2 vs Nemotron VoiceChat
Nemotron VoiceChat comes out ahead, 65 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
NVIDIANemotron VoiceChat
65/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context128K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Nemotron VoiceChat is our pick
Nemotron VoiceChat is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price. 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 priceNemotron VoiceChatNemotron VoiceChat Free · Mercury 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameMercury 2 128,000 · Nemotron VoiceChat 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsNemotron VoiceChatMercury 2: Text · Nemotron VoiceChat: Text, Audio
- Self-hostingNemotron VoiceChatPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mercury 2 | Nemotron VoiceChat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 70 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 65/100 |
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 | Nemotron VoiceChatNVIDIA |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Nvidia API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 50,000 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | mercury-2 | nvidia/nemotron-voicechat |
| API providers | 1 | 1 |
| Released | Feb 24, 2026 | Mar 16, 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
- Nemotron VoiceChatFree
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mercury 2 or Nemotron VoiceChat?
Nemotron VoiceChat is the better all-round choice, scoring 65/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price. 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 Nemotron VoiceChat?
Nemotron VoiceChat is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Nvidia API price). Mercury 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Nemotron VoiceChat 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 Nemotron VoiceChat has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mercury 2 and Nemotron VoiceChat 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?
Mercury 2 and Nemotron VoiceChat share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Mercury 2 up to 50,000, Nemotron VoiceChat up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mercury 2 accepts text; Nemotron VoiceChat accepts text and audio. Nemotron VoiceChat handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Nemotron VoiceChat publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Nemotron VoiceChat is the newest, released Mar 16, 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.
