Mercury 2 vs North Mini Code
North Mini Code comes out ahead, 71 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
CohereNorth Mini Code
71/100- ECI—
- PriceFree / Free
- Context256K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
North Mini Code is our pick
North Mini Code is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price 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 priceNorth Mini CodeNorth Mini Code Free · Mercury 2 $0.375 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextNorth Mini CodeNorth Mini Code 256,000 · Mercury 2 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsMercury 2: Text · North Mini Code: Text
- Self-hostingNorth Mini CodePublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Mercury 2 | North Mini Code |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 70 | 100 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 45 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 36 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 71/100 |
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 | North Mini CodeCohere |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Cohere API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 256,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 50,000 tokens | 64,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yeshigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | mercury-2 | north-mini-code-1-0 |
| API providers | 1 | 2 (best) |
| Released | Feb 24, 2026 | Jun 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 1, 2025 | Sep 23, 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
- North Mini CodeFree
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Mercury 2 or North Mini Code?
North Mini Code is the better all-round choice, scoring 71/100 against Mercury 2 (53). It leads on price 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, Mercury 2 or North Mini Code?
North Mini Code is cheaper at Free input / Free output per million tokens (official Cohere API price). Mercury 2 costs $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). North Mini Code 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 North Mini Code has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Mercury 2 and North Mini Code 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?
North Mini Code has the largest context window at 256,000 tokens, against 128,000 for Mercury 2. Maximum output per response: Mercury 2 up to 50,000, North Mini Code up to 64,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Mercury 2 accepts text; North Mini Code accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
North Mini Code publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Mercury 2 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
North Mini Code is the newest, released Jun 9, 2026. Mercury 2 came out Feb 24, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Mercury 2 Jan 1, 2025, North Mini Code Sep 23, 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.
