Perceptron Mk1 vs Mercury Edit 2 vs CoBuddy
Too close to call on our weighted score (CoBuddy 46, Perceptron Mk1 45, Mercury Edit 2 34). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Perceptron
Perceptron Mk1
45/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $1.50
- Context33K
InceptionMercury Edit 2
34/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.75
- Context32K
BaiduCoBuddy
46/100- ECI—
- Price$0.28 / $1.13
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (CoBuddy 46/100, Perceptron Mk1 45/100, Mercury Edit 2 34/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury Edit 2 on price and CoBuddy for long inputs. 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 · Perceptron Mk1 $0.487 · CoBuddy $0.492 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextCoBuddyCoBuddy 131,072 · Perceptron Mk1 32,768 · Mercury Edit 2 32,000 tokens
- Widest inputsPerceptron Mk1Perceptron Mk1: Text, Images, Video · Mercury Edit 2: Text · CoBuddy: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Perceptron Mk1 | Mercury Edit 2 | CoBuddy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 62 | 67 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 0 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| Overall | 100% | 45/100 | 34/100 | 46/100 |
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 | Perceptron Mk1Perceptron | Mercury Edit 2Inception | CoBuddyBaidu |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $0.25 | $0.28 |
| Output | $1.50 | $0.75 (best) | $1.13 |
| Cached input | — | $0.025 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.487 | $0.375 (best) | $0.492 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 3 providers | Official Inception API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 32,000 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | mercury-edit-2 | — |
| API providers | 3 (best) | 1 | 1 |
| Released | May 12, 2026 | Mar 30, 2026 | May 6, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Perceptron Mk1$4.50
- Mercury Edit 2$4.00
- CoBuddy$5.06
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Perceptron Mk1, Mercury Edit 2 or CoBuddy?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (CoBuddy 46/100, Perceptron Mk1 45/100, Mercury Edit 2 34/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Mercury Edit 2 on price and CoBuddy for long inputs. 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, Perceptron Mk1, Mercury Edit 2 or CoBuddy?
Mercury Edit 2 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.75 output per million tokens (official Inception API price). Perceptron Mk1 costs $0.15 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers); CoBuddy costs $0.28 input / $1.13 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.375 per million tokens for Mercury Edit 2 versus $0.487 for Perceptron Mk1 (1.3× as much) and $0.492 for CoBuddy (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Perceptron Mk1 has not been scored yet, Mercury Edit 2 has not been scored yet and CoBuddy has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Perceptron Mk1, Mercury Edit 2 and CoBuddy yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Perceptron Mk1 and Mercury Edit 2 does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
CoBuddy has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for Perceptron Mk1 and 32,000 for Mercury Edit 2. Maximum output per response: Perceptron Mk1 up to 8,192, Mercury Edit 2 up to 8,192, CoBuddy up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Perceptron Mk1 accepts text, images and video; Mercury Edit 2 accepts text; CoBuddy accepts text. Perceptron Mk1 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Perceptron Mk1, Mercury Edit 2 and CoBuddy are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Perceptron Mk1 is the newest, released May 12, 2026. CoBuddy came out May 6, 2026; Mercury Edit 2 came out Mar 30, 2026.
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 Nov 2, 2026.
