DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs Mercury 2
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or Mercury 2 by Inception? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) scores 13.9 points higher (24.7 vs 10.8) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($239 vs $105; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mercury 2.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Mercury 2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 10.8 | −56.3% Mercury 2 is 56.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $104.94 | −56.1% Mercury 2 is 56.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.71s | 6.65s | +145.4% Mercury 2 is 145.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.25 / $0.75 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Mercury 2 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 56.3% less intelligence, 56.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 145.4% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Mercury 2 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (High) scores 37.80 for $94.1.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)Mercury 2Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/mercury-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/mercury-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill