DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) vs Mercury 2
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) 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 Flash 0731 (Max) scores 23.5 points higher (34.3 vs 10.8) but costs 1.9× as much to run the benchmark ($200 vs $105; both mid-range class). Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Mercury 2.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) | Mercury 2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 10.8 | −68.5% Mercury 2 is 68.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $199.63 | $104.94 | −47.4% Mercury 2 is 47.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 17.63s | 6.65s | −62.3% Mercury 2 is 62.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.25 / $0.75 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
Mercury 2 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max): 68.5% less intelligence, 47.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 62.3% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- 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 Flash 0731 (Max)Mercury 2Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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