GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) vs Mercury 2
Which is better for the money: GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) by OpenAI 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
GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) scores 17.7 points higher (28.5 vs 10.8) but costs 4.3× as much to run the benchmark ($449 vs $105; both mid-range class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) when you need intelligence above 10.8, and Mercury 2 when 10.8 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) | Mercury 2 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 28.5 | 10.8 | −62.1% Mercury 2 is 62.1% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $449.37 | $104.94 | −76.6% Mercury 2 is 76.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.83s | 6.65s | +14.1% Mercury 2 is 14.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $0.25 / $0.75 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Mercury 2 vs GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning): 62.1% less intelligence, 76.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 14.1% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Mercury 2 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (High) scores 37.80 for $94.1.
GPT-6 Sol (Non-reasoning)Mercury 2Today's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-sol-non-reasoning/mercury-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-6-sol-non-reasoning/mercury-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill