DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Inception: Mercury 2.5: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 (deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324) vs Inception: Mercury 2.5 (inception/mercury-2.5). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 (deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324) — Automatic Disk KV Cache ($0.145/1M) & Off-Peak Promo
DeepSeek-V4 Pro (1.6T MoE) automatically caches repeated 64-token prompt prefixes on NVMe storage at $0.07/1M input tokens (50% off $0.14 base) with zero code changes required, plus off-peak UTC scheduling discounts.
Inception: Mercury 2.5 (inception/mercury-2.5) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Inception: Mercury 2.5: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0.02/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 (API ID: deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324) vs Inception: Mercury 2.5 (API ID: inception/mercury-2.5), Inception: Mercury 2.5 offers lower standard input pricing at $0.04/1M tokens ($0.15/1M output), while Inception: Mercury 2.5 leads in cached prefix economics at $0.02/1M tokens (50% discount). DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 | Inception: Mercury 2.5 | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | deepseek/deepseek-chat-v3-0324 | inception/mercury-2.5 | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.29 / $1.14 | $0.04 / $0.15 | Inception: Mercury 2.5 |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.145/1M (50% Off) | $0.02/1M (50% Off) | Inception: Mercury 2.5 |
| Context Window / Max Output | 160K In / 113K Out | 254K In / 64K Out | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 (-0ms) |
DeepSeek V3, a 685B-parameter, mixture-of-experts model, is the latest iteration of the flagship chat model family from the DeepSeek team. It succeeds the [DeepSeek V3](/deepseek/d
Mercury 2.5 is the fastest reasoning LLM, and the latest diffusion LLM (dLLM) from Inception. Instead of generating tokens sequentially, Mercury 2.5 produces and refines multiple t
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3 0324 to Inception: Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5 is the fastest reasoning LLM, and the latest diffusion LLM (dLLM) from Inception. Instead of generating tokens sequentially, Mercury 2.5 produces and refines multiple t Verified P90 latency of 280ms.