Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) vs Inception: Mercury 2.5: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) (google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview) vs Inception: Mercury 2.5 (inception/mercury-2.5). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) (google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview) — Google AI Startup Credits ($350K) & 50% Cache Promo
Google DeepMind is currently subsidizing Gemini 4 Argon at 50% off standard rates ($2.00/1M input & $10.00/1M output instead of $4/$20) until November 30, 2026, alongside 95% off Context Caching ($0.10/1M) and up to $350,000 in Google for Startups Cloud/Vertex AI credits.
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 Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) (API ID: google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview) 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). Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) 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 | Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) | Inception: Mercury 2.5 | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview | inception/mercury-2.5 | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.5 / $3 | $0.04 / $0.15 | Inception: Mercury 2.5 |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.25/1M (50% Off) | $0.02/1M (50% Off) | Inception: Mercury 2.5 |
| Context Window / Max Output | 64K In / 58K Out | 254K In / 64K Out | Inception: Mercury 2.5 |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) (-0ms) |
Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview)
API ID: google/gemini-3.1-flash-image-preview • Live RegistryGemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview, a.k.a. "Nano Banana 2," is Google’s latest state of the art image generation and editing model, delivering Pro-level visual quality at Flash speed.
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 Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview) 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.