Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) vs Inception: Mercury 3: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) (google/gemini-3.1-flash-image) — 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 3 (inception/mercury-3) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Inception: Mercury 3: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to 0.05/1M) 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) (API ID: google/gemini-3.1-flash-image) vs Inception: Mercury 3 (API ID: inception/mercury-3), Inception: Mercury 3 offers lower standard input pricing at $0.1/1M tokens ($0.35/1M output), while Inception: Mercury 3 leads in cached prefix economics at $0.05/1M tokens (50% discount). Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) 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) | Inception: Mercury 3 | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | google/gemini-3.1-flash-image | inception/mercury-3 | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $0.5 / $3 | $0.1 / $0.35 | Inception: Mercury 3 |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.25/1M (50% Off) | $0.05/1M (50% Off) | Inception: Mercury 3 |
| Context Window / Max Output | 128K In / 32K Out | 977K In / 128K Out | Inception: Mercury 3 |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) (-0ms) |
Google: Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)
API ID: google/gemini-3.1-flash-image • Live RegistryGemini 3.1 Flash Image, 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. It combi
Mercury 3 is a diffusion-based language model from Inception, and the lab's most capable model to date. It is suited for agentic workflows and real-time applications where latency
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) to Inception: Mercury 3
Mercury 3 is a diffusion-based language model from Inception, and the lab's most capable model to date. It is suited for agentic workflows and real-time applications where latency Verified P90 latency of 280ms.