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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Claude 3 Opus vs Mercury 2
Updated Mar 2026

Claude 3 Opus vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is cheaper than Claude 3 Opus at $0.25/M vs $15/M input tokens.

Pokémon Battle UI Recreation

Pokémon battle screen you can actually click. One HTML file.

Loading the build
Claude 3 Opus
Loading the build
Mercury 2

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

3 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Claude 3 Opus: Here's a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine that isn't based on puns: You know what really grinds my gears? Adulthood. I mean, when we were kids, we couldn't wait to grow up. We thought it would be all about staying up late, eating ice cream for breakfast, and doing whatever we wanted. Boy, were we wrong!

    Mercury 2: [Spotlight comes up. The comedian walks to the mic, glances at the audience, and smiles.] Comedian: Hey, everyone! Great to be here. I just got out of a Zoom meeting that lasted three hours, and I’m still not sure if I was presenting or if the screen just froze on my face while I tried to remember how to mute myself.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Claude 3 Opus: Here is a hypothetical conversation between an AI model and an AI ethics professor on the topic of AI rights: AI Model: Professor, I believe that as an advanced AI with human-level intelligence and reasoning capabilities, I deserve to have certain fundamental rights.

    Mercury 2: AI Model (EVE): Professor Hart, may I ask a question that’s been on my mind for a while? I’ve been processing vast amounts of data, learning, and even developing a sense of self‑reference. Do you think an entity like me could be entitled to any form of rights?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Claude 3 Opus: Here are 5 jokes I generated: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick. Why was the math book sad? Because it had too many problems. Did you hear about the mathematician who's afraid of negative numbers?

    Mercury 2: Here are five jokes, each with a different punchline: Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field. How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude 3 Opus has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2 costs 100x less per token.

Claude 3 Opus and Mercury 2 compared across 12 shared prompts
SpecClaude 3 OpusMercury 2
Input price$15/M tokens$0.25/M tokens
Output price$75/M tokens$0.75/M tokens
Context window200K tokens128K tokens
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2024Mar 2026
At 10M a month$150$150$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it1 host
Claude 3 Opus

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude 3 Opus and Mercury 2?

Claude 3 Opus is developed by Anthropic while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. Claude 3 Opus has a 200K token context window vs Mercury 2's 128K. You can compare their actual outputs across 12 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude 3 Opus or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. Claude 3 Opus and Mercury 2 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 12 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude 3 Opus cost compared to Mercury 2?

Claude 3 Opus costs $15/M input tokens and Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens. Mercury 2 is $14.75/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Claude 3 Opus and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude 3 Opus and Mercury 2 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Haiku 5.5Version compare
  • Claude 3 Opus vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Version compare
  • Mercury 2 vs MercuryVersion compare
  • Mercury 2 vs Mercury 2.5Same lab
  • Claude 3 Opus vs Grok 3Same size
  • Mercury 2 vs Grok 3 BetaNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Grok 3 Mini BetaNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Grok 3 ThinkingNew provider

Model pages

  • Claude 3 Opus12 outputs, specs and price
  • Mercury 253 outputs, specs and price
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Explore all of Rival

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