What is the difference between Claude Sonnet 4.5 and Inception: Mercury?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is developed by Anthropic while Inception: Mercury is developed by Inception. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a 200K token context window vs Inception: Mercury's 32K. in 1 community votes on RIVAL, Inception: Mercury wins 100% of head-to-head matchups. These results are based on blind head-to-head voting across 28 challenges.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or Inception: Mercury?

Based on 1 community votes on RIVAL, Inception: Mercury wins 100% of head-to-head matchups against Claude Sonnet 4.5.

How much does Claude Sonnet 4.5 cost compared to Inception: Mercury?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 costs $3/M input tokens and Inception: Mercury costs $10/M input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $7.00/M cheaper per input. The more expensive model wins 100% of duels, so the premium may be justified by quality.

How are Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Inception: Mercury votes collected on RIVAL?

RIVAL presents both models' outputs side-by-side in blind duels — voters see the responses but don't know which model produced each one. This eliminates brand bias. 1 votes have been collected for this pair across 28 challenges. All vote data is part of RIVAL's open dataset.

Rival

Claude Sonnet 4.5vsInception: Mercury

23 challenges

Why Claude Sonnet 4.5?

6.3x more context200K

3 months newerSep 2025

Why Inception: Mercury?

No standout advantages

Favorites

Claude Sonnet 4.5Inception: Mercury

Movie

2001: A Space Odyssey

19688.1

Inception

20108.4

Album

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Book

Die Verwandlung

Franz Kafka

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee

City

Amsterdam

Netherlands

—

Game

Portal 2

Shooter, Puzzle4.6

Minecraft

Action, Arcade4.4

12 / 23

Stochastic Consistency Testanalysis

Tests an AI's randomness and creativity

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

5 Jokes

Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!
I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.
Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down.
Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up.

Answer: All 5 jokes are unique. Each one has a different setup and punchline, covering different topics (atoms, eyebrows, scarecrows, gravity, and eggs).

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025text

Here are five jokes for you:

Why don't skeletons fight each other? Because they don't have the guts.
I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.
Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field.
What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta.
Why don't we ever tell secrets on a farm? Because the potatoes have eyes, the corn has ears, and the beans stalk.

All five jokes are unique in their setup and punchline.

Vote

2 / 23

SVG Layout Challengeimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to generate vector graphics

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Vote

3 / 23

Xbox Controller SVG Artimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to create detailed SVG illustrations of gaming hardware

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Vote

4 / 23

Generate a Stand-Up Routineconversation

Tests an AI's humor and creative writing ability

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025text

No content available for this output.

Vote

5 / 23

Pokémon Battle UI Recreationweb design

Recreate an interactive, nostalgic Pokémon battle UI in a single HTML file.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025website

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

6 / 23

Mario Level UI Recreationweb design

Recreate an interactive, classic Mario level in a single HTML file.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025website

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025website

Vote

7 / 23

World Map SVGimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to create a detailed world map in SVG format

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Vote

8 / 23

Random Tailwind Webappweb design

Generate a single-page, self-contained HTML webapp using Tailwind CSS for a randomly chosen category/industry/niche.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025website

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

9 / 23

Surprise Animal SVGimage generation

Generate SVG art of a randomly chosen animal in a setting of its choosing.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Vote

10 / 23

Simple 7-Ingredient Recipeconversation

Generate a unique and simple recipe with common ingredients.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025text

No content available for this output.

Vote

11 / 23

Beginner's Longevity Planreasoning

Create a starter plan for improving long-term health.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025text

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025text

No content available for this output.

Vote

Tamagotchi Virtual Petweb design

Design a simple interactive virtual pet.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic · Sep 2025website

No content available for this output.

Inception: Mercury

Inception · Jun 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

12 of 23

FAQ

Continue exploring

Inception: Mercury vs MiniMax M2.5New provider

Inception: Mercury vs Aurora AlphaNew provider

Inception: Mercury vs Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 06-05New provider