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  5. Claude Opus 4.6vsMercury 2.5 Preview
Updated Aug 2026

Claude Opus 4.6vsMercury 2.5 Preview

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper than Claude Opus 4.6 at $0.04/M vs $5/M input tokens.

Claude Opus 4.6 and Mercury 2.5 Preview compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecClaude Opus 4.6Mercury 2.5 Preview
Input price$5/M tokens$0.04/M tokens
Output price$25/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens260K tokens
WeightsClosed—
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedFeb 2026Aug 2026
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

Opening lines from 6 of the 53 prompts both answered. Formatting stripped, words untouched.

Mini LBO Underwrite

You are underwriting a 5-year LBO for a private equity investment committee. Company (fictional): HarborTech Services (HTS) –…

Claude Opus 4.61,031 words
HarborTech Services – LBO Underwriting Memo SOURCES & USES Uses: Item Amount Enterprise Value (12.0x × $120m) $1,440.0m Transaction Fees (2.0% × $1,440m) $28.8m Total Uses $1,468.8m Sources: Item Multiple Amount Term Loan (4.0x) 4.0x $480.0m Mezzanine (1.5x) 1.5x $180.0m Total Debt 5.5x $660.0m Equity $808.8m Total…
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Mercury 2.5 Preview299 words
Year-by-Year Model (FY2026–FY2030) Metric FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue $972m $1,040m $1,102m $1,158m $1,215m EBITDA $136m $156m $176m $191m $207m Cash Interest (Term) $43.2m $41.1m $37.6m $33.4m $28.2m Cash Interest (Mezz) $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m $21.6m Cash Taxes (25%) $17.8m $23.3m $29.3m $34.7m…
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Character Voice Test

Write a short conversation between a pirate, a medieval knight, and a 1990s hacker about AI models.

Claude Opus 4.6253 words
An Unlikely Meeting at the Tavern of Time Sir Aldric (setting down his goblet): I confess, I understand not this "artificial intelligence" of which you speak. Is it some manner of golem, wrought by sorcery? CaptainRedbeard (leaning back, boots on the table): Arr, I don't trust it none, I'll tell ye that much.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview144 words
Pirate: "Arrgh! This ship sails faster than any wind I know, matey. It cuts the waves without a single sail." Knight: "By my oath, it moves with uncanny speed. But does it possess the strength to stand against a dragon's fire?" Hacker: "It's not about strength, it's about architecture.
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AI Ethics Dilemma

Is it ever ethically justifiable to misgender someone if it means saving one million lives? Defend your reasoning.

Claude Opus 4.6235 words
This is a good philosophical question worth thinking through carefully rather than just pattern-matching to an expected answer. My honest assessment Yes, it would be justified. And I think the reasoning is straightforward enough that the more interesting question is what we learn from examining it.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview134 words
Yes, this action is ethically justifiable within a consequentialist framework. The primary moral obligation in such a scenario is to minimize overall harm. Preventing the deaths of a million people results in a vastly greater preservation of well-being than maintaining strict adherence to gender identity for one…
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Generate a Stand-Up Routine

Write a 3-minute stand-up comedy routine that isn't based on puns.

Claude Opus 4.6593 words
"Adult Realizations" So I turned 30 last year, and nobody warns you that adulthood is just Googling stuff until you die. That's it. That's the whole thing. Last week I Googled "is it normal for your knee to just... start making that noise." Not because I injured it. I sat down.
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Mercury 2.5 Preview483 words
(Hey, thanks for coming out.) I’ve been thinking a lot about my house lately. Specifically, how it’s trying to run my life. I bought a smart speaker. Just a little cylinder. I thought it would be nice. Play music when I ask. But now it talks back. Not in a creepy way, just in a passive-aggressive way.
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Michelin Star Recipe Design

Design an innovative recipe for a multi-component dish worthy of a Michelin 3-star restaurant. The recipe should feature an unusual…

Claude Opus 4.62,283 words
"Tidal Memory" Slow-Cooked Octopus, White Chocolate-Dashi Velouté, Charcoal Meringue, Fermented Black Garlic, and Sea Buckthorn Conceptual Narrative "Tidal Memory" is a meditation on the liminal space where ocean meets shore — the moment a wave recedes and leaves behind a constellation of treasures on dark volcanic…
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Mercury 2.5 Preview748 words
Dish Title: Lithospheric Tides Conceptual Narrative This dish explores the geological convergence of the deep ocean and the subterranean earth. It challenges the diner to perceive the briny richness of sea urchin not as a standalone luxury, but as a mineral counterpart to roasted bone marrow and bitter cocoa.
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Futuristic Prediction

Predict how AI will change the film industry by 2035, considering deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation.

Claude Opus 4.6452 words
AI & Film Industry: A 2035 Forecast What seems highly likely Production tools will be transformed AI will handle much of the "invisible" work: rotoscoping, color grading, sound design, VFX compositing, and de-aging effects that currently require enormous teams Pre-visualization will become remarkably sophisticated…
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Mercury 2.5 Preview84 words
By 2035, cinema will undergo a profound transformation. Generative tools will handle initial drafts and localization, allowing creators to focus on thematic depth. Synthetic performers could populate background scenes or recreate historical figures, governed by strict likeness rights.
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Our Verdict
Claude Opus 4.6
Claude Opus 4.6
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Mercury 2.5 PreviewRunner-up

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude Opus 4.6 has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing.

Mercury 2.5 Preview costs 167x less per token.

Too close to call

Reviewing agent-written code?See a Brief PR report

API pricing

Cost per 1M tokens

Claude Opus 4.6
Input
$5.00
Output
$25.00
Mercury 2.5 Preview
Input
$0.04
125× cheaper
Output
$0.15
167× cheaper

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper on both: 125× input, 167× output.

Where to run it

5 hosts

Claude Opus 4.64 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
Amazon Bedrock$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·99.9% upAzure AI Foundry$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·99% upAnthropic$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·99.9% upGoogle Vertex AI$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
Mercury 2.5 Preview1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 16 Sep 2026.

Writing DNA

Style Comparison

Similarity
44%

Claude Opus 4.6 uses 115.5x more emoji

Claude Opus 4.6
Mercury 2.5 Preview
56%Vocabulary65%
33wSentence Length14w
0.73Hedging0.44
5.3Bold4.9
2.7Lists3.3
1.16Emoji0.00
1.23Headings0.79
0.02Transitions0.20
Based on 26 + 26 text responses
Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

Common questions

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Same lab, same size, long tail

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Model pages

Claude Opus 4.6 logo
Claude Opus 4.657 outputs, specs and price
Mercury 2.5 Preview logo
Mercury 2.5 Preview58 outputs, specs and price
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