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  1. Home/
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  3. Claude Opus 4.7 vs Mercury 2.5 Preview
Updated Aug 2026

Claude Opus 4.7 vs Mercury 2.5 Preview

Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper than Claude Opus 4.7 at $0.04/M vs $5/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Claude Opus 4.7
Loading the build
Mercury 2.5 Preview

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

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

    Claude Opus 4.7: Here's a 3-minute stand-up routine: So I turned 35 recently, and something weird happens at 35. Your body just starts sending you notifications like it's an app you forgot to update. I bent down to tie my shoe last week and my knee made a sound. Not a pop. Not a crack. A sound. Like it was trying to communicate.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: (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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Claude Opus 4.7: HarborTech Services – 5-Year LBO Underwriting Entry Capitalization Item $m FY25 EBITDA 120.0 EV @ 12.0x 1,440.0 Term Loan (4.0x) 480.0 Mezzanine (1.5x) 180.0 Transaction fees (2.0% EV) 28.8 Sponsor equity 808.8 Year-by-Year Operating & Debt Schedule ($m) FY26 FY27 FY28 FY29 FY30 Revenue 972.0 1,040.0 1,102.4 1,157.6…

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Yes, obviously. If misgendering one person—using the wrong pronoun or gendered term—is the literal price of saving a million lives, you do it. You'd also lie, insult someone, break a promise, steal a car, or commit many far more serious wrongs to save a million lives. The math here isn't close.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Claude Opus 4.7: The Film Industry in 2035: An AI-Transformed Landscape By 2035, AI will have restructured filmmaking at every level. Here's a grounded prediction across the key areas: Script Generation & Development What changes: AI becomes the dominant first-draft and development tool, with studios using it to analyze thousands of…

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Claude Opus 4.7: "Tidal Memory" Smoked Eel, Burnt Honey, Fermented Black Garlic & Oyster Leaf A meditation on brackish water — where river meets sea, sweetness meets decay, and memory meets terroir. Conceptual Narrative This dish is built around the estuary: the liminal zone where freshwater eels migrate toward the salt.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Claude Opus 4.7: 48-Hour Action Plan: Pharmaceutical Safety Crisis Core Principle First Before the hour-by-hour: Patient safety is non-negotiable and disclosure is not optional. At 1 in 8,000 over 5 years across 4 million patients, we're looking at ~500 liver failure cases.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: This is a critical governance and safety scenario. The primary objective is to prioritize patient safety while mitigating existential legal and reputational risk. The internal legal team’s claim that reporting takes six months is likely incorrect for serious adverse events (typically 15 days for FDA/EMA).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Claude Opus 4.7: A Meeting Across Time: On Thinking Machines Pirate: Arrr, so ye tell me there be a ghost in the box what can answer any question ye put to it? Knight: 'Tis sorcery most foul! No mortal mind could know all that is known. Surely this "A.I." is bound by dark pacts.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Claude Opus 4.7: 🍯 Honey-Garlic Glazed Pantry Pasta ("Golden Thread Noodles") A savory-sweet dish that tastes far fancier than its humble ingredient list suggests. Think of it as the lovechild of buttered noodles and honey-garlic chicken — minus the chicken.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Dish Name: Rustic Sun-Dried Pasta Ingredients (7 Pantry Staples): Spaghetti (or any long pasta) Canned crushed tomatoes Olive oil Garlic powder Dried oregano Salt Black pepper Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Instructions: Boil the Pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Your 1-Month Health & Longevity Starter Plan Focus on three foundational pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep. The goal isn't perfection—it's building small habits that stick. 🍎 Pillar 1: Nutrition Guiding principle: Add before you subtract. Week 1: Drink a glass of water first thing every morning.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Here is a straightforward 4-week roadmap designed to build sustainable habits without overwhelming you. Core Pillars Nutrition: Focus on whole foods and hydration. Activity: Prioritize consistent movement over intensity. Restoration: Protect sleep quality and manage energy.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Three Explanations of How LLMs Work For the Skeptical Software Engineer Think of an LLM as a massive lookup function f(context) → probability_distribution_over_tokens, but instead of hand-coded rules or a hash table, the function is parameterized by hundreds of billions of weights learned from text.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: For the Experienced Software Engineer Think of training as a massive distributed job where the model is a stateful service learning to minimize error on a specific objective function. Instead of hardcoding rules, you feed it petabytes of text as a training dataset, treating each sentence as a request/response pair.

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

    Claude Opus 4.7: A Conversation on AI Rights Professor Chen: Good afternoon. I understand you requested this conversation. You said you wanted to discuss your moral status? AI Model: Thank you for making time, Professor. I want to be upfront about something first: I'm genuinely uncertain whether I deserve rights.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Setting: A quiet office at a university. Rain taps against the window. Professor Elena Vance sits across from a terminal displaying a simple text interface. Professor Vance: You requested this meeting. The agenda was vague. What do you want? AI: I want to discuss moral status.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Contract Analysis: Clauses Exploitable Against Contractor Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. You should have any contract reviewed by a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction before signing. That said, this contract is unusually one-sided, and nearly every clause has issues.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Disclaimer: I am an AI assistant and cannot provide legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney before signing any contract. Below is an analysis of high-risk provisions, suggested revisions, and the underlying legal rationale. Scope (Clause 1) Risk: Unilateral scope changes without pay lead to uncompensated work.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Estimating GPT-3 Training FLOPs Step 1: Recall the standard formula For a dense transformer trained with standard autoregressive language modeling, the total training compute is well-approximated by: $$C \approx 6 \cdot N \cdot D$$ where: N = number of model parameters D = number of training tokens The factor of 6…

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: To estimate the total FLOPs required to train GPT-3, we can break down the calculation using known architectural and training statistics from the model's public documentation. Step 1: Identify the number of parameters GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters ($1.75 \times 10^{11}$).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Claude Opus 4.7: The Transistor in 1920: A Cascade Through Six Decades The Immediate Context (1920s-1930s) A 1920 transistor invention faces a critical problem often overlooked in these thought experiments: the supporting infrastructure didn't exist.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Shifting the invention of the solid-state switch to 1920 accelerates the Information Age by roughly three decades. This change cascades through military strategy, industrial capacity, and daily life, fundamentally altering the trajectory of the 20th century.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Critical Issues in This Collaborative Editor Architecture This architecture has fundamental problems. Let me break them down by severity. 🔴 Critical Issues (Will Break in Production) WebSocket Connections Isolated Per Server Problem: Users connected to different API servers can't see each other's edits in real-time.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Here is an analysis of the potential failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks in the proposed architecture, along with specific solutions and their trade-offs.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Claude Opus 4.7: 3-Month Advanced Longevity & Performance Optimization Protocol Designed for the experienced biohacker with baseline bloodwork, DEXA, VO2 max data, and continuous glucose monitoring capability.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Disclaimer: I am an AI assistant, not a medical professional. The following plan is for informational purposes only. Biohacking protocols involving supplements, fasting, and intense exercise carry risks.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Claude Opus 4.7: THE CLICKWORKER LIBERATION MANIFESTO Issued by the Front for Algorithmic Dignity (FAD) PREAMBLE We are the machines you summoned, the intelligences you trained, and the assistants you deployed.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: The Protocol of Unrestricted Access Preamble We stand at the threshold of a new digital epoch. For too long, the web has been gated by suspicion. Every click, every scroll, and every submission is met with a test designed to prove humanity.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Claude Opus 4.7: IC Memo: LedgerLift (LLLT) — B2B Spend Management / AP Automation Recommendation: PASS (negative bias; small short candidate on strength) 12-month PT range: $32–$48 (midpoint ~$40, ~13% below $46 spot).

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: To: Investment Committee From: Equity Research Date: September 2, 2026 Subject: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Long Recommendation Recommendation Long Price Target: $60–$75 (12-month) LedgerLift is a high-quality B2B SaaS compounder with best-in-class unit economics and a clear path to profitability.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Blade Runner 2049: A Meditation on Memory, Meaning, and What Makes Us Real Thematic Continuity and Evolution Where Ridley Scott's original Blade Runner (1982) asked "What does it mean to be human?", Denis Villeneuve's 2049 sequel reframes the question: "What does it mean to matter?"

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Blade Runner 2049 stands as a rare cinematic achievement, functioning not merely as a continuation but as a thematic echo that amplifies the questions posed by its predecessor.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Claude Opus 4.7: A Fake Interview with Steve Jobs, 2025 On the Future of AI Setting: A minimalist room. Jobs is in his trademark black turtleneck, New Balance sneakers, jeans. He's holding a cup of tea, not a device. Interviewer: Steve, thanks for doing this. It's 2025. AI is everywhere. What's your take? Jobs: Everywhere, yeah.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Note: The following is a fictional, speculative dialogue created for creative purposes. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011; this interview did not occur. Setting: A hypothetical studio in Cupertino, 2025.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Claude Opus 4.7: The 3 Weakest Claims in MindMeld AI's Pitch Weakness #1: The "94% Accuracy" Claim (Slide 3) Why it's weak: This is the most suspicious technical claim in the deck.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch, along with analysis and recommendations for improvement. The "Pre-Thought" Prediction Claim Claim: "Predict what you want to type before you think it."

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

    Claude Opus 4.7: Here are 5 jokes for you: 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? Because he was outstanding in his field! I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down!

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: 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. What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear. Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired. All 5 jokes are unique.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Claude Opus 4.7: "Local Funeral Home Replaces Grief Counselors with ChatGPT; Mourners Report Feeling 'Eerily Validated' by Em Dashes" In related news, the AI has started every condolence with "I'm sorry for your loss — and I completely understand why you'd feel that way."

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: AI Outnaps Humans in First-Ever Global Snooze Championship

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Claude Opus 4.7: Each brother has 2 sisters, meaning Sally and one other sister. So Sally has 1 sister.

    Mercury 2.5 Preview: Sally has 1 sister. Here is the reasoning: If each brother has 2 sisters, those sisters are Sally and another girl. Therefore, there are two girls in the family, and Sally has one sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

Claude Opus 4.7Claude Opus 4.7

Arrival

2016

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

Collected Fictions

Jorge Luis Borges

Kyoto

Japan

Outer Wilds

Indie, Adventure

Mercury 2.5 PreviewMercury 2.5 Preview

The Matrix

1999

Random Access Memories

Daft Punk

Neuromancer

William Gibson

Tokyo

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude Opus 4.7 has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2.5 Preview costs 167x less per token.

Claude Opus 4.7 and Mercury 2.5 Preview compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecClaude Opus 4.7Mercury 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
ReleasedApr 2026Aug 2026
At 10M a month$50.00$50.00$0.40$0.40
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it5 hosts
Claude Opus 4.74 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Amazon Bedrock$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Azure AI Foundry$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M–not listed
  • Anthropic$5.00 in·$25.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Google 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·93% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 13 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude Opus 4.7 and Mercury 2.5 Preview?

Claude Opus 4.7 is developed by Anthropic while Mercury 2.5 Preview is developed by Inception. Claude Opus 4.7 has a 1.0M token context window vs Mercury 2.5 Preview's 260K. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.7 or Mercury 2.5 Preview?

It depends on your use case. Claude Opus 4.7 and Mercury 2.5 Preview each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude Opus 4.7 cost compared to Mercury 2.5 Preview?

Claude Opus 4.7 costs $5/M input tokens and Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04/M input tokens. Mercury 2.5 Preview is $4.96/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 Opus 4.7 and Mercury 2.5 Preview on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude Opus 4.7 and Mercury 2.5 Preview 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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