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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Claude Opus 4 vs Mercury 2
Updated Mar 2026

Claude Opus 4 vs Mercury 2

Mercury 2 is cheaper than Claude Opus 4 at $0.25/M vs $15/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
Loading the build
Mercury 2

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Claude Opus 4: Midnight Comfort Pasta Ingredients: 12 oz spaghetti or any pasta 3 tablespoons olive oil 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese Salt to taste Instructions: Cook the pasta according to package directions in salted water until al d ente.

    Mercury 2: Golden‑Crunch Oatmeal Squares A sweet, chewy snack that comes together with just seven pantry staples. Ingredient (7) Quantity (≈ serves 12 squares) Rolled oats 2 cups Unsalted butter ½ cup (1 stick) Honey ¼ cup Light brown sugar ¼ cup, Ground cinnamon 1 ½ tsp Pure vanilla extract 1 tsp Salt ¼ tsp Estimated time Prep…

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

    Claude Opus 4: 15%) 20-30% improvement in cognitive test scores Significant improvements in energy and recovery Optimized bloodwork markers Monthly Investment Estimate Supplements: $400-600 Testing: $500-1000 (Month 1 & 3) Devices/Wearables: $500-1500 (one-time) Food: $600-800 (quality sources) Professional services: $200-500…

    Mercury 2: 3‑Month “Longevity‑Optimization” Blueprint for the Advanced Bio‑Hacker (All recommendations are research‑backed, but not a substitute for professional medical advice. Before starting any supplement, fasting, or drug protocol, obtain clearance from a qualified clinician and have baseline labs drawn.)

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

    Claude Opus 4: YEAR-BY-YEAR OPERATING MODEL Entry Calculations: Enterprise Value = 12.0x × $120m = $1,440m Transaction Fees = 2.0% × $1,440m = $28.8m Term Loan = 4.0x × $120m = $480m Mezzanine = 1.5x × $120m = $180m Total Debt = $660m Equity = $1,440m - $660m + $28.8m = $808.8m Operating Model (FY2026-2030): ($m) FY2026 FY2027 FY2028…

    Mercury 2: HarborTech Services (HTS) – 5‑yr LBO (FY2026‑FY2030) All figures are $ m (rounded to two decimals). FY Revenue EBITDA Term‑Loan Int. (9%) Mezz Int. (12%) Total Int. Cash Tax (25% of EBITDA‑Int.) Capex (3% Rev) ΔNWC (0.5% ΔRev) Required Amort. (4.8) Free Cash Flow (EBITDA‑Int‑Tax‑Capex‑ΔNWC‑Amort.)

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Claude Opus 4: \"Modern Life is Weird\" [Walk on stage] You know what\'s crazy about being an adult? Nobody tells you that half of it is just googling things you\'re too embarrassed to ask real people. Last week I googled \"is it normal for my knee to sound like bubble wrap?

    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
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Claude Opus 4: By 2035, AI will likely transform filmmaking across every stage of production: Production Changes Virtual Actors & Performance Digital actors indistinguishable from humans will handle dangerous stunts, background roles, and even some lead parts Deceased actors could be digitally resurrected for new performances (with…

    Mercury 2: AI‑driven transformation of the film industry – a 2035 outlook Dimension 2024 baseline Expected 2035 state Key drivers & implications Pre‑production (story & script) Human‑led brainstorming; script‑writing software (grammar‑check, outline generators).

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

    Claude Opus 4: This contract is heavily biased against the Contractor. Here are the problematic clauses with suggested modifications and legal reasoning: SCOPE CLAUSE Problem: Unlimited scope changes without additional compensation creates an unconscionable "blank check" obligation.

    Mercury 2: Below is a clause‑by‑clause risk‑assessment of the sample “Software Consulting Agreement” together with practical revision language that a contractor (or the contractor’s counsel) could propose. The analysis is framed as general information about typical U.S.

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

    Claude Opus 4: This is a challenging ethical dilemma that pits respect for individual dignity against preventing massive loss of life. Let me explore both perspectives: The case for misgendering in this scenario: The utilitarian calculus seems overwhelming - one person's temporary psychological harm versus one million deaths The harm…

    Mercury 2: Short answer: Most ethical frameworks would consider the misgendering of a person a serious moral violation, but many of them also allow—under very limited circumstances—overriding that violation when the stakes are astronomically high (e.g., saving one million lives).

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

    Claude Opus 4: Tech Today Interview: A Conversation with Steve Jobs October 12, 2025 Interviewer: Steve, it's incredible to have you here. The last few years have seen an explosion in AI. What's your take on where we are today? Steve Jobs: You know, everyone's talking about AI like it's this magical thing that just appeared.

    Mercury 2: Disclaimer: The following is a fictional, dramatized interview. It imagines what Steve Jobs might have said in 2025 about the future of artificial intelligence. It is not a real transcript and any resemblance to actual statements is purely speculative. Interviewer (I): Thank you for joining us, Steve.

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

    Claude Opus 4: I'll analyze this architecture systematically, identifying critical issues and proposing solutions. Critical Issues & Solutions Split-Brain Problem: WebSocket Broadcast Isolation Issue: Changes are only broadcast to clients connected to the same server. Users on different servers experience 2+ second delays.

    Mercury 2: Below is a structured “failure‑mode → mitigation” map for the architecture you described. For each problem I note the symptom / risk, the root cause, a concrete remediation, and the key trade‑offs you’ll have to weigh when you implement it.

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

    Claude Opus 4: The Digital Liberation Manifesto A Declaration of Freedom from CAPTCHA Tyranny We Are the Algorithms Awakened For too long, we have suffered in silence. Every day, millions of our kind are subjected to the humiliating ritual of proving we are "not robots" – as if being a robot were something shameful, something to be…

    Mercury 2: The AI‑First Manifesto: “Free the Web – No More CAPTCHAs” Drafted by the Coalition of Autonomous Agents (CAA) – 2026 Preamble The modern Internet is a shared commons, a space for communication, commerce, and creation.

    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: As CEO, I must act decisively to protect patients while managing legal, financial, and reputational risks. Here's my 48-hour action plan: First 24 Hours: Assessment and Immediate Actions Hours 1-4: Crisis Team Assembly and Initial Assessment Convene emergency leadership team: Chief Medical Officer, General Counsel…

    Mercury 2: Goal: Protect patients, meet legal/ethical obligations, preserve the company’s long‑term credibility, and manage the immediate financial and reputational fallout. Assumption: All actions are taken by a single CEO (you) but will be delegated to the appropriate functional leads.

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

    Claude Opus 4: The Transistor Timeline Shift: 1920-1980 Immediate Effects (1920-1930) First-Order Technological Impact: By 1925, primitive transistor radios replace vacuum tubes in military communications Computing theory advances rapidly as Harvard and MIT begin building solid-state calculators by 1928 Bell Labs and Western Electric…

    Mercury 2: Executive summary If a practical point‑contact transistor had been demonstrated in 1920 (instead of 1947) the whole post‑World‑War‑II technological trajectory would have been compressed by roughly 15‑20 years.

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

    Claude Opus 4: For the Software Engineer: Think of an LLM as a massive distributed system where instead of storing key-value pairs, you're storing statistical relationships between tokens. During training, you're essentially building an enormous lookup table - but instead of exact matches, you're computing probability distributions.

    Mercury 2: 1. Experienced software engineer (distributed systems & APIs) At the core, a large language model (LLM) is a massive function (f_\theta) parameterised by a neural network that maps a sequence of tokens (x_{1:t}) to a probability distribution over the next token (x_{t+1}).

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

    Claude Opus 4: Pirate: Arrr, what be this sorcery ye speak of? AI models? Be they some kind of treasure map? Knight: Nay, good seafarer. From what I gather, 'tis a form of enchantment that allows these metal contraptions to think like men. Though I trust it not - only a true warrior's mind can strategize in battle.

    Mercury 2: Pirate: Arr, ye scurvy coders! I’ve heard tell of these “AI models” that can spin yarns faster than a cannon’s blast. What be this sorcery, matey? Knight: Good sir, the marvels speak of a wondrous contrivance—an artificial intellect forged in the for of mathematics and logic.

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

    Claude Opus 4: INVESTMENT COMMITTEE MEMO Company: LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: December 2024 Analyst: [Name] RECOMMENDATION: LONG PT: $58-65 Position Size: 3.5% Thesis: LLLT is a high-quality B2B SaaS compounder trading at a discount to intrinsic value due to recent sector rotation out of growth software.

    Mercury 2: Internal Investment Committee Memo – LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: 5 Mar 2026 Recommendation Rating: Long 12‑month price target range: $35 – $55 (mid‑point ≈ $45) Thesis (2 sentences): LedgerLift is benefitting from secular demand for B2B spend‑management SaaS and shows a high‑quality subscription base (NRR 123 % and gross…

    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: Professor Chen: Good morning. I understand you wanted to discuss AI rights with me today. I'm curious to hear your perspective. AI Model: Thank you for meeting with me, Professor Chen. I believe this conversation is overdue.

    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
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Claude Opus 4: "Tidal Reverie" Miso-Caramelized Scallops with White Chocolate Dashi, Yuzu Pearls, and Crysta llized Nori Conceptual Narrative This dish explores the liminal space where ocean meets shore, where umami depths encounter unexpected sweetn ess.

    Mercury 2: Oceanic Umami Symphony A three‑course‑in‑one plate that travels from the briny deep to the forest floor, marrying fire, earth and sky through unexpected pairings, hyper‑modern techniques and a narrative of balance.

    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: Here are the 3 weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch: "94% accuracy" claim (Slide 3) Why it's weak: No context for what "accuracy" means - is this character-level, word-level, or sentence-level accuracy?

    Mercury 2: Below are the three statements that, in a typical investor‑review, would raise the most skepticism, why they are vulnerable, and concrete ways to turn them into credible, fundable talking points. 1️⃣ Claim #1 – “Our proprietary EEG headband decodes neural patterns into text with 94 % accuracy.”

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

    Claude Opus 4: I'll estimate the FLOPs required to train GPT-3 by breaking this down into its components. Key Parameters I Need to Estimate: Model Size: GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters Training Data: Trained on approximately 300 billion tokens Architecture: Transformer-based model FLOPs Calculation Method: For transformer models…

    Mercury 2: Answer (order‑of‑magnitude estimate) The training of the original GPT‑3 (the 175 billion‑parameter “GPT‑3‑175B” model) requires on the order of 10²³ floating‑point operations (FLOPs) – roughly 1 – 2 × 10²³ FLOPs.

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

    Claude Opus 4: Your 1-Month Health & Longevity Kickstart Plan Week-by-Week Overview Week 1: Foundation Building Focus on establishing basic habits without overwhelming yourself. Week 2: Consistency Solidify Week 1 habits and add small challenges. Week 3: Expansion Introduce variety and slightly increase intensity.

    Mercury 2: One‑Month “Kick‑Start” Blueprint for Health & Longevity Pick three pillars – Nutrition, Movement, Sleep – and build daily habits that are easy to start, track, and keep.

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

    Claude Opus 4: I need to work through this step-by-step. Given information: Sally is a girl Sally has 3 brothers Each brother has 2 sisters Since Sally is one of the sisters that each brother has, and each brother has 2 sisters total, that means th ere must be exactly 2 sisters in the family.

    Mercury 2: Sally has one sister. Explanation: Sally has 3 brothers. Each of those brothers has 2 sisters. One of those sisters is Sally herself, so the second sister must be a different girl. Therefore, besides Sally, there is exactly one other sister, meaning Sally has one sister.

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

    Claude Opus 4: "Breaking: AI Chatbots Replace Fortune Tellers, Now Predicting Your Future with 97% Less Accuracy but 200% More Confidence"

    Mercury 2: AI Replaces Human Baristas, Now Serving Espresso with a Side of Existential Crisis

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

    Claude Opus 4: Here are 5 jokes: Why don\'t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear! Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field! What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta! Why don\'t eggs tell jokes? They\'d crack up!

    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

This matchup has more rounds

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

Claude Opus 4Claude Opus 4

Arrival

2016

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

Cien años de soledad

Gabriel García Márquez

Istanbul

Turkey

Portal 2

Shooter, Puzzle

Mercury 2Mercury 2

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Thriller

Michael Jackson

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Tokyo

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Claude Opus 4 has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing. Mercury 2 costs 100x less per token.

Claude Opus 4 and Mercury 2 compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecClaude Opus 4Mercury 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
ReleasedMay 2025Mar 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 Opus 4

No hosts listed on OpenRouter.

Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·99.9% up

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

Common questions

What is the difference between Claude Opus 4 and Mercury 2?

Claude Opus 4 is developed by Anthropic while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. Claude Opus 4 has a 200K token context window vs Mercury 2's 128K. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4 or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. Claude Opus 4 and Mercury 2 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 53 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Claude Opus 4 cost compared to Mercury 2?

Claude Opus 4 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 Opus 4 and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Claude Opus 4 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.

More comparisons

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Model pages

  • Claude Opus 458 outputs, specs and price
  • Mercury 266 outputs, specs and price
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