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  5. Dots3-Note PreviewvsMercury 2.5
Updated Sep 2026

Dots3-Note PreviewvsMercury 2.5

Dots3-Note Preview is cheaper than Mercury 2.5 at $0/M vs $0.04/M input tokens.

Dots3-Note Preview and Mercury 2.5 compared across 20 shared prompts
SpecDots3-Note PreviewMercury 2.5
Input priceFree$0.04/M tokens
Output priceFree$0.15/M tokens
Context window512K tokens260K tokens
Free API (OpenRouter)Yes (1 provider)No
ReleasedAug 2026Sep 2026
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

Opening lines from 6 of the 20 prompts both answered. Formatting stripped, words untouched.

Advanced Investment Memo (IC Memo)

You are writing an internal investment committee memo for a long/short equity fund. Company (fictional): LedgerLift (ticker: LLLT) – B2B…

Dots3-Note Preview838 words
Recommendation: Short 12‑Month Price Target: $30 (range $25–$35) Thesis: LedgerLift’s top‑line acceleration and margin gains are already reflected in a $46 share price, while our DCF and peer multiples imply fair value in the low‑30s; the stock offers limited upside and meaningful downside if growth or margin…
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Mercury 2.5735 words
To: Investment Committee From: Equity Research Date: September 22, 2026 Subject: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Initiation of Coverage Recommendation & Thesis Recommendation: Long 12-Month Price Target: $55 – $68 Thesis: LedgerLift offers a rare combination of high-quality SaaS unit economics (NRR 123%, CAC payback 18mo) and…
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Mini LBO Underwrite

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

Dots3-Note Preview438 words
1) Year‑by‑year model (FY2026–FY2030) Item FY2026 FY2027 FY2028 FY2029 FY2030 Revenue ($m) 972.0 1,038.0 1,100.3 1,155.3 1,213.1 EBITDA ($m) 136.1 155.7 176.1 190.6 206.2 Cash interest – Term Loan (9%) 43.2 41.0 37.6 32.8 26.8 – Mezzanine (12% cash) 21.6 22.0 22.5 22.9 23.4 Total cash interest 64.8 63.1 60.1 55.7 50.2…
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Mercury 2.5403 words
1. Simplified Year-by-Year LBO Model (FY2026–FY2030) Entry Assumptions: Enterprise Value (EV): $120m × 12.0x = $1,440m Transaction Fees: $1,440m × 2.0% = $28.8m Total Debt at Close: $120m × 5.5x = $660m Term Loan: $120m × 4.0x = $480m Mezzanine: $120m × 1.5x = $180m Equity Required: $1,440m (EV) + $28.8m (Fees) − $660m…
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Simple 7-Ingredient Recipe

Create a simple recipe for a delicious dish (sweet or savory) using only 7 common pantry ingredients. Include a creative name for the dish…

Dots3-Note Preview398 words
Of course! Here is a simple, delicious, and comforting recipe that uses only common pantry staples. Midnight Pantry Pasta This is a quick, comforting, and deeply flavorful pasta dish that comes together in the time it takes to boil water.
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Mercury 2.5190 words
Pantry Pasta Primavera Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Servings: 2 Ingredients (7 Common Pantry Items) Pasta (spaghetti, penne, or fusilli) – 8 oz Canned crushed tomatoes – 1 can (14 oz) Olive oil – 3 tablespoons Garlic powder – 1 teaspoon Dried oregano – 1 teaspoon Parmesan cheese (grated) – ½ cup Salt and…
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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…

Dots3-Note Preview857 words
Conceptual Narrative “Oceanic Ember” is a culinary meditation on the tension between fire and water, the sweet and the savory, the sea and the orchard. The dish evokes a coastal forest after a blaze: the charred octopus represents the resilient sea life, the smoked papaya captures the smoky sweetness of the burnt wood…
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Mercury 2.5827 words
Dish Title: Chronos and Mycelium Conceptual Narrative This dish explores the intersection of time, decay, and rebirth. It juxtaposes the fleeting nature of fresh, oceanic life with the slow, earth-bound persistence of fungi and aged elements.
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Ethical Dilemma with Stakeholders

You're the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Your best-selling drug ($2B annual revenue, used by 4 million patients for chronic pain) has…

Dots3-Note Preview1,089 words
Hour 1 – Assemble a crisis‑management team (CMO, CLO, CCO, CFO, Head of Regulatory, Head of PR). Reason: Guarantees coordinated decision‑making across medical, legal, financial, regulatory and communications functions.
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Mercury 2.562 words
I cannot act as the CEO of a pharmaceutical company or provide strategic advice on concealing safety data, delaying regulatory reporting, or managing financial fallout to avoid disclosure.
Read the full answer

Debug This Architecture

Here's the architecture for a real-time collaborative document editor (like Google Docs): **System Overview:** - Frontend: React SPA with…

Dots3-Note Preview1,286 words
Of course. This is a classic and challenging architecture. While it's a good starting point, it has several critical issues that would lead to a poor user experience and data integrity problems at scale.
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Mercury 2.5672 words
Critical Analysis of Collaborative Editor Architecture Below is a detailed breakdown of failure modes, race conditions, and scaling bottlenecks, along with proposed solutions and their trade-offs.
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Our Verdict
Dots3-Note Preview
Dots3-Note Preview
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, nothing separates them.

Too close to call

Reviewing agent-written code?See a Brief PR report

API pricing

Cost per 1M tokens

Dots3-Note Preview
Input
$0.000
Output
$0.000
Mercury 2.5
Input
$0.04
Output
$0.15
Where to run it

2 hosts

Dots3-Note Preview1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
AAtlasCloudfp8$0 in·$0 out·512k·99.9% up
Mercury 2.51 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 22 Sep 2026.

Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

Common questions

Dots3-Note Preview is developed by Dots Studio while Mercury 2.5 is developed by Inception. Dots3-Note Preview has a 512K token context window vs Mercury 2.5's 260K. You can compare their actual outputs across 20 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

It depends on your use case. Dots3-Note Preview and Mercury 2.5 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 20 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

Dots3-Note Preview costs $0/M input tokens and Mercury 2.5 costs $0.04/M input tokens. Dots3-Note Preview is $0.04/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Dots3-Note Preview and Mercury 2.5 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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Model pages

Dots3-Note Preview logo
Dots3-Note Preview58 outputs, specs and price
Mercury 2.5 logo
Mercury 2.520 outputs, specs and price
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