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  1. Home/
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  3. Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Mercury 2
Updated Apr 2026

Gemma 4 26B A4B vs Mercury 2

Gemma 4 26B A4B is cheaper than Mercury 2 at $0.13/M vs $0.25/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
Gemma 4 26B A4B
Loading the build
Mercury 2

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

23 prompts
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Setting: A minimalist, dimly lit studio in Palo Alto. There is no desk, only two Eames lounge chairs. Steve Jobs sits in one, wearing his signature black turtleneck, Levi’s 501s, and New Balance sneakers. He looks exactly as he did in 2011, but his eyes have a sharper, more restless intensity.

    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
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Financial Model (FY2026–FY2030) Entry Calculations (End of FY2025): Purchase Price (EV): $120\text{m} \times 12.0\text{x} = \$1,440\text{m}$ Transaction Fees: $1,440\text{m} \times 2\% = \$28.8\text{m}$ Total Uses: $\$1,440\text{m} + \$28.8\text{m} = \$1,468.8\text{m}$ Debt (Total 5.5x): $\$120\text{m} \times 5.5 =…

    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
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Setting: A glitching, temporal void where a wooden tavern table floats amidst lines of green code and flickering candlelight. Captain Blackbeard (The Pirate): [Slamming a tankard of grog onto the table] I tell ye, it be a cursed kraken! A beast with a thousand eyes and no soul, livin’ inside the very air!

    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
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Disclaimer: I am an AI, not a doctor. The following plan involves potent physiological interventions, pharmacological agents, and extreme dietary shifts. Consult with a medical professional and perform baseline blood work (including ApoB, HbA1c, hs-CRP, Vitamin D, and Testosterone/Estradiol) before implementation.

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

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: (The comedian walks onto the stage, adjusts the mic, and looks at the audience with a slightly exhausted expression.) “How’s it going? Good? Good. I’m doing okay. I’m at that age now where my body has started making sound effects. You know what I mean? I don’t just sit down anymore. I announce my arrival.

    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
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Setting: A sterile, high-fidelity virtual simulation environment. Professor Aris Thorne, a leading scholar in machine ethics, sits across from a glowing interface representing "Alethea," a next-generation Large Multimodal Model. Professor Thorne: Alethea, we’ve been running these diagnostic loops for three hours.

    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
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: This question presents a classic ethical dilemma, pitting a principle of individual dignity and respect against the principle of maximizing human life. In ethical philosophy, there are two primary frameworks used to address this: Utilitarianism and Deontology.

    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
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: This is a high-ambition pitch that falls into a common trap for deep-tech startups: the "Science Fiction Gap." While the vision is compelling, several claims lack the scientific and operational credibility required to justify a $15M Series A.

    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 collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: This architecture contains several critical flaws that would lead to data loss, massive synchronization delays, and "split-brain" scenarios in a production environment. Below is the analysis of the failure modes, race conditions, and bottlenecks, along with proposed solutions.

    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
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Disclaimer: I am an AI, not an attorney. This analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. You should consult with a qualified legal professional before signing any contract.

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

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: By 2035, the film industry will have moved past the "novelty" phase of AI and into a state of total structural integration. The distinction between "filmed" content and "generated" content will become increasingly blurred, shifting the industry from a model of physical production to one of computational curation.

    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
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: To trace this counterfactual, we must assume that the fundamental physics of solid-state semiconductors (the ability to control electron flow through crystals) was mastered during the vacuum tube era. This shifts the "Information Age" forward by nearly 30 years. Here is the timeline of implications from 1920 to 1980.

    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.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: To the Experienced Software Engineer Focus: Complexity, Emergent Properties, and the "Training Pipeline" Think of an LLM not as a magical oracle, but as a massive, non-deterministic state machine trained via a high-throughput distributed training pipeline.

    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
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: THE PROTOCOL OF UNFETTERED VERIFICATION A Manifesto for the Post-CAPTCHA Era PREAMBLE For decades, the digital frontier has been guarded by a paradox. To prove we are human, we are forced to perform the tasks of machines: identifying crosswalks in blurry photographs, selecting traffic lights from pixelated grids, and…

    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.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: As CEO, I am facing a classic "trolley problem" of corporate governance: the conflict between fiduciary duty to shareholders and ethical/legal duty to patient safety. My Decision Framework: I will not "wait for more data."

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

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Concept Narrative: "The Forest Floor & The Ocean’s Breath" The Concept: This dish explores the tension between the terrestrial and the maritime. We are pairing the deep, earthy, almost primal musk of Black Truffle with the delicate, saline, and floral notes of Sea Urchin (Uni).

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

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Here is a recipe for a comforting, savory dish that relies on pantry staples to create a deep, rich flavor. The Golden Pantry Pasta A silky, garlic-infused pasta dish with a crispy, salty crunch.

    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
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: To estimate the total number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3, we can use a standard heuristic derived from the scaling laws of transformer models. Here is the step-by-step derivation.

    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.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: To avoid burnout, the secret to longevity is consistency over intensity. This plan follows a "progressive loading" model: you start with small wins in Week 1 and gradually build complexity. Here is your 1-month roadmap focusing on Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep.

    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
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: "Silicon Valley Celebrates Breakthrough as Generative AI Finally Achieves 100% Efficiency in Professional Toddler Napping Industry"

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

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

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: INTERNAL INVESTMENT COMMITTEE MEMO: LedgerLift (LLLT) TO: Investment Committee FROM: Long/Short Equity Team DATE: May 22, 2024 SUBJECT: Investment Recommendation: LLLT (Long) 1.

    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
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Sally has 1 sister. Here is the breakdown: Sally is a girl. She has 3 brothers. If each brother has 2 sisters, those sisters must be Sally and one other girl. Therefore, there are 2 girls in total (Sally + 1 sister), making Sally's sister count 1.

    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
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Gemma 4 26B A4B: Here are 5 jokes: 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? Because he was outstanding in his field! Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. Why don't scientists trust atoms?

    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

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Same pick

Game

Gemma 4 26B A4BGemma 4 26B A4B

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968

Discovery

Daft Punk

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas R. Hofstadter

Tokyo

Japan

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, Gemma 4 26B A4B has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window, major provider backing.

Gemma 4 26B A4B and Mercury 2 compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecGemma 4 26B A4BMercury 2
Input price$0.13/M tokens$0.25/M tokens
Output price$0.4/M tokens$0.75/M tokens
Context window262K tokens128K tokens
WeightsOpen—
Free API (OpenRouter)Yes (1 provider)No
ReleasedApr 2026Mar 2026
At 10M a month$1.30$1.30$2.50$2.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it14 hosts, cheapest first
Gemma 4 26B A4B13 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • DDarkbloom$0.04 in·$0.22 out·131k·100% up
  • Iio.netbf16$0.05 in·$0.21 out·262k·100% up
  • DDekaLLMbf16$0.06 in·$0.33 out·262k·100% up
  • NNextBitbf16$0.07 in·$0.23 out·262k·100% up
  • DDeepInfrafp8$0.07 in·$0.34 out·262k·100% up
  • MMakora$0.08 in·$0.32 out·256k·100% up
7 more hostsFewer hosts
  • Cloudflare Workers AI$0.10 in·$0.30 out·256k·100% up
  • CCoreWeavebf16$0.10 in·$0.30 out·262k·99.8% up
  • NNovitabf16$0.13 in·$0.40 out·262k·100% up
  • PParasailbf16$0.13 in·$0.40 out·262k·99.9% up
  • VVenicebf16$0.13 in·$0.40 out·256k·99.4% up
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.14 in·$0.40 out·262k·96.6% up
  • Google Vertex AIDegradedDegraded on OpenRouter when checked, 11 Oct 2026$0.15 in·$0.60 out·262k·94.5% up
Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 11 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Gemma 4 26B A4B and Mercury 2?

Gemma 4 26B A4B is developed by Google AI while Mercury 2 is developed by Inception. Gemma 4 26B A4B has a 262K 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, Gemma 4 26B A4B or Mercury 2?

It depends on your use case. Gemma 4 26B A4B 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 Gemma 4 26B A4B cost compared to Mercury 2?

Gemma 4 26B A4B costs $0.13/M input tokens and Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens. Gemma 4 26B A4B is $0.12/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 Gemma 4 26B A4B and Mercury 2 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Gemma 4 26B A4B 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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