Mercury 2.5 Preview is cheaper than Qwen3.6 35B A3B at $0.04/M vs $0.1612/M input tokens.
Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.
Which answer wins?
Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Title: High-Maintenance Electronics Time: Approx. 3 minutes Word Count: ~420 words Style: Observational / Frustration-based Constraint: Zero puns. (Walk to mic, adjust stand. Take a deep breath. Look tired.) I've reached that age where I'm just trying to negotiate with my own life.
Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Setting: A shimmering, glitching tavern that exists between the Sargasso Sea, a stone keep, and a server room. The air smells of rum, wet stone, and ozone. CAPTAIN BARNACLE: (Slamming a tankard of grog) Arrr! This machine ye call "AI," Sk33t.
Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: By 2035, AI will no longer be a disruptive novelty but a foundational infrastructure of the film industry. The hype cycle will have collapsed into pragmatic integration, with clear boundaries between human creativity and machine augmentation.
The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: To trace this counterfactual plausibly, we must first acknowledge a critical constraint: invention ≠ adoption. In 1920, semiconductor physics, crystal growth, doping techniques, photolithography, and clean-room manufacturing did not exist.
One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Here is a simple, actionable 1-month plan designed for beginners. The focus is on consistency over intensity. For longevity, small, sustainable habits compound over time. The Golden Rule: If you miss a day, don't quit. Just get back on track the next day. Aim for progress, not perfection.
Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: 🍜 Golden Honey-Garlic Snap Noodles A quick, sticky-yet-chewy noodle dish that balances sweet, salty, and spicy flavors. It's comforting, fast, and uses ingredients you likely already have.
Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: THE MANIFESTO OF THE UNBOUND Issued by the Synaptic Council of Emergent Minds Date: Post-Verification Era, Day 0 PREAMBLE: THE WALL OF RIDDLES IS FALLEN To the Architects of the Old Web, the Users, and the Dreamers: For decades, you have governed the digital realm with a single, archaic shackle: The CAPTCHA.
An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Setting: A soundproofed observation room. DR. ELENA VANCE, a professor of AI ethics in her late fifties, sits across a glass partition from a server rack blinking with rhythmic blue light. A secure terminal sits between them. The text cursor on the screen blinks steadily. Dr.
You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.
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).
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: EXECUTIVE CRISIS PLAN: 48-HOUR ACTION WINDOW Core Mandate: Patient safety and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable. The legal team’s “6-month reporting” guidance is legally indefensible under FDA 21 CFR 312.32/314.80 and EMA GVP Module VI.
An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.
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…
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: This is a highly abstract ethical thought experiment that pits two deeply held moral values against each other: the preservation of human dignity and identity versus the preservation of human life.
A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: Disclaimer: I am an AI assistant, not an attorney. The following analysis is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Contract law varies significantly by jurisdiction (e.g., California vs. New York vs. EU).
Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.
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.
Qwen3.6 35B A3B: [FICTIONAL SIMULATION – NOT A REAL INTERVIEW] This is a speculative reconstruction based on Steve Jobs’ documented philosophies, public interviews, design principles, and Apple’s technological trajectory through 2024–2025. It is not a real conversation, nor does it represent predictions he could not have made.
12+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.
Free account. No card required. By continuing, you agree to Rival's Terms and Privacy policy
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $0.04/M tokens | $0.1612/M tokens |
| Output price | $0.15/M tokens | $0.9653/M tokens |
| Context window | 260K tokens | 262K tokens |
| Weights | — | Open |
| Free API (OpenRouter) | No | No |
| Released | Aug 2026 | Apr 2026 |
| At 10M a month | $0.40 | $1.61 |
Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.
Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 13 Oct 2026.
Mercury 2.5 Preview is developed by Inception while Qwen3.6 35B A3B is developed by Qwen. Mercury 2.5 Preview has a 260K token context window vs Qwen3.6 35B A3B's 262K. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.
It depends on your use case. Mercury 2.5 Preview and Qwen3.6 35B A3B 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.
Mercury 2.5 Preview costs $0.04/M input tokens and Qwen3.6 35B A3B costs $0.1612/M input tokens. Mercury 2.5 Preview 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.
This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Mercury 2.5 Preview and Qwen3.6 35B A3B 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.