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  5. Mercury 2.5vso3 Mini
Updated Sep 2026

Mercury 2.5vso3 Mini

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper than o3 Mini at $0.04/M vs $1.1/M input tokens.

Mercury 2.5 and o3 Mini compared across 20 shared prompts
SpecMercury 2.5o3 Mini
Input price$0.04/M tokens$1.1/M tokens
Output price$0.15/M tokens$4.4/M tokens
Context window260K tokens64K tokens
Weights—Closed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedSep 2026Dec 2024
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

Opening lines from 2 of the 20 prompts both answered. Formatting stripped, words untouched.

Mini LBO Underwrite

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

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…
Read the full answer
o3 Mini1,203 words
Below is one acceptable “short‐cut” working paper that shows the key steps. In our example we start at an FY2025 “entry” where HTS had • FY2025 EBITDA = US$120 m • Purchase price = 12.0× EBITDA = US$1,440 m • Total debt = 5.5× EBITDA = US$660 m, split as: – Term Loan = 4.0× EBITDA = US$480 m (9.0% cash interest…
Read the full answer

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…

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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o3 Mini1,281 words
Internal Memo – LedgerLift (LLLT) Date: [Insert Date] ───────────────────────────── Recommendation & 12-Month Price Target Recommendation: SHORT 12-Month Price Target Range: $17 – $28/share Thesis: LedgerLift’s current trading price of $46 appears significantly expanded relative to our DCF valuations across base, bull…
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Our Verdict
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5
o3 Mini
o3 MiniRunner-up

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Mercury 2.5 has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window.

Mercury 2.5 costs 29x less per token.

Too close to call

Reviewing agent-written code?See a Brief PR report

API pricing

Cost per 1M tokens

Mercury 2.5
Input
$0.04
28× cheaper
Output
$0.15
29× cheaper
o3 Mini
Input
$1.10
Output
$4.40

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper on both: 28× input, 29× output.

Where to run it

2 hosts

Mercury 2.51 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up
o3 Mini1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
OpenAI$1.10 in·$4.40 out·200k·100% up

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

Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

Common questions

Mercury 2.5 is developed by Inception while o3 Mini is developed by OpenAI. Mercury 2.5 has a 260K token context window vs o3 Mini's 64K. You can compare their actual outputs across 20 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

It depends on your use case. Mercury 2.5 and o3 Mini 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.

Mercury 2.5 costs $0.04/M input tokens and o3 Mini costs $1.1/M input tokens. Mercury 2.5 is $1.06/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 and o3 Mini 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

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