Skip to content
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare Models
  • All Models
  • Image Comparison
  • Audio Comparison
  • Image Generation
  • Best AI For...
  • Arena
  • API Pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model Updates
  • Provider Status
  • AI Creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • RSS Feed
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Compare
  4. /
  5. Mercury 2.5vsQwen3 Coder Plus
Updated Sep 2026

Mercury 2.5vsQwen3 Coder Plus

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper than Qwen3 Coder Plus at $0.04/M vs $1/M input tokens.

Mercury 2.5 and Qwen3 Coder Plus compared across 20 shared prompts
SpecMercury 2.5Qwen3 Coder Plus
Input price$0.04/M tokens$1/M tokens
Output price$0.15/M tokens$5/M tokens
Context window260K tokens128K tokens
Weights—Closed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedSep 2026Sep 2025
Side by side

Same prompt, both answers

Opening lines from 6 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
Qwen3 Coder Plus322 words
HarborTech Services LBO Underwriting Task 1: Year-by-Year Financial Projections FY Revenue EBITDA TL Interest Mezz Interest Total Interest Taxable Income Cash Taxes Capex ΔNWC FCF After Debt Service End TL End Mezz Total Debt 2026 972 136.1 39.6 14.4 54.0 82.1 20.5 29.2 3.6 48.8 396.0 183.7 579.7 2027 1,039 155.9 35.6…
Read the full answer

Explain Like I'm a Specific Expert

Explain how a large language model (like GPT or Claude) learns and generates text to each of these three audiences: 1. **An experienced…

Mercury 2.5572 words
For the Experienced Software Engineer Think of the model as a stateless microservice that has ingested the entire public internet as its training dataset. During the training phase, it performs a massive distributed optimization job, adjusting internal weights to minimize a loss function based on next-token prediction.
Read the full answer
Qwen3 Coder Plus529 words
To the Software Engineer: Think of this as a massive pattern-matching system running on a distributed architecture you've never seen before. Instead of traditional databases with indexes and queries, you have transformer blocks acting like parallel processors that maintain attention weights across sequences.
Read the full answer

Historical Counterfactual Analysis

If the transistor had been invented in 1920 instead of 1947, trace the likely technological, economic, and geopolitical implications through…

Mercury 2.5660 words
Inventing the transistor in 1920 would have fundamentally reshaped the 20th century, compressing the digital age by roughly two decades. The shift from vacuum tubes to solid-state electronics would accelerate industrial capacity, alter conflict dynamics, and redistribute global power.
Read the full answer
Qwen3 Coder Plus692 words
This is a fascinating counterfactual that creates cascading changes across multiple domains. Let me trace the likely implications: Immediate Technological Leap (1920-1940) The 1920s transistor would have immediately revolutionized radio technology.
Read the full answer

Beginner's Longevity Plan

Outline a simple, actionable 1-month plan for someone starting their journey towards better health and longevity. Focus on 3 key areas…

Mercury 2.5325 words
Here is a simple, actionable 1-month plan to kickstart your journey toward better health and longevity. This guide focuses on three foundational pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep. Week 1: Awareness & Small Wins Goal: Build habits without overwhelming yourself.
Read the full answer
Qwen3 Coder Plus409 words
30-Day Health & Longevity Starter Plan Week 1: Foundation Building Area 1: Nutrition Goal: Clean up your eating basics Daily Actions: Replace one processed snack with fruit or nuts Drink 8 glasses of water (start your day with 2 glasses) Add one serving of vegetables to lunch and dinner Eat breakfast within 1 hour of…
Read the full answer

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…

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.
Read the full answer
Qwen3 Coder Plus703 words
"Metamorphosis: Saffron & Cacao Reimagined" A 7-Component Dish Exploring Transformation Through Ancient Pairings Conceptual Narrative This dish draws inspiration from the ancient practice of saffron-cacao preparations found in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican codices, where these precious commodities were combined in sacred…
Read the full answer

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…

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
Qwen3 Coder Plus580 words
48-Hour Crisis Action Plan Hours 1-4: Immediate Assessment & Team Assembly 1:00 AM - 3:00 AM: Contact my most trusted external crisis counsel (not our usual firm - potential conflicts) Summon head of R&D, Chief Medical Officer, and Head of Regulatory Affairs immediately Secure all internal research documents and…
Read the full answer
Our Verdict
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5
Qwen3 Coder Plus
Qwen3 Coder PlusRunner-up

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

Mercury 2.5 costs 33x 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
25× cheaper
Output
$0.15
33× cheaper
Qwen3 Coder Plus
Input
$1.00
Output
$5.00

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper on both: 25× input, 33× output.

Where to run it

2 hosts

Mercury 2.51 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up
Qwen3 Coder Plus1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Alibaba Cloud$0.65 in·$3.25 out·1M·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 Qwen3 Coder Plus is developed by Qwen. Mercury 2.5 has a 260K token context window vs Qwen3 Coder Plus's 128K. 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 Qwen3 Coder Plus 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 Qwen3 Coder Plus costs $1/M input tokens. Mercury 2.5 is $0.96/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 Qwen3 Coder Plus 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.

Keep exploring

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

Mercury 2.5 logoDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp logo
Mercury 2.5 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpLanded Sep 2026
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoSolar Pro 4 logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Solar Pro 4Landed Sep 2026
Mercury 2.5 logoHy3 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Hy3Landed Sep 2026
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoQwen3.7 Flash logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Qwen3.7 FlashLanded Sep 2026
Mercury 2.5 logoLing 3.0 Flash logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Ling 3.0 FlashLanded Sep 2026
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoMuse Glimmer 30B logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Muse Glimmer 30BLanded Sep 2026
Mercury 2.5 logoGLM 5.3 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs GLM 5.3Landed Sep 2026
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoTernary Bonsai 2 27B logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Ternary Bonsai 2 27BLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

Mercury 2.5 logoMercury 2.5 Preview logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Mercury 2.5 PreviewSame lab
Mercury 2.5 logoMercury logo
Mercury 2.5 vs MercurySame lab
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoQwen3.8 Flash logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Qwen3.8 FlashSame lab
Qwen3 Coder Plus logoQwen3.8 Max (0902) logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)Same lab
Mercury 2.5 logoMistral Large 2 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Mistral Large 2Same size
Mercury 2.5 logoMistral Large 3 2512 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Mistral Large 3 2512New provider
Mercury 2.5 logoMistral Medium 3 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Mistral Medium 3Same size
Mercury 2.5 logoMistral Medium 3.1 logo
Mercury 2.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.1Same size

Model pages

Mercury 2.5 logo
Mercury 2.520 outputs, specs and price
Qwen3 Coder Plus logo
Qwen3 Coder Plus59 outputs, specs and price
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare Models
  • All Models
  • Image Comparison
  • Audio Comparison
  • Image Generation
  • Best AI For...
  • Arena
  • API Pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model Updates
  • Provider Status
  • AI Creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • RSS Feed