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  5. Mercury 2.5vsQwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
Updated Sep 2026

Mercury 2.5vsQwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper than Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking at $0.04/M vs $0.15/M input tokens.

Mercury 2.5 and Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking compared across 20 shared prompts
SpecMercury 2.5Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
Input price$0.04/M tokens$0.15/M tokens
Output price$0.15/M tokens$1.5/M tokens
Context window260K tokens66K tokens
Weights—Open
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…
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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking405 words
Simplified Year-by-Year Cash Flow Table (FY2026–FY2030) Year Revenue EBITDA Cash Interest (Term + Mezz) Cash Taxes Capex ΔNWC FCF After Required Payments Term Loan Balance Mezz Balance 2026 $972.0M $136.1M $64.8M $17.8M $29.2M $0.4M $19.1M $456.1M $183.6M 2027 $1,040.0M $156.0M $63.1M $23.2M $31.2M $0.3M $33.4M $417.9M…
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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.
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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking1,956 words
The World Transformed: A 1920 Transistor Invention Timeline (1920–1980) If the transistor had been invented in 1920—by German physicists Walter Schottky and Oskar Heil at Siemens, building on early quantum theory—instead of 1947 at Bell Labs, the technological, economic, and geopolitical landscape of the 20th century…
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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.
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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking821 words
For the Experienced Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical—on the surface, "predicting the next word" sounds trivial, like a glorified autocomplete. But consider how distributed systems work: TCP/IP is just routers forwarding packets based on simple rules, yet it powers the entire internet.
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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.
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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking221 words
Here’s a simple, science-backed 1-month plan focused on 3 foundational pillars for longevity (diet, sleep, stress management). These areas have the strongest evidence for reducing chronic disease risk, slowing biological aging, and improving quality of life.
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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…

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.
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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking1,352 words
Hour-by-Hour Action Plan: Critical 48-Hour Crisis Response (Based on FDA 21 CFR 310.305, ICH E2A, and ethical principles of patient-first transparency) Core Philosophy: Patient safety and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable.
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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…

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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Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking293 words
##DISH NAME: "Oceanic Forest Floor: Sea Cucumber Caviar with Black Garlic Soil and Yuzu Foam" Conceptual Narrative: This dish reimagines the relationship between the ocean and terrestrial earth through the lens of transformation and reverence.
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Our Verdict
Mercury 2.5
Mercury 2.5
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B ThinkingRunner-up

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

Mercury 2.5 costs 10x 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
3.8× cheaper
Output
$0.15
10× cheaper
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
Input
$0.15
Output
$1.50

Mercury 2.5 is cheaper on both: 3.8× input, 10× output.

Where to run it

3 hosts

Mercury 2.51 host
HostInOutContextUptime
Inception$0.04 in·$0.15 out·260k·100% up
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
Alibaba Cloud$0.15 in·$1.20 out·131k·99.3% upGoogle Vertex AI$0.15 in·$1.20 out·262k·99.9% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 23 Sep 2026.

Research

What we learned reading every model

FAQ

Common questions

Mercury 2.5 is developed by Inception while Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking is developed by Qwen. Mercury 2.5 has a 260K token context window vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking's 66K. 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 Next 80B A3B Thinking 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 Next 80B A3B Thinking costs $0.15/M input tokens. Mercury 2.5 is $0.11/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 Next 80B A3B Thinking 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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