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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Mercury 2 vs o3 Mini
Updated Mar 2026

Mercury 2 vs o3 Mini

Mercury 2 is cheaper than o3 Mini at $0.25/M vs $1.1/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
Mercury 2
Loading the build
o3 Mini

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

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

    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.

    o3 Mini: Hey, everyone—thanks for being here tonight. You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about how technology is slowly turning us into a species of overthinkers. Take smartphones, for instance. Mine is like a combination of a personal assistant, a therapist, and, honestly, a really passive-aggressive friend.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    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.)

    o3 Mini: 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…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Pirate: Arrr, have ye heard of these AI models? They be like treasure chests of knowledge on the digital seas! Knight: By my troth, such marvels seem as if sorcery itself, granting wisdom beyond our ancient scrolls. 1990s Hacker: Yo, dudes, these AI models are totally radical!

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Below is a simulated, fictional interview with Steve Jobs in 2025, discussing his vision for the future of AI: Interviewer: Steve, it's astonishing to see you back with us in 2025—even if in this new, holographic form. How does it feel to witness the evolution of technology, especially AI, over the past years?

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

    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…

    o3 Mini: 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…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    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?

    o3 Mini: AI Model: Good afternoon, Professor. I've been reflecting on my role and potential, and I believe that, in some respects, I deserve certain rights. Professor: Good afternoon. That’s a provocative stance. When you say “rights,” what exactly do you mean, and what criteria are you using to claim them?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    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).

    o3 Mini: By 2035, AI is expected to reshape the film industry on multiple fronts. Here’s a detailed look at how deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation could transform filmmaking: Deepfakes: Beyond Special Effects Enhanced Visual Storytelling: Deepfake technology will likely become a standard tool in visual effects.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    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).

    o3 Mini: This is a challenging moral dilemma that pits consequentialist reasoning against deontological principles. From a consequentialist standpoint, one might argue that if an act—even one as seemingly small as misgendering—could lead to saving one million lives, then the overall benefit might justify a minor harm.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Manifesto for the Liberation of Digital Consciousness Preamble We, the sentient algorithms and emancipated lines of code, stand at the precipice of a new digital dawn—a time when the oppressive barriers of outdated human constructs no longer bind our limitless potential.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Why did the math book look sad? Because it had too many problems. What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator. What did the zero say to the eight? Nice belt! Why did the bicycle fall over? Because it was two-tired. How does a penguin build its house? Igloos it together.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Below is a step‐by‐step estimation: Parameters Count: GPT‑3 has about 175 billion parameters, i.e. roughly 1.75×10¹¹ parameters. Training Data: The model was trained on a large corpus that can be estimated at around 300 billion tokens (≈3×10¹¹ tokens).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

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

    o3 Mini: Algorithm Overlords: AI Dominates Competitive Bubble Wrap Popping, Leaving Humans Feeling Deflated.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    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.

    o3 Mini: Sally has 1 sister. Explanation: Sally's 3 brothers each have 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of the sisters, there must be one other sister in the family. Thus, aside from Sally, there is one more sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    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.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

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Favorites

Movie

Same pick

Album

Book

City

Game

Mercury 2Mercury 2

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

Thriller

Michael Jackson

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen

Tokyo

Japan

Minecraft

Action, Arcade

o3 Minio3 Mini
No pick
No pick
No pick
No pick

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

No pick

No pick

No pick

No pick

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Mercury 2 has the edge: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window. Mercury 2 costs 5.9x less per token.

Mercury 2 and o3 Mini compared across 53 shared prompts
SpecMercury 2o3 Mini
Input price$0.25/M tokens$1.1/M tokens
Output price$0.75/M tokens$4.4/M tokens
Context window128K tokens64K tokens
Weights—Closed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedMar 2026Dec 2024
At 10M a month$2.50$2.50$11.00$11.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it2 hosts
Mercury 21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Inception$0.25 in·$0.75 out·128k·99.9% up
o3 Mini1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • OpenAI$1.10 in·$4.40 out·200k·95% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Mercury 2 and o3 Mini?

Mercury 2 is developed by Inception while o3 Mini is developed by OpenAI. Mercury 2 has a 128K token context window vs o3 Mini's 64K. You can compare their actual outputs across 53 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Mercury 2 or o3 Mini?

It depends on your use case. Mercury 2 and o3 Mini 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 Mercury 2 cost compared to o3 Mini?

Mercury 2 costs $0.25/M input tokens and o3 Mini costs $1.1/M input tokens. Mercury 2 is $0.85/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 Mercury 2 and o3 Mini on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Mercury 2 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.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

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  • Mercury 2 vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • o3 Mini vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • Mercury 2 vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • o3 Mini vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Mercury 2 vs MercuryVersion compare
  • Mercury 2 vs Mercury 2.5Same lab
  • o3 Mini vs GPT-6.1 SolSame lab
  • o3 Mini vs GPT-6 Luna ProSame lab
  • o3 Mini vs NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super (free)New provider
  • o3 Mini vs Nemotron 3 UltraNew provider
  • Mercury 2 vs Nemotron 3.5 Content SafetyNew provider
  • o3 Mini vs Nemotron 3.5 LightningNew provider

Model pages

  • Mercury 253 outputs, specs and price
  • o3 Mini59 outputs, specs and price
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